Winter Photography

Sorry about missing a blog post last month. I got busy with family vacation and working at Vancouver International Film Festival. Such is life.

Winter can be an amazing time of year to do photography. Especially when there is a proper amount of snow.

One of the challenges of snow photography that I really enjoy working with (or around) is the large amount of contrast between the bright snow and the dark greens and brown of coniferous trees. If you just shoot normally quite often the snow does not look as bright as you want it to and to adjust it on the computer later takes a bit of work. I have found that increasing my Exposure Value (EV) up and trying it from 0 to +1.7 (I usually work my EV's in 1/3 stops) I can usually get the brightness of the snow against the darkness of the trees that I want. Another benefit that I have found from upping the EV is that some of the dark trees show a bit more colour.

I find the difference between the snow and non-snow areas in a scene interesting to work with in finding what looks the best in a picture. Finding what is artistic and/or picturesque is a fun challenge.

A challenge that is not so enjoyable is driving in winter conditions. I am fortunate that I have a four wheel drive pickup that is designed to handle most of those conditions properly. But that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. In British Columbia we can have the weather change in a moments notice. We've even had snow warnings issued in July. I have had a beautiful dirt/gravel road turn into a mud pit after a short amount of rain. While my vehicle can handle driving in those conditions it doesn't mean it's enjoyable.

The other big issue I find I have to deal with is the temperature. I don't mind it being cold but I don't want to be cold. Proper clothing is essential.

Overall, I find winter photography enjoyable even with all the challenges. It's worth doing.

Talk to you next time.