Southeastern Snow
by Barbara Graham
This is a cell phone picture of snow in Decatur (Atlanta), Georgia on December 8 and 9. If cell phone pictures are not okay, please let me know. It was still snowing a bit, and I didn't want to take my camera out, and I have zero experience with using a camera in even a little bit of snow.
All feedback would be appreciated. Please view the larger version if possible. Thank you!
Comments
8 commentsThere's a lot of haloing on the branches! Just kidding. It's snow, of course.
--P
There's something about freshly fallen snow on trees; maybe cause it's usually fleeting and melts away, but always enough reason to photograph - even will a cell phone.
I suppose one downfall is dynamic range and the lack of capturing shadow detail. No biggie, but I could see cropping some off top and left just to reduce the amount of dark space in the trees; maybe even some off the bottom for balance.
Otherwise, the best feature of course is the red leaves and the color added to an otherwise snowy monochromatic scene.
Lon
The red does come through nicely, and really makes the image for me. The only thing I could suggest is to make that visible edge of the curb, or whatever it is around the base of the red tree, to be horizontal. It's off by just a tiny bit now. The other thing to try would have been to get closer, and get just some of the red tree against the snowy trees in the BG. Snow on branches is down right mesmerizing.
Of course cell phone images are OK! But, I have to tell you, if you have snow, you really ought to get out there with your regular camera. I'm not sure what kind of camera you have, but unless it is really snowing hard, you can probably just get your camera right out there in it. That's what I do with my 5d. I very rarely use a rain cover; only when it is really raining hard. I don't think I have ever used a cover of any kind in just snow. If you are out in cold, snowy are for a long time, you might want to put your camera in an air-proof bag (a big zip-lock works well) while you are still out in the cold, then let the camera warm up while in the bag, to help prevent condensation in side the camera. I don't do that unless I am outside for a while. If I just jump out and take a few pictures, and it's above 20 F, and then jump back in the vehicle, I don't worry about that.
I do way more photography in the winter than I do in the summer. For one thing, I have more time, just too darn busy in the summer. But I also love snow images, and fresh snow on trees can be magical.