Best Setting Taking Night Pic w/snow

[rekud300]

Last night I attempted to take several pictures of my kids sledding.

It was an average snow fall.

I tried with the flash, but all that did was highlight the snowflakes in front of the lens. Turned flash off, and obviously long exposure, got blurry(didn't have Tri-Pod with me).

Got a couple that are good enough for a scrapbook.

But being a newby, just seeing what a good setting would be to start with.

Nikon D5000
18-55
55-200
Lenses

Thanks for any input

 

[Phrasikleia]

It is difficult at night because you need a shutter speed in the neighborhood of 1/40-1/80 or thereabouts to get the snow to register. In order to get that kind of shutter speed at night, you'll probably need to use high ISO in combination with a wide aperture. It's also best to shoot against a dark background to make the falling snow stand out.

For example, I took this shot during a snowstorm shortly after sunset:

That was at 1/40s, but I had to use f/2.8 and ISO 1250 to get it. Because of the shallow depth of field, the snow is less visible than it could be, but it does register against the darker backgrounds. I was also using a tripod, which helps a lot.