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How can I take photos in the winter?

laingsoft

Member
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Apr 30, 2020
Messages
190
Location
Edmonton
Format
35mm
I live in a place where winter is long, cold and dark. I'm really struggling with finding subjects, compositions, and exposure on top.

During the winters up here we generally get around 6-8ish hours of sunlight. Sunrise and Sunset shots are difficult because the white snow tends to blow out because they can be so much brighter than the lowlights and mids. Midday sun is difficult as well because of the brightness of the snow and the long shadows.

Do you guys have any advice on getting good shots in winter? I feel like I wasted all of winter 2020 and only shot a few rolls.
 
Embrace the long shadows and use what you have. Start thinking in terms of abstract photography - you can get very interpretive with them. To deal with the snow issue, try a little bit of overexposure and then pull your development by 2-3 stops. That will help tame the contrast. Or just embrace the high contrast (see previous comment about abstraction).
 
Moonlight pictures? I always liked Andreev https://photophilia.net/shergal/andreev/andreev.shtml Portraiture at a north window? Blizzards? Still lifes? Frozen stiffs?

I have more luck with snow B&W scenes in cloudy weather. Surprisingly, color slides of sunny winter scenes come out quite well.

And long nights are good for working in the darkroom.
 
Bring your own light with you. One or two flashlights and make your own sun.
 
Contrast is good for alt. processes [high density ranges]. My biggest problem is freezing fingers. Last Winter got a 5X7 Shen Hao which has easy finger controls; but took very few shots even at otherwise comfortable temps [30f]. Need to get special gloves.
 
Hi Iaingsoft

I'm in Montreal, and because of the bloody cold I don't shoot outdoors in the winter as much as I do at other times in the year, but I still enjoy it when possible. First advice I can give you is accept the way things are, that is, that because of the snow the contrast range might at times be extreme. I see it as an opportunity rather than an obstacle - to go out of my comfort zone, to explore contrast and not to be stuck with rules and principles - in photography, snow doesn't have to be white, some times, grey or grey-ish snow is what is best for the photo.

Second, and more practical advice, would be to bracket more often, if not systematically. I do much more often in the winter because I find scenes with snow much more difficult to meter accurately.
 
Use an incident lightmeter, so you know the level of the ambient light, rather than the reflected light readings fooled by a brighter-than-'average' scene.
 
Plates...as in sheet film?

David Kachel's Selective Latent Image Manipulation Technique (SLIMT) works really well on contrasty scenes. I used it with sheet film, but you could use roll film if you had one body for 'normal' contrast scenes and one for 'contrasty' scenes.

Benefits are:

- once the contrasty film has been treated, it can be developed normally with normal contrast film, and

- doesn't effect contrast in the shadows like typical "minus development' does.

http://www.davidkachel.com/assets/cont_pt3.htm

I love winter light.
 
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So far good advice, I can only add to make sure your gear is winterized, use a older selenium indecent meter like a Weston 5 or 6 with a inverse cone, follow the old saying, meter for the shadows and develop for the highlights use a compensating developer, Pyro or a divided developer like Diafine.
 
I’ve probably taken fewer snow photos than anyone here, but I always found a yellow filter (K2, 8, etc.) to help control it. It reflects a lot of blue light whi the filter controls.
 
Have you considered moving? Portland, Or was the wrong place for my photography and myself due to the weather. Maybe try some studio stuff inside? I do that when it gets above 110 degrees outside here in Az (yes, I am moving) and it's been challenging and humbling because I've never done any of that. It's a good way to see how different types of light affect the negs and printed images for sure.

Sometimes we get all caught up in developers and films and forget that photography literally means 'drawing with light' in it's original Greek form. If the light is right things are magical, and it's always fleeting.
 
Get no sympathy from me. Iowa has Hot and very humid summers, cold as hell winters. Sunday, yesterday, was the first decent day in a week. Cool enough I could shoot some casual pictures of my friend and his family.
I have a huge walk behind snow thrower. All my grass is dormant right now from the heat.
 
I live in South Dakota and love winter! I even shoot wet plate from my car. For plates remember UV light is weak so add a half stop at least. I often shoot at night, especially with snow covered ground. As for moonlight it's just reflected sunlight.

Kent in SD
 
Way back in the mists of time, at pretty much the dawn of the Internet, I remember seeing a website by some unknown to me guy named Clay Harmon.

Besides having a very nice website (think this was back when you had to do the coding yourself) he had a series of winter photographs that were beautiful in composition and masterful in print quality. I say masterful because most of the images were taken of blowing, drifting snow, at night, and lit by streetlights. No easy task!

He probably pouted for a while because he had a job during daylight hours, gave his head a shake, found a motivating force/project, then just got out there and photographed when/what he could.

There’s a lesson in that for all of us.

What he's up to now: https://www.clayharmon.com/images
 
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I do that when it gets above 110 degrees outside here in Az (yes, I am moving) and it's been challenging and humbling because I've never done any of that. It's a good way to see how different types of light affect the negs and printed images for sure.

Where to? My wife and I just returned from Morro Bay, summer temps in the 60s lows in the 50s, most days afternoon wind, costal marine layer, just 10 miles inland temps were in the 90s to low 100s. But I don't know if I take the overcast all year long. And snow don't get me started on snow, or the tropics, spend 3 years in Southeast Asia and covered Africa for the wires.
 
Who the hell shoots in the summer? Ugly light.

Winter? Much better. Just aim and shoot.
 
I take my 8x10 out in the winter. I pack a small kit with a single lens and only 3 film holders and a tripod. Good boots and gloves and winter jacket. Metering, development and printing are kind of a trial-and-error art. Some work and some don't. Here are a few 16x20" prints on Ilford MG FB. I especially like these two because the snow on the distant branches makes them more visible in large prints.
Also, I don't stop down too much, since I enlarge. So usually f32. I try to avoid 64 and 90 if I know I want a huge print with fine detail.

 
To avoid blown out exposures, use an incident light meter.
 
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