20 Winter Photo Ideas for Samsung Galaxy (With Settings)

Phone cameras find winter tricky. Snow can come out grey, falling flakes are hard to capture, colours look dull under grey skies, and the battery doesn't last as long in the cold. But there's plenty to photograph: frost, fresh snow, streets lit by lamps by late afternoon, even your own breath hanging in the air.

Here are 20 winter photo ideas for Galaxy phones, grouped by the camera mode that suits each one, with suggested settings to start from. Near the end there are ideas for winters with no snow, just grey skies and green fields. For rain, fog and keeping the phone dry, see our bad weather photography guide, and for December itself, our Christmas photo ideas cover the tree, the presents and the family photo.

Winter photo ideas at a glance

Snow scenes, and how to stop snow looking grey

A camera's meter tries to turn every scene into an average mid-grey, which is why Nikon's winter guide says snow photographed at the suggested exposure tends to look grey or blue. On a Galaxy, the fix takes a second: tap the snow to set focus and exposure, then drag the brightness slider up by about 0.7 to 1.0 until the snow is white but still shows texture. On One UI 9 you can also set exposure in Quick controls, and the Tips app says the value stays set for that mode. In the shade, snow often picks up a blue cast. If you'd rather it looked white, set white balance higher in Pro mode, to around 7000K; higher Kelvin numbers compensate for bluer light. Or leave it blue for a colder look.

• A bright snowy landscape. On a sunny morning after fresh snow, use the 0.6x ultrawide or the 1x main camera and raise exposure until the snow is white. Include something dark, such as a fence, a wall or a line of trees, for the white to sit against. Scene optimiser (called Scene detection on One UI 9) lists snow among the scenes it recognises.
• Footprints and long shadows. Get the 1x camera close to the ground and shoot footprints or tyre tracks with the low winter sun coming from the side, which brings out every ridge in the snow. Tap a bright patch of snow to set exposure. The framing ideas in our leading lines list work just as well in snow.
• A lone tree in a white field. Minimal photos are easy when snow covers the clutter. Put a single tree, a bench or a walker small in the frame and leave the rest white. Our negative space ideas have more framings like this.

Portrait mode ideas

Snow reflects a lot of light, so winter portraits are often lit more softly and brightly than summer ones. Use Portrait mode on the 3x lens if your phone has one, and stand about 1 to 1.5 metres away, as our Portrait mode guide suggests. If the person's face looks dark against the snow, raise the exposure slightly.

• A portrait in falling snow. Snow doesn't show against a bright sky, but flakes falling in front of a dark background, such as an evergreen hedge, a doorway or a wall, stand out nicely. The closer the flakes are to the camera, the larger and blurrier they look, turning into soft white dots.
• A red coat against the white. A single strong colour stands out against snow. Photograph someone in a red coat, a yellow hat or a green scarf in a snowy scene, and they'll catch the eye even when they're small in the frame.
• Breath in the cold air. Breath only shows with light coming from behind or from the side and a darker background behind it. Turn the person's face towards the shade with the sun behind them, tap their face to focus, and drag the exposure down a little to darken the background. Take lots of photos, because each breath lasts only a moment.

Pro mode ideas

Pro mode (select More, then Pro) is the only mode that lets you decide how falling snow looks. Once you set the shutter speed yourself, ISO can no longer stay on Auto, and some A and M series models don't offer shutter speed control at all. Our Pro mode guide explains each dial.

• Falling snowflakes, frozen. Shoot against a dark background, such as buildings or trees, at 1/250s or faster, ISO 200 to 400 and white balance at 5500 to 6500K. The flakes come out as sharp white dots.
• Snow streaking under a street lamp. At dusk, put the phone on a tripod and line it up with a street lamp that has snow falling through its light. Start at 1/30s with the lowest ISO that gives a usable picture, then try 1/15s. The slower the shutter, the longer the streaks.
• Frost close-ups. Get up close to frost on a car roof, a window or a leaf. On a Galaxy Ultra, start at 1x and move closer until the flower icon appears, which means Focus enhancer has switched on. On other phones, use Pro mode's manual focus with focus peaking to find the sharp point. Our macro guide covers the distances for each phone.
• Icicles against the low sun. Shoot icicles with the sun behind them so they glow. They overexpose quickly, so in Pro mode on One UI 9, turn on the Zebra pattern in the exposure monitor and raise the shutter speed or lower the ISO until the stripes disappear from the ice.

Night mode ideas

Winter days are short, which leaves more time for night photos before dinner. Night mode takes a series of shots (30, Samsung says) and combines them, so prop the phone against a wall or a post and keep it still until the countdown runs out. Anything that moves, falling snow included, can come out smeared, so switch to Pro mode for snowflakes. Our Night mode guide explains what the countdown means.

• A snowy street under the lamps. Streets covered in snow are far brighter under street lamps than the same streets in autumn, because the snow reflects the light everywhere. Rest the phone on a car roof or a wall and use Night mode. A line of lamps leading away from you makes the photo.
• Blue hour on snow. For 20 to 30 minutes after sunset, snow takes on the blue of the sky, which looks far better than the black that follows, and lit windows still glow warmly. On a tripod, use Pro mode at ISO 50 to 100, 1/4 to 2 seconds and around 4000K to keep the blue.
• The moon over a snowy landscape. Moonlit snow has a cold, stark beauty. To photograph the moon itself, our moon photography guide suggests a tripod, Pro mode, your longest lens, ISO 50, 1/500s and focus set to infinity.

Burst and slow motion ideas

Snow days are full of movement that's over in a second. On a bright snowy day there's usually enough light for Photo mode to pick fast shutter speeds and keep things sharp. To catch a sequence, use burst: swipe the shutter button towards the edge of the screen and hold it there (on One UI 9 you set what that swipe does in Camera Assistant, under Shutter). Gallery stacks the frames together so you can pick your favourites. Our burst mode guide has the details.

• A snowball fight. Stand to one side of the thrower and start the burst just before the snowball leaves their hand. Exploding snowballs look best against a dark background, such as a hedge or a dark coat.
• Sledging from the side of the slope. Stand partway down the hill, well out of the sledge's path, and hold a burst as it passes. The spray of snow is what makes the photo, so have the sun to one side if you can.
• Snow falling from a branch in slow motion. Open More, then Slow motion, and film someone shaking the snow off a branch, or a dog leaping into a deep drift. Depending on the model, Galaxy phones offer quarter speed in UHD and quarter or eighth speed in Full HD, as our slow motion guide lists.

Timer, voice and Galaxy Watch ideas

At -5°C, nobody wants to take their gloves off to tap a touchscreen. A Galaxy gives you other ways to take the photo. Under Camera settings, then Shooting methods, turn on Voice commands and say "Smile", "Cheese", "Capture" or "Shoot" to take a photo, or set the volume buttons to act as the shutter. With a Galaxy Watch, Camera Controller shows the camera's view on your wrist, and you tap Capture on the watch to take the photo. Our camera timer guide covers every option.

• A family photo in the snow, gloves on. Put the phone on a tripod or lean it against a fence post at eye level, walk into the frame and say "Cheese". If the wind is too loud for voice commands, use the 10-second timer with Timer multi-photo options set to 5 pictures, so at least one of them should have everyone's eyes open.
• Everyone jumping at once. Set the timer to 10 seconds and Timer multi-photo options to 7 pictures at 1-second intervals, count down together and jump. Powder snow flying around your boots is the highlight of the photo. Frame loosely so nobody's head gets cut off, and check the first set of photos before you jump again.

Winter photo ideas without snow

Plenty of winters bring dull grey skies rather than snow. Winter light still has an advantage, though: in northern Europe and much of North America the sun stays low even at midday, so long shadows and flattering side light last for hours rather than a few minutes.

• Frost and fog on a still morning. After a clear, cold night, go out early to catch frost on grass and branches and mist lying in low ground. Fog makes a cluttered scene look simpler, so look for a single tree or lamp post. Raise exposure slightly, since fog fools the meter in the same way as snow.
• Steam from a hot drink. Put a steaming mug on a table with window light coming from behind it and a fairly dark background beyond. Tap the mug, then drag the brightness down until the background darkens and the steam stands out. Take lots of shots, because steam keeps changing shape.

Keeping your Galaxy working in the cold

Samsung recommends using Galaxy phones between 0 and 35°C, and warns that a long time below freezing can make the phone shut down without warning and reduce battery performance. Keep the phone in an inside pocket and only take it out when you're ready to shoot.

If snow melts on the screen, use the volume button as the shutter, because Samsung says the touchscreen may not respond properly when it's wet. Before you go back indoors, put the phone in a zip bag and let it warm up inside the bag, so condensation forms on the bag rather than on the lenses. If the lenses fog up anyway, leave the phone at room temperature until the fog clears.

Once the snow has melted, the free 90-day photography challenge gives you something to shoot every day, and there are more lists like this one in our photo ideas and challenges section.

Frequently asked questions