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Tips on snow scene photography. Part 2. I took more snow-covered landscapes just 6 days ago, incredible, considering the sunny days we’re had this weekend. Last week I looked at the technical side of the correct colour and the correct amount of light. This week I’ll look at the composition or the overall aesthetics of the photograph.

The snow covering Richmond was breathtaking and people really seemed boosted and really happy to be out in. I thought of doing portrait photography outside but didn’t think my clients would be too keen! The next time we have a white coat covering our neighbourhood, I will try and do that though. The sun was out and the high cloud cover meant the light was even. This of course gave me a lot of light (or technically, the exposure) which I had to adjust the camera for.

This photograph is of the terrace above Richmond Hill. I loved the shapes that the branches made and the contrast of the snow and trunks. This light, flaky snow clung to the top of branches and highlighted the dark wood of this avenue of trees. I like the ironwork of the railings and I introduced interest in the foreground but also showed a good proportion of the path.

Close up of Terrace

I brought the bench in to the immediate foreground here but kept the focus on the far distance. Having something this close in the foreground adds interest and frames the picture. I could have focused on the bench itself and blurred the distance. This would have been more of a photographic study of shapes and contrast.

Many artists including Turner have made this scene famous and I wanted to introduce some human interest. I set up the photograph and waited for people to walk in to the scene. The two people walking away from the camera bring a story to the scene and also demonstrates scale. Photographing people doesn’t have to be just a portrait, it can make enhance most landscapes.

For my portrait page, see http://www.davidstubbs.co.uk/gallery/portraits/

Tips on taking photographs in the snow. Photographing landscapes in the snow gives us some challenges. Firstly, as the white snow is bright, it fools the cameras exposure reading and produces a darker image. To resolve this, on a compact, chose the snow setting as the scene mode if the camera has it. I had a Sony compact that had one and it worked quite well. My current compact doesn’t though (the otherwise brilliant Linux). On DSLR’s, you can adjust the exposure by one or two stops. On more professional camera’s, change the Exposure Value to between 1 and 2.5.

Photography tips for the snow

The Second problem is the colour tint that snow can produce. Snow is such an extreme white that it verges on the blue as far as the camera sensor is concerned. Most cameras have what’s called a white colour balance to cope with this. That means that the camera adjusts to the conditions. If your pictures are looking unnatural as far as the colour is concerned, you can set the white balance manually. Adjust to the Daylight setting in this case.

Photography tips for the snow

Photography tips for the snow

I like contrasts in my snow pictures. When I first drove through Richmond Park in the morning the deer where in the woods and the contrast between the shades of trunks and branches and the snow was dramatic. The coats of the deer were complimented well in this setting. When I came back in the afternoon, they had found pastures new!

Photography tips for the snow

Another tip is if you want to ‘slow’ your images down, i.e. have a slow shutter speed and see blur in flowing water or just to able to open up the aperture. Use  neutral density filter. These reduce the light and come in different degrees of strength. Lets hope for more snow!

http://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/richmond-park