Man in red ski jacket in the snow — Me in snow – Black Park

Winter Photography

This post on winter photography follows the pattern I’m trying to implement of posting quarterly reviews of images created during the last season, this post covers the period since my Review of Autumn 2017. The goal of 10,000 hours of deliberate practice in the art of photography means that I should be able to compare the post I write after next winter with this one, and see the progress I’m making.

The specific challenges of winter photography, particularly for the landscape photographer, include:

overcast skies
rain, sleet, mist or if we are very lucky snow.

These lead to flat and monochromatic light. This is demonstrated in the image to the right where the colours are as shot and pretty much the only colour in the image is my red ski-jacket – natural colour popping only.

However, these weather conditions can be advantageous to the photographer as they provide opportunities for simplifying the scene and creating minimalist images. The master of this being Michael Kenna, see his gallery: Hokkaido, Japan, 2002-2003 as an example.

To see my images from Winter 2017/ 18

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Joy and Challenges of Snow

Snow is actually quite rare in the UK, during the winter of 2017/ 18 there were only 4 or 5 days when the snow is worth taking for its own sake. However, when it does snow, there are always images to be had. The self-portrait above in Black Park, and the following 2 were all taken before 8am on the 10th December 2017. So on that one morning, I shot 3 out of the 14 images from 2017/ 18 contribution to Winter Images.

Cars and motorbike in snow — Scene on the Uxbridge Road, near Black Park

Eastern Aspect of St Giles in the Snow — St. Giles Church
Stoke Poges

Challenge: making the snow look white rather than grey.

Solution:

shoot RAW
over expose by at least one stop
correct the colour temperature in Lightroom.

Wonderful Sunsets

Sunset shot of Barn Hastings Meadow Stoke Poges — Fire and Snow – Sunset over the barn, Hastings Meadow Stoke Poges

Frost Simplifying the Scene

Like mist, both snow and frost make a landscape more attractive by simplifying the scene.

Frosty farm — Clean image of the farm as viewed from Cliveden

Winter in the City

Rainclouds over the east-end of London — View east over Canary Wharf as rain clouds loom – viewed from the top of the Walkie-Talkie

Later – looking in the opposite direction

Shard in gloomy weather — The Shard as the sunsets amidst heavy rain clouds. Again viewed from the top of the Walkie-Talkie building

Shooting in Canada; Where it’s Properly Cold

Actually we were in Vancouver and Chilliwack (slightly inland British Columbia) so the temperatures were only down to just below zero and minus 10c respectively, which is positively balmy for Canada in winter. However, there was still plenty of snow.

Rather endearing Canadian tradition of hanging Christmas tree baubles in trees

Winter fishing the Chilliwack river British Columbia

Shooting the Shoot – Field Sports in Winter

Black and white of people shooting — Shooting on a grey day – converted to full Black and White from a fairly monochromatic image to add contrast.

Compositionally, I think the above image works well as the three figures (3 is good), gradually receding to the left, all break the horizon.

Semi-Abstract Woodland Shots

Blurry winter woodland scene — Focus on infinity – narrow depth of field to throw the foreground out of focus – Saturation bumped to max – minimal colour channel alteration.

The leading diagonal, formed by snow on the path, from bottom left takes the eye to the start of the main feature which is the three out of focus tree trunks, starting a third of the way up the image.

References:

As I mentioned at the top of this post, I hope to write a similar post next year with the goal of monitoring the progress I’m making.

If you have any comments on this post, please post them below.

To see more posts on other photographic topics, or to follow my learning progress, please like or follow me on the social media channel of your choice to the right.