Crystal Blooms
We had freezing rain fall for two days, painting everything with a bright mirror-like coating. Everywhere I looked, the world was transformed into something magical. I told my wife “You couldn’t shoot a bad picture today.”, as I reviewed some images. In true Photo Shoot fashion, here are “the proofs” (a nostalgic term from print photography days) without editing. Included are the good and bad, for your perusal and edification.
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Everywhere I looked there was a blinding glaze of ice, catching sunlight, emitting all the colors of the rainbow. Two troubles I encountered on this shoot: One, in person, everything looked beautiful and photo-worthy. Our eyes do a better job than any camera ever did at perceiving what is there, taking it all in. The camera was, at times, overwhelmed by multiple light sources, as the photographer tried to capture what the eye sees. Shallow depths-of-field are great for bokeh effects and making your subject stand out, but when there are a million little lights behind the subject, it sometimes started to look like confetti. The second problem was the blinding snow and light, which rendered the preview screen on the camera nearly useless. I relied a lot on experience, and some on the Histogram provided by the camera. (A histogram is a graphic display of the primary light of the subject. At the very least, it will tell you if your shot is dim or bright, or over-exposed.) Here are some shots that were breathtaking in person, but are reduced to brightness and confusion when viewed as one-dimensional images.
Ultimately the million sources of light added some dramatic appeal to many photos. Using a fairly large aperture (f6.3), the backgrounds of the subjects were unfocused. In the right cases, this produced some captivating photos. I found the best shots were a bit lower in light, allowing the sunspots of ice crystals to be more pronounced and reducing background distractions. Focusing on a specific subject (a branch or blade of grass) was more effective than trying to capture “the whole scene”. After day one, I thought a deeper depth-of-field might help alleviate some of the overwhelming visual confusion, but met with limited success.
Of course, the angle of light was an important element to keep track of on this shoot. From one angle, there’s an ice-covered stick, and from another there’s a hundred diamonds gleaming in the sun. One thing I’ve learned in photography, that angle of light is always important. Regardless of the subject, and especially outdoors, looking at a subject from different angles will show you how the subject reflects the sun’s light to our eyes and camera. Next time you want to shoot a tree or other object in nature, walk around it if you can and see how the light plays. Sometimes it’s about light itself, and its counterpart, shadow, making your composition. Other times, we may not realize that the beautiful tree you drove by looks different from this side. Go back to the other side, and you’ll see what I mean. There’s an “ideal” angle of light for any subject that changes the way it looks, right down to hue and saturation of color.
Frosted Cherry
Golden Crowned Kinglet
As always, don’t forget to keep your eyes peeled for other subjects, like this Golden Crowned Kinglet who visited the shoot!
Happy Shooting!
Paz
Crescent Moon Studio 
Some beautiful images here, Paz! What a gorgeous ice wonderland to have for a photo shoot. The close ups and small scenes definitely stand out and you used the light very effectively. I expected you to list keeping your feet underneath you as one of the challenges!
Thanks for your compliments, Ellen.
We had a bit of snow cover, so the ground wasn’t icy.
No doubt the closer compositions were easier to comprehend visually, and highlighted the ice and refracted light effectively.
There must be more I could have done with the broader landscape images. Maybe closer to infinite depth of field (like f22). Perhaps it was just too much to capture.
I feel an important element of my Photo Shoot series is to show that I’m ever learning, demonstrate some of my learning processes, and show the results, both good and bad.
I’d like to remember more semi technical information, but get excited writing the post and forget. The idea is to be of benefit to other photographers at my stage or less experienced. To give some instruction and pointers, and also to show that I shoot a LOT of frames to get those few good images you’ll see in my Gallery.
Best regards,
Paz
Nice that you weren’t risking a fall! Many landscape shots that I have taken are just ho-hum even though my eye sees a gorgeous scene. I usually attribute that to there being a lack of subject or a foreground element is missing. A lot has to do with where the photographer is standing. I love that you get excited and tell the story of how you got those LOTs of frames and are always learning!