How Light Really Behaves on Snow and Ice

Snow takes its color from the sky

Snow reflects most of the light that falls on it. In sunlight, the lit side is warm and bright, while the shadows turn blue because they are lit by the blue sky. Under cloud, snow becomes soft grey and shapes are hard to read. At sunset, it turns pink and orange. Paint snow as pure white with grey shadows, and it will look like plaster.

The Snowy Rocks pack (209 photos, Tasmania, 7360 × 4912) is a good study of this. It shows rocks under every amount of snow, from a light dusting to full cover, so you can see how snow sits on edges, collects in hollows and reveals the shape beneath.

Glaciers up close

From a distance a glacier looks clean. Up close, it is often grey with rock dust and streaked with dark debris, with blue only in deep cracks and fresh ice.

• Mountain Glaciers: 555 photos of the Tasman, Hooker and Mueller glaciers in Mt Cook National Park and the Franz Josef glacier, New Zealand. Most were shot in winter, with 102 summer photos added, so you can compare seasons. It includes 2 stabilized video lookarounds.
• Everest Base Camp Scattered Glacier: 305 photos at 7952 × 5304 of the glaciers around Everest Base Camp, with 8 panoramas.

For the peaks above the ice, see mountain reference photos.

Icebergs and frozen water

• Iceberg Lagoon: 199 photos of icebergs in many shapes, taken in Iceland on a calm, foggy morning.
• Iceberg Coast: 198 photos of huge icebergs drifting along the coast of Greenland.
• Frozen River Banks: 117 photos of the Dnieper river locked in ice.
• Stratovolcano Crater: 452 photos of Mount Ruapehu in New Zealand, including 39 photos of big ice formations and 55 ice close-ups beside a steaming crater lake. Fire and ice in one place.

Living and working in winter

Snow changes how places are built and used. These packs show people's spaces in the cold:

• Snowy Japanese Village: 218 photos from Shirakawa-go and the Nagano area, with steep roofs built to shed heavy snow.
• Greenland Town: 261 photos of a small town of brightly colored houses, with dogs living near the homes.
• Trainyard in Snow: 575 photos of tracks, trains, an overpass, rooftops and wasteland in Vancouver under snow, shot in one day, with 35 stitched panoramas.
• Hydro Dam in Summer and Winter: 264 photos of the Cleveland Dam in British Columbia in both seasons, including 76 winter photos of the dam and 44 of the reservoir.

Frequently asked questions

Can I see the same place in summer and in winter?

Yes. Mountain Glaciers, Hydro Dam in Summer and Winter and Pine Tree Forest in Winter and Summer all show one location in both seasons. This is very useful when you need to turn a summer scene into a winter one.

Do you have frost and small ice details?

Yes. The free Icicles pack has 37 photos of sparkling icicles, and other free reference photo packs are listed here. Frosty Trees has 327 photos of trees under a thin layer of frost in Finland, shot in soft overcast light. For more trees, see tree reference photos.

Can I make snow and ice materials for 3D from these photos?

Yes. The license lets you create your own textures, 3D models and photogrammetry meshes from the photos for your projects. Close-up packs such as Snowy Rocks and the Ruapehu ice close-ups are a good starting point.