Shooting In The Snow

Tamarack Cone

With over 20 inches of snow at my place in the last five days people are complaining that winter is here and the calendar says we have a month to go before winter. Well we live in Michigan, get out and enjoy the beauty. A couple of days ago, after a nice snow and the winds were calm; I took my camera out in the back yard and did a little shooting. As I have written before about enjoying nature, you don’t always have to go very far away from home. Sometimes the best photo ops can be right outside you back door, literally. This is a great time to get in a few last close-up shots before we switch to more scenic shots with snow and ice being the main subjects. I enjoy winter botany and love to shot plants in the winter, if conditions allow me to. So here are a few tips.

Motherwort

Look for subjects that might otherwise be overlooked, like seed heads of the flowers you photographed in the summer or fall. Always use a good sturdy tripod, especially with close-ups. A calm day with some bright filtered light or sun is best, but in West Michigan in winter we sometimes have to work with much less than ideal conditions. Bright light in winter helps with contrast and giving depth to the shot. Low flat light doesn’t make for good photos with snow, everything looks white with no definition to anything.

Sunflower F5

Sunflower F16

Try different apertures for more depth of field and different lighting effects as a result. I always shot close-ups at a smaller number F-stop and at F-16. I want maximum depth and clarity but some shots also work well with less depth. Depth of field is the amount of the image that is in focus. The higher the F-stop number, the smaller the aperture opening and the greater will be the depth of field. I have included two shots of a sunflower head to show the difference this can also make on the snow showing detail. With snow, proper exposure of the darker subject while striving for detail in the snow, don’t blow it out!

Try shooting the same image while changing the exposure settings in increments of 1/3 stop as this will help you find the proper setting for detail in the snow and not blowing it out. Winter’s snow and ice can make for some great photos but they are really great when you get detail in all areas and have good contrast to really make things pop.