6 tips how to level up your winter photography

As a nature photographer, I have been looking forward to winter more and more for the last 3-4 years. There are certainly several different reasons for this. One of them is that the winters have been quite bad for the last two years. The less you can enjoy and capture these magical winter wonderland views with frosty trees, the more your appetite grows. Over the years, it has become typical for a nature photographer that when nature offers, you have to go and take it, because you never know how long winter will last. Over the years, capturing these winter views has also accumulated a lot of knowledge and experience. In this post, I will share 6 important tips on how you can conjure better winter photos from your camera.

1. FIND CONTRAST

In winter, the whole world is basically black and white. Depending on the thickness of the snow, different details in the landscape can stand out, but at the same time they can be completely hidden under the snow. It can be a lot of work for a photographer to see any photos anywhere on their photo trip to capture. In the case of the black and white world, different contrasts come into play that are worth looking for and can make this world quite exciting. I will list some examples below.

For example, in the photo above, the stones in the foreground are slightly covered with snow and some of the color of the stones is visible to the eye. This is where the contrast between light and dark tones is created and the eye distinguishes it very well. These stones were cool elements to my eye and I decided to place them in the foreground of the photo. In the background you can also see how the snow has stuck to the trees in the strong wind and brings the tree trunks out better in the photo.

The photo above was taken on the same day and in the same location as the photo with the rocks. Here, however, I have moved the trees to the side and you can see that the contrast conveys a completely different mood. The wind has blown from right to left and the texture of the ground in the foreground is also out, which makes the photo a little more interesting.

Here is a little advice: it is worth going into nature to photograph these contrasts just after snowfall. The snowfall does not have to be heavy and dense at all to create interesting views, as can be seen in the photo above.

The few interesting trees in the clearing also provide contrast. They always create such a minimalist and clean mood. A good trick is to arrange the trees in the photo so that they do not overlap each other, which in turn makes them stand out better in the photo. I also leave more breathing space around the trees in the photo, which conveys such a freer mood.

Here I found a collection of interestingly shaped trees, which looked very interesting and the fresh snow that fell during the night created great contrasts. Of course, the conditions also played their part here, because at night it was minus degrees and it was snowing, and in the morning the minus degrees turned into plus degrees and in connection with this, fog formed. The fog helps to better highlight the subjects in the photo and creates a more mysterious atmosphere.

Finally, the subject of contrast, I would like to point out that if you bring in a little bit of other color in black and white world, whether with colder or warmer tones, it also helps to make the photo come alive. It could be any house or building or any other subject. In the photo above, I found an abandoned house in the middle of a clearing and with my few orange colors, it stands out very well from the entire bluer world.

2. HISTOGRAM IS YOUR BEST FRIEND

It is always worth monitoring the histogram to see how the camera exposes the photo. Especially in winter, because there is a small nuance here.

With correct exposure measurement in winter, the camera has this issue that the camera tries to treat the measurement object as a halftone or neutral gray. However, snow is not neutral gray but much brighter and therefore most of the time the result is an underexposed photo. If you shoot in P, Aperture or Exposure Priority mode, then 1-2 stops of exposure compensation will solve this problem. If you shoot in M ​​or Manual mode, then you can manually set the exposure. In winter, the histogram helps a lot here. Below I will also show an example as a photo.

The photo on the left was taken underexposed, and in the photo on the right, I increased the exposure by 2 stops.

At this point, I would also like to point out that if the camera's LCD screen is set too bright and you see that the photos look correct, then this is actually misleading. A bright screen will show an underexposed photo correctly, for example, but when you get home and download the photos to your computer, the truth will be revealed. That's why it's worth keeping an eye on the histogram even when you're out in nature, because it's important to expose the photo correctly on site.

3. TRY DIFFERENT SHUTTER SPEEDS

This can be used when taking photos during snowfall. There are different options, for example, whether you want the snow to be very clearly visible in the photo, i.e. as a spot, or as a more blurred line. For example, in the first photo below, I have taken the photo with a shutter speed of 1/80 second. If you want the snow to be even more clearly visible in the photo, you should use a shutter speed of 1/160 second or faster.

In the photo below, however, I have used a shutter speed of 1/25 second and the result is very different from the photo above. The photo also has more depth and the atmosphere in the background is more blurred. If you want to create a so-called fog effect with snowfall, then you should shoot with a shutter speed between 4-10 seconds. Then, with a longer shutter speed, the snow disappears altogether and the photo creates a feeling of fog. It is worth experimenting and each result creates a photo with a completely different emotion.

4. TRY LENSES WITH LONGER FOCAL LENGTH In the past years, when I got into nature, I had a wide-angle lens in front of me most of the time and I only saw the world through that focal length. Generally, this range was between 14-24mm. Then I would poke and poke and try to get that picture. But in reality, that picture didn't exist and over the years I have learned to let go of these situations and that is a pretty good skill to have. Instead, it is worth turning up the lens with a longer focal length from time to time and trying to find different shots. Be it a detail or a smaller part of the entire larger landscape. Below are some examples.

I took the photo above with a 400mm focal length. I waited for ducks to be seen on the spring between the trees on the left and right. Shooting with a longer focal length also brings out the power of the landscape better.

The photo above was taken with a 70mm focal length. I placed the single tree between two darker forest masses in the background so that the tree would stand out better and the photo would work better in terms of composition. This photo was captured in the Agusalu Nature Reserve, and if you want to read more about this photo adventure, you can do so here.

5. DIFFERENT WHITE BALANCE CREATES MOOD

I usually shoot for example an entire evening or morning with one white balance setting. At some point, when I feel and see that the situation has changed a lot in terms of light and the captured photo on the camera screen no longer accurately conveys the tonality that I actually see, I make changes. That's why some photos may have too warm tones and some with a colder undertone. In post-processing, I play a little with the white balance to create more of the mood of the situation on the spot. Below are a few examples.

6. BLUE SKY ACTUALLY HELPS

I'm usually not a fan of a completely blue sky without clouds. If there's nothing interesting in the sky and it's also empty of clouds, I usually decide to leave it minimally in the photo, if at all. Because if it doesn't add anything to the photo, then why is it there? In winter, however, I feel that the blue sky, combined with the white snow, actually adds to the atmosphere, because it creates an interesting contrast of colors. This idea here is basically the same as the one I brought up in the first point, where in one photo in a white winter environment there was an orange house in the middle of a field. Here, too, the blue color in the sky makes the photo more interesting and can be used in more minimalist photos.

I think winter is a great time of the year and offers a lot of opportunities for photography. I hope these simple tips were useful to you and got you thinking about how to take better winter photos next time. Now, go outside and enjoy these winter wonderland views if you have any. Estonia is finally in full winter mode and it is amazing! :)