Winter Photography 2

At this time of year (Assuming you live somewhere in the Northern hemisphere) it can be difficult to motivate yourself to get out and about with your camera. However, when you do brave the cold days, do try and take your camera with you as, like all the seasons, winter has its own offerings for great photography opportunities.

After a very clear, cold night, we had a beautiful "warm" sunrise and before the ice and frost had a chance to melt, I dusted off the 5D and took a few shots of our garden pond. Shot at 60th/sec, F5 ISO 320 I was able to hand hold this photo before my hands froze. The only Photoshop I used was a little saturation using the brush tool to bring out the colours I knew were there when I shot the image.

This morning I could have kicked myself. One time I never take my camera out is when I am doing my early morning cycle tour of our village (trying to get fit) at about 7.30am. Today was particularly chilly with a thick fog looming around the village. The first part of my "tour" is to reach the highest point of the village where there are farms and fields all around and this morning I literally said "Wow!" out loud.

As I reached the peak I could see the valley below and all I could see was a thick covering of pure white fog with just a few trees and pylons sticking out...very eerie especially as the sun was just rising and it reminded me of a few skydives I had done on cloudy days! It was one of those moments that needed capturing there and then as within a minute or two it was gone.

Still, I may now be able to justify buying a smaller camera such as the Canon G10 for such occasions where I cannot take the full DSLR ensemble. Photo opportunities happen at the most inopportune moments! Sometimes you need to get out of your comfort zone and get out early to get those cracking shots that differ from the "norm" that we see everywhere.

The only way to distinguish yourself from the millions of other photographers is to be different, not so much in WHAT you photograph but WHEN you photograph it. You need to watch, learn and understand how light can change throughout the day and dramatically alter the appearance of a landscape or landmark.

If you have some beautiful places around you, don't just go there in the middle of the day, look at the weather forecast and decide to get up early and go there to shoot it during:

• Sunrise
• Sunset
• Foggy misty weather
• Stormy clouds
• Dusk or dawn
• Night
• Different Seasons

In fact you could make it a personal challenge to get the same scene photographed at very different times and these can then make fantastic wall art or composite.

Those photographers that seem to always turn out amazing shots know what to do, where to be and at what time exactly. Forethought and planning play a huge part in getting those shots.

Related Book Resources:

First Light - Joe Cornish

Natural Light Photography - Jim Zuckerman

More Winter Photography