Not everyone experiences the same winter we do here in the Northeast, but for those of you who do, and those who may be visiting a region where winter means frigid temperatures and snowy landscapes, we asked photographer Weldon Lee, who regularly leads wildlife and adventure workshops and expeditions in Alaska, Canada and other chilly climes, to submit his A-list of tips for cold weather shooting.

• I know you're going to say that my first tip is way too basic to even mention, but a lot of people who come to my workshops seem to overlook it: check your batteries to make sure they're fully charged. A weak or dead battery will put a stop to your photography pretty fast. Carry backup batteries—they're insurance. Keep them inside your parka, close to your body. (When you buy those backups, I recommend that you stick with the manufacturer's recommendation; if you're shooting Nikon, shoot with Nikon batteries.)

• Also basic, but extremely important: protect your camera and lens. If it's raining or snowing, use rain gear; there are commercially available, ready-made camera covers, but you can choose something as basic as a plastic bag rubber-banded around the camera. Leave an opening for the lens, of course. I keep a warm bias filter, like the Nikon A2, on my lens at all times. Carry a terrycloth towel in your camera bag; if your gear gets rained on, it'll soak up moisture better than anything else.

• When you're changing batteries or flash cords out in the open, make sure your camera is shielded. Try to avoid changing lenses because you can get moisture inside the camera body, and it can freeze and damage the camera (99 percent of the time I shoot with an 80-400mm [AF VR Zoom-NIKKOR 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED] on my D2XS).

• I mostly use the cloudy setting for my white balance—it's my built-in warming filter. But if I want the images to look cold and have a blue cast, then I'll change the white balance to daylight and remove the A2 filter.