15 Minutes in the Snow Forest

I find taking snow pictures a little challenging. When I walk out into a beautiful snow covered forest with lines of snow on every limb, twig and leaf, my eyes capture the images, sends them to my brain and puts them all together into the most fascinating three dimensional panorama imaginable. The panorama includes images in front of me, to either side and even behind me if I have turned all the way around to look. What a miracle built in camera we carry around with us all the time.

But when I take a picture with my camera I get one little flat 2 dimensional image that doesn’t come close to capturing the majesty of billions upon billions of snowflakes stacked upon each other.

So what can we do to improve our snow pictures. I’ve jotted down some suggestions. Please feel free to add any of your own under comments

Zoom in on smaller Scenes. Have a subject or direction that brings your eye into the picture.

Look for the non-symmetrical subjects which will give your image more interest.

Have a strong foreground subject that will give a focus point for a beautiful but busy background.

Focus in on a close subject with the background blurred to give perspective and depth.

Then move in even closer and capture the pieces and parts that make up the larger whole.

Repetition is easy to find after a snowfall but harder to capture because of all the whiteness. Look for color to help make the picture pop.

Perspective + color + pieces and parts

Big color + a lot of pieces + a little perspective

Look for the unusual, the turned and twisted. Snow will accentuate the weirdness.

Unusual + Color + Snow

Don’t be afraid to go down the the deep dark woods and take spooky pictures.

When there is no color try to think in black and white. Where are the blacks? What can I do to make the blacks stand out? Or the whites? Will the picture have a better mood If there are no grays or if there are?

Blacks + Whites + Unusual growth pattern

And finally, always watch out for old broken down Snow Trunk Monsters

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3 Responses to “15 Minutes in the Snow Forest”

This was incredibly helpful (especially since we’ve had mounds of snow of late!). Many of the points you gave are rather “common sense” things for photographers but seeing so much white can often make your creative mind have a white out itself… so it’s wonderful to be reminded of them.
Looking for the strong points of black and white when there is little or no color is a good mindset to have. It keeps you from feeling like you only have one color palate to work with (even if that be the case).
Thanks for sharing:)

Emily said this on January 11, 2011 at 2:13 pm | Reply
- Thanks Emily, I appreciate your comments. Common sense things from just a common guy.
  
  Hey I see where you are doing a Picture a Day project. Fabulous! How’s that working for you? I saw some cool pictures in just a quick scan through your most recent images. Keep up the good work!
  Follow the Light,
  Ron
  
  rbox said this on January 11, 2011 at 6:44 pm | Reply
Far from being a common guy- you’re very gifted and blessed!

I *have* been tackling the PAD project and must say that in the last month or two it has been especially challenging. The days tend to be dreary and then my schedule is often so full that I don’t get around to taking a photo until after dark… and while trying my best to avoid using the flash, I’m growing rather tired of grainy photos that lack natural light. (I’m definitely missing working with natural light!) I would not say that I’m proud of the majority of my PAD photos as of yet…nor are most my favorites, or what I feel is an example of my work… but it has definitely been (and still is) a good learning experience so I keep reminding myself of that.
Thank you for the encouragement:)
Blessings!

Emily said this on January 12, 2011 at 11:41 pm | Reply