Protecting Extremities from the Cold

Winter is almost upon us, and outdoor photographers have to change their mindset when shooting in the cold. The most important consideration when engaged in winter photography is not exposure or composition; instead, it’s protecting your extremities from the cold. This is particularly important for your fingers, but also for toes and ears. If your extremities hurt from the cold, it’s hard to think about anything else such as exposure and composition. And in extreme cold, frostbite is a serious issue. It must be guarded against before you consider anything else.

Fingers

Photographers need manual dexterity in their hands and fingers to press the shutter button, ply the menus, and replace batteries and flash cards. This is a problem because thick winter gloves and mittens are bulky and inhibit the kind of dexterity needed.

I have tried all kinds of thick, expensive gloves in combination with glove liners plus serious mittens along with one or two hand warmers inserted into the glove. None of them work well because they are just too bulky. You can’t

feel the small buttons and dials on the camera through the thick material. And the hand warmers are usually inserted into a pocket sewn into the glove against the back of the palm. However, it’s not the palm of the hand that gets really cold. It’s the fingers. In addition, one or two hand warmers inserted into a glove don’t offer enough warmth largely because the lack of air flow usually diminishes or extinguishes the chemical reaction that creates the heat.

Here is the technique I now use, and it’s fantastic. It works. and when my fingers get too cold (about every minute or two) I simply put my hand inside the pocket, hold the hand warmers tightly, and my right hand is instantly imbued with penetrating warmth.

The hand warmers last 6 to 8 hours. Make sure you bring enough warmers to last the number of days you’ll be shooting. The brand I use is Hot Hands. Over time, the potency of the chemical heat packets decreases. I wouldn’t rely on hand warmers I purchased last year. They may not get hot enough, and they might not last throughout the day.

I put six chemical heat packet hand warmers in the right outer pocket of my parka. The heat emitted combines to make the interior of the pocket very hot. Not just warm, but hot. I wear only a glove liner on my right hand so I have complete dexterity with which to shoot, On my left hand, I wear a glove liner, a good glove over that, and then a mitten as a third layer if it’s really cold. I use this hand to support the weight of the camera and lens. Finger dexterity is not needed with the left hand, so several layers of gloves can be used.

Toes

If your toes become painfully cold when shooting outdoors, there are two choices: You can do nothing and suffer, or you can go inside, take off your boots, and warm your toes.

Therefore, it’s important to protect yourself by wearing serious winter boots. For one of my snowy owl workshops, a woman came with fashionable boots made for cold weather when, for example, shopping in New York or Chicago where she would go in and out of various shops. They were not made for outdoor winter activities with a sustained exposure to frigid temperatures.

When you shop for boots, don’t even consider any product that doesn’t have a cold temperature rating. I strongly recommend a rating of at least minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (this is also minus 40 Celsius). However, these ratings assume you are active in some outdoor activity such as cross country skiing, hiking, building a snowman, etc. As photographers, we often stand in one place waiting for a photo opportunity, and this means inactivity. Even in tem-

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peratures of zero to minus 20 Fahrenheit, boots rated at -40 F may not be enough to keep your toes warm even if you wear thick socks.

If you expect to be photographing in extreme cold, I would recommend buying boots rated at -100 Fahrenheit (-73 C) or more. I bought boots rated at -100 F about 20 years ago, and I’ve never had cold toes since. It’s true that the boots are large and heavy, and I feel like Godzilla every time I wear them. But when I photographed in Canada when it was -45 F, my toes remained very comfortable. Any boots offered for less than $180 won’t be warm enough. They must have a temperature rating.

Ears The bottom tips of our ears stick out away from the sides of our face and therefore they don’t have the advantage of body heat. I wear a very warm hat with ear flaps, and that presses my ears against the sides of my face. Usually that’s enough to keep them warm. If not, I’ll add a thick beanie beneath the hat, and the combination of the two layers provides enough protection in the coldest of climates. Even on a windy day when the wind cuts like a knife, these two layers keep ear lobes from becoming painful.

When it comes to winter photography, you must protect your extremities no matter the cost. Pain and frostbite must be prevented under all circumstances. §