January Project: Winter! Walking in a winter wonderland!

[Randy Stout]

This months project is what winter means to your photography. For me, snow fall, subdued light, trumpeter swans, cold feet:)
It was a dark and snowy morning. I wanted an image with snow falling, and went to the local bird sanctuary hoping to catch some birds flying against the darker background provided by the trees along the lake. The darker background really helps show off the falling snow, as compared to shooting against a white snow field.

Well, the snow was falling, but nobody was flying! So, I did the best I could.

D700 500mm f/4 f/7.1 1/3200s ISO 1250 Manual Wimberley/Gitzo
Post: CS4 curves in ACR selective sharpening, small crop for comp.

One of the challenges for images where there is a lot of snow in the air between you and the subject is to get enough detail in the subject, esp. when the subject is white! I played around with the tonalities and sharpening here to try and maintain the snowy feel but still show off the subjects.

The comp. is a bit different than I would normally do with the subjects here, but I wanted enough of the darker background above to show the snowfall.

The shoreline curves in towards us on the left, giving the impression that the image needs a bit of CW rotation, but it is actually level.

Advice and thoughts appreciated.

Hope to see more images on this month's theme posted.

Cheers

Randy

[Doug Brown]

This image really conveys a nice sense of winter. You managed to get good detail in the birds despite the falling snow. I might crop a little off the top of the frame.

[Charles Scheffold]

Snow like that is hard on the AF :)

Overall, I like this image. Gives a very good feel for what it's like to be there. The birds are a bit hard to see on the snowy background, but the fact that they are a slightly different shade of white does help. The snow on the dark part of the background makes for a nice contrast. I don't think you could have done better under those conditions.

Charles

[Don Lacy]

I feel cold just looking at this image Randy, I like the placement of the darker BG and having the lead swan with his foot raised is also a nice added touch.

[Stu Bowie]

Randy, well exposed on the two swans, and both in perfect focus and similar postures. I like how we can see the falling snow against the darker BG.

No chance of me being able to enter the winter project.:)

[Randy Stout]

Thanks for the comments all:

Stuart - yes, no snow for you, but if this time of the year yields some unique birds, activities, etc., that would be a great thing to show. Perhaps we should have called it - What January means to my photography :)

Cheers

Randy

[Charles Scheffold]

Thanks for the comments all:

Stuart - yes, no snow for you, but if this time of the year yields some unique birds, activities, etc., that would be a great thing to show. Perhaps we should have called it - What January means to my photography :)

Cheers

Randy

In the northeast, I think winter is by far my favorite time for bird photography.... lots of wintering species and of course NO INSECTS :)

Charles

[Stu Bowie]

Thanks for the comments all:

Stuart - yes, no snow for you,

Cheers

Randy

Hi Randy, I would love to have the opportunity to capture nature against a snowy BG. I do envy all you guys and girls that can do just that. I feel that a snowy BG outweighs any other BG. Of course I would have to learn how to expose for such BG's. Cheers.

[Randy Stout]

Hi Randy, I would love to have the opportunity to capture nature against a snowy BG. I do envy all you guys and girls that can do just that. I feel that a snowy BG outweighs any other BG. Of course I would have to learn how to expose for such BG's. Cheers.

Stuart:

There are days when I would love to send you some of my snow!

The exposure is really the same tech. you already use. I just expose for the bird, and hope I can manage the effect on the background. Darker days do help in that regard. What I find trickier with white birds and the snow, is to get enough tonal separation to make the bird stand out. I spend a bit of time working with the curves to provide a bit more separation than you see in the raw file.

You can always come visit us in the states. Lots of snow to go around!

Randy

[Kaustubh Deshpande]

Randy, loved the feel here....The shot takes me right into the scene. Loved the comp, poses and the exposure. Not sure if you had a chance to go lower to actually get the birds against the dark BG

[Randy Stout]

Kaustubh:

Great question about the lower angle, it would have been nice, but not possible where I was shooting.

Cheers

Randy

[Pieter de Waal]

Hi Randy, I admire you and other photographers in that part of the world for venturing out in the cold snowy weather to photograph, not sure how we Africans would manage.

Your image certainly captures that cold winter feeling and those guys seem to be just out for a stroll. Well defined subjects and love the raised foot of the one bird. I am interested in the high speed at which the image was taken , is there any particular reason ?

[Gary Esman]

Hi Randy, Nice shot of this pair. The snow falling does give it a nice winter feel. I am thinking straighten the horizon. Did you have to remove any snowflakes from in front of the bills?

Gary.

[Randy Stout]

Hi Randy, I admire you and other photographers in that part of the world for venturing out in the cold snowy weather to photograph, not sure how we Africans would manage.

Your image certainly captures that cold winter feeling and those guys seem to be just out for a stroll. Well defined subjects and love the raised foot of the one bird. I am interested in the high speed at which the image was taken , is there any particular reason ?

Pieter:

Well, I wouldn't tolerate your heat well, so we will call it even:)
The light was generally dark, but occ. an opening would occur in the clouds. I was playing with the shutter speed just to control my exposure, and not because I needed it to freeze my slow moving targets. I could have lowered the ISO, but then if it got really dark again, I would not have had enough shutter speed for flying birds, which was what I was looking for to begin with.

Gary: I mentioned in the original post, about this is where the lakeshore curves in to the left, and makes it look like the horizon isn't level. Perhaps a good case where I should go with what looks best, not what I know to be reality (ie. the image is level as shown, even if it looks off). After all, only a handfull of people would recognize this location, and realize that the shore curves there. Most folks don't have that reference to go by, and can only go on appearances.


Cheers

Randy

[Chris Kotze]

Beautiful image and super exposure. Snow in Africa Imagen:cool:

[Chad Caswell]

Great exposure and nice job focusing with all the flakes! I'm thinking I would like to see some more room in front/bottom of them, kinda giving the feeling they have something to walk into :)

Chad

[Pieter de Waal]

Thanks for the explanation Randy.