The fog and the snow are photographers' best friends
they can take a scene like this
and make it look like this
These conditions make photography much, much easier
especially if you know how to use them
so in this video, and since we've been getting so much snow here lately
I'm going to share with you a few tricks and tips about how to use the snow to simplify our images
to simplify our compositions
if you are shooting subjects at ground level like say,
trees, the snow will help simplifying the foreground
but you still have to deal with the background
a busy background can ruin the image
that was the case in a few images that I made here recently
where the background was pretty busy with houses, other buildings, or more trees
to avoid this, we can get low on the ground
this sometimes works, but the angle can feel a little bit awkward and forced
ideally, we will find a snowy hill, so the snow is the background too
I captured these 3 trees in Spain, on a very far away hill
another example is this, a more recent image, where I was able to capture this tree
not only the only evergreen tree in the image
but also the only tree on our side of the hill
if we are shooting a snowstorm, we can also use that storm
to separate the subject from the background
for example, in this image that I made in South Dakota, the
tree is the clear subject, even though there are hills in the background
on a clear day, that would be a very busy scene and the hills would be very distracting
but they were partially covered in snow, that helped
and also the atmosphere from the snowstorm helped softening the textures and the
detail of those hills
another very similar example, from the rocky mountain national park
of this tree, where I was able to separate the tree from the mountain in the background using
yes, a fast aperture, a wide aperture,
but also the atmospheric conditions that were happening there
another option is to use a closer background
for example, this image that I made
here a few days ago using a wall of a building as the background
I really like this composition, and I've tried different variations over the last few days
I will keep trying, but I'm liking the way they are looking
Shapes
use any shapes that you might find in the snow, because
you have to love the contrast that they give you
for example, I love these skier tracks that I found
not only they serve as a leading line, but they offer that contrast
create that contrast between the snow, the white snow, and the black tracks
and they kind of disappear at the end, creating some mystery as well
you can use footprints
these are my very own footprints
train tracks work really well too
or even these, I don't even know what they are called but the ones that are used to separate
the different parking spots in a parking lot
but the best example of shapes that I can show you from my own collection
is this image that I made with a drone in Oregon, a few years ago
I was taking some photos of the white river after a snowstorm, when this skier just passed by
I don't usually include people in my images, but in this case it gives it scale and context
and I think that it really adds a lot to the image, and makes it much, much better
this brings us to the next point, that is subjects out of place
snow transforms a scene so much
that it can make some objects feel or look like they are out of place
for example, this image that I made in spain in a cemetery,
of all the tombs and the flowers covered in snow
it looks kind of, I don't know, apocalyptic
or these stairs that seem to lead to nowhere
I have a few more examples that you should be seeing now
but there are two favorites of mine
one that I made very recently, of this bench
a little bit farther north from here, in LaPorte
that bench is right next to a lake that you can't see because of all the snow
snow on the ground but also snow on top of the frozen lake
so it gives the impression that the bench is in an empty field
but there is no better image to illustrate this point of being out of place
than the image of my in-laws pier that I made right here, from the balcony
it is one of my favorite images, if not my favorite image, that I've made so far this winter
it's a pier, for boats, in snow on a frozen lake
again, with snow on top so it feels like it belongs to a completely different place,
or time, or both
and it's also a very simple image that, in my opinion, works
when we're looking for images, we have to remember to look everywhere: left, right,
up, down, in front of us, of course
looking up is not as useful when shooting the snow as when shooting in other conditions
because the snow is usually on the ground
but sometimes we can take advantage of the snow in a very very subtle way
for example, this image that I made in Austria
you can see that the snow accentuated the shape of Jesus on the cross
and I think that it made for the whole image
but usually what we want to do in the snow is look down
I really love to point my camera down, for example,
when capturing just the trunks of the trees
you don't have to capture everything,
sometimes just hinting is much better than showing everything
I have plenty of examples of this, where I capture only the bottom of the trees
but I think that this panorama is the best example of all the images that I've made recently
because, of course, the best example will always
be this image "The last of winter" that i made a few years ago with the Bronica
and of course, I've been making a lot of images of the
cracks in the ice and lakes and rivers and stuff like that
by looking down, by pointing the camera down
Snow makes post-processing much easier
it's much easier to remove distractions in the foreground,
in the snow, than it is when we have grass or other surfaces
so feel free to get rid of all the elements that distract the viewer from what the image is about
but don't go too far, don't make it feel too fake
make it less imperfect, but still imperfect
The sun always rises after a snowstorm
so be in the lookout for that because it might give you some very dramatic images
with the sun comes the light, and with the light come the shadows
shadows can be very dramatic in the snow
this is something that I haven't used that much
personally in my work, I only have one example to show you
but I intend to go out because we still have plenty of snow
it doesn't snow as often here in Indiana, but because it's so cold,
the snow stays on the ground for days and days
and right now it's very sunny, it's very, very harsh, and it's very bright out there
but there might be some images to be made with those
long shadows in the white surface that is the snow
and that's it!
These were some tips and tricks and techniques that I use when I shoot in snow
Hopefully this video was helpful
Thank you so much again for being there
and see you in the next one!