Creative photography

[bdery]

Two days ago I took a walk long a river trail about an hour after dawn, on a sunny day following a heavy snow fall. Here are the results, open to comments as always.

snow blanket

I used custom WB for most of those shots, set on a shadowed patch of snow (since, at least at first, there were more shadows than light). It's interesting, I think, to notice how the light changes as time passes (the gallery is displayed chronologically). The one thing that bothered me is that I had trouble composing with all those small branches everywhere, I didn't get the neat subject-separated-from-background shots I was looking for. Also, since it was a freezing -32 Celsius with wind, I could not get myself to remove my gloves and play with filters and my wide angle lens. It's a wonder the batteries actually survived the run.

I actually lost one spare battery while fumbling with my bag. White battery falling in fluffy snow, not much to do...

[Mike54]

Nice series Bernard, I especially like the ones with the fence(s) as leading lines and the one of the stream. What did you have the aperture set at (re: seperating subject, etc.)?

I've been waiting for a bit of snow myself to cover the drab of dry winter we're having so far. Today I awoke to find a nice sticky snow on everything and I have to go to work, bah. Timimg is everything, now I can only hope it stays cold during the day so I can get out and capture a few this afternoon.

PS, I fixed your link...  

<edit> Sorry Bernard, I didn't realize the EXIF was there. I would have thought that at f/4 the DOF would have been greatly reduced as to focusing on the subject? </edit>

[bdery]

Mike, I hope your snow stays on the ground long enough! If not, next time do what I did : wake up at dawn... For me it was a good thing I went Tuesday : all other days this week were either snowy or cloudy, not good for light. I'll look forward to seeing your pics.

As for aperture, remember I'm using a Point and shoot! The challenge is NOT to have a large DOF (like for the wire covered in snow shot, for which I used F3,5 and zoomed all the way to 72 mm or 432 equivalent). But when I remain at 6 mm (36 eq.) at F4 my hyperfocal range goes from roughly 1 meter to infinity if I focus at 2 meters... Pretty useful indoors, actually.

This will be a challenge when and if I move to a DSLR sometime. How will I manage to create large DOFs without using a tripod to avoid blur? Increasing the ISO and getting good primes, I guess

[Mike54]

If not, next time do what I did : wake up at dawn...

LOL, nice try Bernard but "dawn" comes almost 2 hours after I get to work this time of year.

 

[Deb]

Gosh I so wish for some snow here!!!!! Your shots are a nice glimpse into that beautiful world.

[Deb]

How will I manage to create large DOFs without using a tripod to avoid blur?

Sorry to say but I always carry my tripod around with me. I've got a strap attached to it so that, in a pinch, I can carry it over my shoulder (when I don't have it strapped to my backpack). I don't leave home without it.  

[Mike54]

Sorry to say but I always carry my tripod around with me. I've got a strap attached to it so that, in a pinch, I can carry it over my shoulder (when I don't have it strapped to my backpack). I don't leave home without it.  

I don't have so much need to strap it to a backpack (at least around home base) but all the rest is the same.

[Deb]

I use it more often than a camera bag. It's much easier for me to tote out in the field and holds a lot more ...