Friday, February 3rd, 2012

Winter Photography Tip # 9 – Camera care

Most cameras work just fine in cold weather but their batteries don’t so you’ll treat your camera one way and batteries another.

To avoid condensation affecting your camera it’s best to keep it cold rather than taking it from warm to cold all the time. So, don’t tuck your camera inside your jacket, and if it’s wet use a rainproof covering for it only.

If you get the camera covered in snow just brush or shake it off – don’t rub so it melts into the camera!

On the flip side, a battery’s chemicals will simply not work efficiently if the batteries are cold so tuck them close to your body in an inside jacket pocket until you need them. And expect to consume more batteries in winter as they won’t last as long as they do in warmer months.

 

 

Helen Bradley

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

Winter Photography Tip #8 – White balance

When you are photographing in snow conditions there are situations where you’ll need to adjust the white balance so that snow is white and so it doesn’t have a blue cast.

On the other hand the colourcast you get when you shoot in the early morning or at sunset is desirable so don’t remove it or your sunsets and sunrises will be ruined.

To capture the colour of the light set the camera’s white balance setting to sunny day – the camera makes almost no adjustment to white balance when you do this. This makes it a good setting to use when capturing sunsets, for example.

However, when there is a colour cast that you don’t want to capture such as blue light on snow, then adjust the white balance setting in your camera to remove it. To warm up an image, set the white balance to shade as this adds a pink/ orange warming cast to the image and counteracts the blue/colder light.

Helen Bradley

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012

Winter Photography tips #6 – Light and Shadow



The light in winter is different to light in summer and because the sun is lower in the sky you get longer shadows.

When taking photographs in winter, take notice of where the shadows are falling.

If you photograph with the sunlight falling across the scene you can capture detail in not only the light but also in the play of light and shadow.

This contrast adds detail and interest to a landscape or anywhere where you have objects large enough to cast shadows and the sun to create them.

Helen Bradley

Thursday, January 19th, 2012

Winter Photography tip #5 – Play with Depth of Field

Winter is a great time to capture images taking advantage of your camera’s ability to create depth of field effects.

Get close to your subject and use an aperture setting of f2.8 or f4. When you use a wide aperture you achieve a very small depth of field so there will be a small amount of the image in focus and most of it out of focus. This is a great way to turn an otherwise humdrum subject into something a lot more interesting.

Helen Bradley

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

Winter Photography tips #4 – Capture Reflections

When you’re looking around a scene for photographic opportunities take the time to look down as well as out and up.

Winter brings with it not only stiller waters but also puddles created by rainfall.

On any day when rain has fallen a wealth of photographic opportunities exist at your feet. Capture a scene in a puddle to get a reflected image with artistic qualities that simply aren’t there when you take a photograph of the object itself.

Helen Bradley

Saturday, January 7th, 2012

Winter photography Tip #2 – Grab the Color

Any splash of colour in a winter scene will show up beautifully and can be the makings of an attractive image.

Look out for things as simple as a blue sky over a snow covered mountain or a skier’s jacket.

The colour will be the first thing that the viewer’s eye will go to in the photograph so make sure to place it in an appropriate position in the shot. Draw an imaginary tic-tack-toe board across your view finder and position the colorful item where two lines intersect to get a more vibrant photograph.

Helen Bradley