Silver, Blue and Gold

To help kick off the new Flora Photography discussion forum I thought I would write up a short description of my favorite winter flora technique.

I love working with a small gold reflector in the snow. This works best with a clear sunny sky. The combination of light from the bright blue sky and the gold reflector give me a classic silver, blue, and gold color palette.

First, I choose a subject that's shaded but near the edge of a shadow. I can always find some grasses or seed heads poking out of the snow.

Then I use my gold reflector to throw nice warm light on to the subject. I'll stick the reflector in the snow or, occasionally, use a plamp to hold it in place. The reflector is adjusted so its light skims the surface of the snow and illuminates the subject.

I set the cameras white balance to daylight so the shadows will render as a beautiful blue. The gold light from the reflector kills the blue where it hits the snow and brings out the natural tawny colors of my subjects.

The snapshot above is an example of the set up I use. I posted a sample image in the Flora Gallery and another below.

Here is a shot taken with the set up shown above.

Great tip and image Mark!

Really cool tip! Thanks Mark!

Many thanks for sharing the technique Mark. I like both images a lot but may actually prefer this one to the post in Flora.

pat

Sweet tip. Nicely done. TFS

Mark: Terrific technique and a great result. I like this but the more dramatic light on the gallery post gets my nod. >=))>

Thanks for sharing Mark!

Thanks for sharing this, very helpful.

Great example of reflector usage. I don't go anywhere without mine! Thanks for sharing.

Very nice of you to share your technique Mark. The resulting image is beautiful.

Thank you, Mark!

Thanks, great tip and explanation!