At first
you may think that winter doesn’t exactly suit our photographic needs…
Therefore, some of the unique landscapes could be photographed in the winter
time only, when the air is transparent and clear. Let’s try not to miss this
chance of making wonderful pictures.
For that you
will need:
A tripod
and a remote control cable. They are needed to prevent from the
blurring effect.
Batteries and memory
cards (have two sets of those at your hand). It’s better to use lithium
batteries, which are more resistant to freezing temperatures. Keep them in
the warm place (and not in the camera bag), such as inset pocket of your
coat, for example.
The case, scarf or towel to protect your
camera and save it in the warmth when shooting. Before you go outside it
is also recommended to keep the camera in the bag at the outdoor
temperature, so that the camera does not suffer from the sudden climatic
change. The same should be done after the shooting. Within two hours after
you’ve come home you shouldn’t take the camera from the bag – this will
guarantee that condensate disappears completely.
Methods
and objects of the winter landscape shooting depend on illumination:
I.
Sunny weather. Without any doubt, it’s better to shoot in the sunny weather, because
without the sun the structure and relief of the snowy surface are not expressed
on the shots. The most expressive objects in the winter landscape are
snowdrifts, snow on the trees, roofs of the buildings and hoarfrost twigs. All
of these objects are in the good contrast to each other and expressed well on
the shots only during the straight sun illumination. The best time for
taking photos of the winter landscapes are morning and evening hours, when the
slanting beams of light outline the round surface of the snowdrifts, and long
shades from the trees bring more contrast to the snowy cover.
Stress on
the details and objects which form composition, but don’t go too far
with that – there’s no need to put too many of them in the shot.
The trees. Try to look
for the beautiful bend of the trunk or a picture of branches against the white
snowy background or the sky. Such figured objects may also be photographed against
the sun.
The bushes, dead leaves
covered with hoarfrost. When the temperature is above zero in the day time,
and nights are frosty, you may take a perfect photo of the hoarfrost on the
trees the next morning (before 9 am).
The ice, icicles. You can take a
picture of icicle or ice glares with the help of the back lighting. On
the white background the ice or hoarfrost is badly seen, so you need to find a
shady area for the background, or some dark objects, or the bright and blue
sky.
Snowfall. If you take a
picture of the snowfall it is important to decide, which shot you’d prefer to
make and select the right shutter speed. The short shutter speed (1/125 sec. or
1/250 sec.) allows taking a shot of the falling flakes in the immobility. The
long shutter speed (up to 1/30 sec. or 1/15 sec.) brings you the movement of
the white thread of snowflake on your shot. But if the shutter speed is too
long, you will not be able to catch the trace of the snowflake.
Shades. The best time to
photograph a winter landscape is in the morning or evening hours, when the
slanting beams of light make long shades, quaint lines and curves – it brightens
up the whole composition and perfectly outlines the relief of the snow. And
remember that the recent snow with any object that leaves a shade is better
photographed from the side of the sun.
Illumination. You may find it
interesting to make a series of shots of the same place waiting for different
illumination.
II.
Cloudy weather. From the technical point of view, it’s always better
to shoot in the overcast day. The light becomes flat and you won’t suffer from
overexposure as in the sunny weather. But the main problem you may face here is
low contrast of the shot. You may increase it either in the settings of your
camera or with the help of photo editing. But there are also other tricks, such
as finding contrast in the subject, for example.
Back
lighting. When the light is not contrasting, try to shoot in the back lighting
(the sky in the overcast day is always brighter than any other object). For
example, a shot in the frosty outcast day. Tonality of the sky is almost equal
to tonality of snow. The black spots on the tree create the required level of
contrast, just as the chain of skiers in the background.
Color
saturation. If you shoot in the manual mode, you may try to increase color
saturation. In the cloudy lighting the colors become a little bit suppressed.
You can set the color temperature in the sunny regime (and not in the cloudy or overcast day, as it would seem to be preferred). In this case the snow may acquire
blue tint and not white and gray one (the blueness of snow brings clear and cold
effect to a winter shot). The snow may be of different tints, but if shooting
in the day time, such an effect makes your picture wintry alike.
Exposure.
If
you want the snow to look white and not gray, then make adjustments in the
exposure from +1 up to +2 steps. The thing is that when the camera is measuring
illumination, it considers any object to be medium gray in color. It results in
the decreasing of exposure, and we receive the gray snow in the shot. So, in
order to compensate this feature (by the way, all cameras have it, starting
from simple hand-held cameras and ending with the hi-tech professional reflex
cameras) we may need to adjust the exposure to the lighter side. When you shoot
something black – we have just the opposite steps (adjust the exposure to dark
side, in the minus, so as black won’t look like gray).
Filters. It could be quite interesting to use various filters when shooting
winter landscape. Firstly, they protect your lens. Secondly, they can influence
the picture by filtering certain spectrum – it makes shots both more colorful
and mild. If you’re intended to get the b&w shot in the end try a yellow or
orange filter, and it will enhance the contrast of the snow. The more you will
experiment with it the better shots you will take.
Try not
to use flash, it’s better to increase shutter speed instead.
Also if
the winter weather lacks of sun you may photograph portraits. Such
conditions fit well.
As usual, we are waiting for your participation in our Photo Contests!
