The recent heavy snow may not be totally welcome because of the disruption it caused, but it does represent a fantastic photographic opportunity. The snowman the kids built in the front garden is a precious memory. Close-ups of frosty grasses and icicles hung over streams are evocative of winter days. Cloudless blue skies and white fells are perfect for a weekend photographic expedition to the hills.

But taking a digital image represents a technical challenge for your camera when there is a lot of the white stuff about. Think about the light. Even when overcast, there is more of this around than usual if there is snow. Excess reflected light bleaches the scene and makes for disappointing images with little detail in the highlights.

SCENE (SCN) modes are packages of settings for particular photographic situations. Even on the simplest camera you will have a few. Look at the dial on the top, or possibly in the picture-shooting menus. Many compacts and bridge cameras have a snow setting, helpfully indicated by a friendly snowman. This setting will prepare the camera for the extra light reflected back from the snowdrifts. If you can’t find this, try the beach setting with its palm tree, desert island or umbrella symbol. White balance (WB) settings can also help, especially if you have the ‘evaluative WB’ type, but this is a subject in its own right for another time.

On larger cameras there are some other settings you can look at. Try adjusting the digital film speed - that’s the ISO settings. You might recognize from when you used to buy rolls of film. For very bright, snowy conditions go low. A setting of 50 ISO should help and you’ll get pin-sharp detail too.

Of course the first rule is to get the picture. Take your first image on the AUTO setting and let the camera sort it out. This picture may be a little unsatisfactory, but at least you’ve got something for the album, and you can always adjust it on the computer. Now try bracketing the exposure, that is making an exposure to either side of the normal setting. The EXP scale runs from minus 2, through the normal setting at 0, to plus 2. The plus side lightens and brightens dull, overcast scenes revealing more detail in the shadows. For more detail in the over-bright snowfields, try changing the setting to minus 0.5, or minus 1 in the manual (M) mode. The LCD screen at the back of the camera will show you what works.

There are other challenges to the digital photographer in cold snowy conditions. I love snow, particularly when combined with a heady mix of clear mountain air, alpine peaks and ski runs. A couple of years ago, having just completed a long descent, I stopped to take a digital picture. Removing the camera from the outside pocket of my jacket, I pressed the power on button, and as usual the lens whirred into position. And stopped. Nothing worked. The camera would not focus, the shutter did not fire. The lens stayed where it was and would not retract. The camera was in suspended animation. I knew the batteries were fully charged. What I had not calculated for was the cooling effect of my swift descent. The problem was soon solved with a quick stopover for a hot chocolate in a warm cafe. I kept the camera in a warm inside pocket after that and had no further problem. Would that my skiing technique was as easily sorted.