Winter photography...

[nateo200]

....feels like crap. Seriously I feel like I've run out of good ideas to take pictures of. Furthermore I just grabbed a roll of Fujichrome Velvia 50 that I promised I would save for spring time but the film might as well be burning a whole in my drawer! I want to photograph some vibrant things and while I'm sure I could find some vibrant things nothing in winter time seams to have all the colors that Velvia could take advantage of :/ Anyone feel like winter is a boring time? I mean I'll definitely be out there with my DSLR and my 35mm with some resonably cheap film but winter time doesn't even seam like its worth a digital file let alone a roll of Velvia :/ Maybe I just live in the wrong area or haven't found a good spot..not sure..

 

[AlaskaMoose]

....feels like crap. Seriously I feel like I've run out of good ideas to take pictures of. Furthermore I just grabbed a roll of Fujichrome Velvia 50 that I promised I would save for spring time but the film might as well be burning a whole in my drawer! I want to photograph some vibrant things and while I'm sure I could find some vibrant things nothing in winter time seams to have all the colors that Velvia could take advantage of :/ Anyone feel like winter is a boring time? I mean I'll definitely be out there with my DSLR and my 35mm with some resonably cheap film but winter time doesn't even seam like its worth a digital file let alone a roll of Velvia :/ Maybe I just live in the wrong area or haven't found a good spot..not sure..

There are all kinds of things, from wildlife to landscapes, you can take photos of. All depends on the location.

For example, Alaska moose often browse at my home's backyard. This one was around 100 feet away Sunday afternoon:

 

[Apple fanboy]

I kind of get what you mean. Our winter here has been wet and miserable. We had our first propper snow yesterday morning, and I thought great I can go out at lunch and take some snowy shots. But by lunchtime it had all melted away.
We haven't even had many frosts here this year.
But I have used the time to try other types of photography. Like architecture and even some portrait stuff yesterday. I bought a little light tent and some macro rings so I could do something inside on a rainy day.
But at least spring won't be long.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I kind of get what you mean. Our winter here has been wet and miserable. We had our first propper snow yesterday morning, and I thought great I can go out at lunch and take some snowy shots. But by lunchtime it had all melted away.
We haven't even had many frosts here this year.
But I have used the time to try other types of photography. Like architecture and even some portrait stuff yesterday. I bought a little light tent and some macro rings so I could do something inside on a rainy day.
But at least spring won't be long.

I apologize for not paying attention to your location. I imagine that for landscapes and such you would have to drive away from the city. Portraiture and architecture sound like great subjects.

In relation to macro photography, there is a guy from England who goes by the name of "Lord V" at the Canon Macro Photography Forum. This guy is quite adept at such type of photography as you can see below:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1358962

This is his webpage:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/

 

[Apple fanboy]

I apologize for not paying attention to your location. I imagine that for landscapes and such you would have to drive away from the city. Portraiture and architecture sound like great subjects.

In relation to macro photography, there is a guy from England who goes by the name of "Lord V" at the Canon Macro Photography Forum. This guy is quite adept at such type of photography as you can see below:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1358962

This is his webpage:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/

Lord V? Lord of the bugs would be more apt looking through his Flickr!

I'm not overly keen on Architecture photography because I feel conspicuous in town with my DSLR. A friend of mine got mugged near where I was at the weekend, and to be honest it was on my mind a bit.

 

[Cheese&Apple]

Last time I got into a winter funk, I headed out to a large public greenhouse for a warm day of colourful plants and flowers. It was a relaxing, therapeutic and inexpensive (actually free) escape from the cold.

Just don't do what I did...spend some time outside first to get a bunch of shots then go into the warm and very humid greenhouse. It took forever for the condensation to clear from my gear.

 

[themumu]

It all depends on what you want to photograph. While the flowers are not there for the winter (except indoors, but I'm guessing we're not talking indoors here ), you can still get good colour if you time it right and get a clear sky for sunset or sunrise. I used to take a ferry to Toronto islands a few winters ago, and the ice on the lake along the way would offer some interesting photo opportunities, as long you have sunlight to bring some life into it.

My next go-to location when you don't have good snow is just city at night/evening, and in the winter nights start early. It's one of those things that works no matter what season it is. Shoot some pictures, then finish off with a dessert at your favourite spot. Life is good .

 

[Cheese&Apple]

Oh, one more idea...

Don't forget to check out any winter festivals if there are any in your area. Live music, barbequed German sausage on a bun and a mug of hot cider may not present the best photo-op but they're good for the soul.

~ Peter

 

[ManhattanBeach]

Oh, one more idea...

Don't forget to check out any winter festivals if there are any in your area. Live music, barbequed German sausage on a bun and a mug of hot cider may not present the best photo-op but they're good for the soul.

~ Peter

this guy knows what he's talking about!!!

 

[nateo200]

Oh, one more idea...

Don't forget to check out any winter festivals if there are any in your area. Live music, barbequed German sausage on a bun and a mug of hot cider may not present the best photo-op but they're good for the soul.

~ Peter

That would certainly be an interesting route. I'll have to look into that! Definitely can picture well on film. I have allot of snow in my are BTW. I grabbed my 35mm today with some Ektar 100 and snapped away at various things as I had to pick some negatives up, doctors appointment, etc. On my way out of the doctors appointment I noticed this courtyard in the middle of the complex, it had this tree in the middle with icicles surround it with the sun hitting it just perfect, was beautiful, not very colorful but eager to see how it looks and sunset was beautiful today...I have a bunch of flowers around my house so I might try and get creative with that.

The negatives I got back are pretty interesting. I've been shooting allot of Ektar and my house is surprisingly colorful, kind of boring after a while but here are some shots. Don't mind the scratches, I think I need to clean out my camera, although its pretty damn clean...not sure what happened as my other rolls weren't as dirty but I suppose when I pick and choose the pictures I want to scan at high resolution I can clean up the dust and scratches, although 3 or 4 have a few nasty gashes, I suppose it adds that "vintage look" though..heh..

 

[EmaDaCuz]

Recently spent some time in NY... a view of a frozen Central Park

 

[Phrasikleia]

It sounds as though maybe you’re interested in nature photography, since otherwise seasons might not make a big difference one way or the other. If that is the case, then I can assure you that winter has a lot to offer. I actually prefer winter photography to summer, not only because I love the aesthetic but also because sunrise is so late and sunset so early—makes it very easy to do both each day!

The trick with winter nature photography is to catch undisturbed snow whenever possible. Once snow gets trampled and/or melted, it is hard to find compositions that are appealing. It can be done, though. I once found this wonderful collection of swirly patterns in some old, melted snow that looked just like coffee art in the foam of a big cup of cappuccino. Just try to find scenes where you can capitalize on winter’s special charms.

 

[themumu]

It sounds as though maybe you’re interested in nature photography, since otherwise seasons might not make a big difference one way or the other. If that is the case, then I can assure you that winter has a lot to offer. I actually prefer winter photography to summer, not only because I love the aesthetic but also because sunrise is so late and sunset so early—makes it very easy to do both each day!

The trick with winter nature photography is to catch undisturbed snow whenever possible. Once snow gets trampled and/or melted, it is hard to find compositions that are appealing. It can be done, though. I once found this wonderful collection of swirly patterns in some old, melted snow that looked just like coffee art in the foam of a big cup of cappuccino. Just try to find scenes where you can capitalize on winter’s special charms.

So true about sunrises and sunsets! I once decided to shoot sunrise in a provincial park on July 1-2, and it was the most brutal morning - had to start at 4am

Speaking of disturbed snow, it can be interesting to a point:

 

[Phrasikleia]

So true about sunrises and sunsets! I once decided to shoot sunrise in a provincial park on July 1-2, and it was the most brutal morning - had to start at 4am

Speaking of disturbed snow, it can be interesting to a point:

Yep, departures in the wee hours to get in position before a summer sunrise are always brutal, especially when you also stayed up to shoot the sunset that started around 9pm the night before. Doing that for days on end has actually caused me to suffer from exhaustion on a couple of occasions.

You found a nice patch of sastrugi there (in your photo). My personal preference would be to see them as an abstract without the footprints, but prints can work really well as leading lines in a scene. I recently found a really fun set of serpentine tracks made by a mountain hare and had a great time shooting those. I actually wanted to shoot them again the next day, but by then the darn rabbit had gone on what looked like a drunken excursion, making a mess of tracks all crossing over themselves. So yeah, it's just a matter of finding some sense of order in the chaos when the snow is disturbed.

 

[themumu]

... I recently found a really fun set of serpentine tracks made by a mountain hare and had a great time shooting those. I actually wanted to shoot them again the next day, but by then the darn rabbit had gone on what looked like a drunken excursion, making a mess of tracks all crossing over themselves. ...

Well, if this is what bears do, I don't doubt that hares can be even crazier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGzO-QNcNzQ#t=28

 

[nateo200]

Recently spent some time in NY... a view of a frozen Central Park

Image

What did you shoot that on? Is that a stitch or crop or is it my "dream format" aka 6x12 (I desperately want a 6x12 camera!)

It sounds as though maybe you’re interested in nature photography, since otherwise seasons might not make a big difference one way or the other. If that is the case, then I can assure you that winter has a lot to offer. I actually prefer winter photography to summer, not only because I love the aesthetic but also because sunrise is so late and sunset so early—makes it very easy to do both each day!

The trick with winter nature photography is to catch undisturbed snow whenever possible. Once snow gets trampled and/or melted, it is hard to find compositions that are appealing. It can be done, though. I once found this wonderful collection of swirly patterns in some old, melted snow that looked just like coffee art in the foam of a big cup of cappuccino. Just try to find scenes where you can capitalize on winter’s special charms.

Eh not really, I love photographing anything and everything, its just lately I haven't been out as much on account of my dang back! I do enjoy taking pictures of nature though. Undisturbed snow is interesting, like a sunrise I suppose it would be best in the morning, especially to get that warm glow on the snow. I suppose I could go to the ski place as well, although I haven't perfect the art of shooting high speed things on a 35mm in manual focus, of course I could try and I always have my DSLR loaded with some interesting new picture profiles.

So true about sunrises and sunsets! I once decided to shoot sunrise in a provincial park on July 1-2, and it was the most brutal morning - had to start at 4am

Speaking of disturbed snow, it can be interesting to a point:


[url=http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3773/12505110045_db25bc4d61_z.jpg]Image[/url]

Shots like these remind me of winter here in Upstate NY. I love it when I look at a beautiful picture and it takes a few seconds to set in just what I'm looking at. Very nice.

 

[EmaDaCuz]

What did you shoot that on? Is that a stitch or crop or is it my "dream format" aka 6x12 (I desperately want a 6x12 camera!)

Just a crop The original is a classic 3:2 format, shot on an original Sony NEX-3, 16 mm. The pictures are big enough to be cropped down to virtually any format (and most of my landscape pics are in a 2:1 format).

 

[nateo200]

Just a crop The original is a classic 3:2 format, shot on an original Sony NEX-3, 16 mm. The pictures are big enough to be cropped down to virtually any format (and most of my landscape pics are in a 2:1 format).

Oh nice! Post a higher resolution version like a 1280 lines across version, I know you gotta protect your photos but its barely a blip on my retina screen! I crop to 2:1 for allot of photos, I naturally view it as the perfect aspect ratio, before I even started composing for 2:1 I subconsciously did it and I noticed all my photos cropped to 2:1 very nicely. Probably from my obsessiveness with the anamorphic format in motion pictures but whatever. 2:1 is the perfect compromise of wide but not too wide. Do you have any issues with printing at that aspect ratio? I assume higher end places will do it no problem but for like drug store print outs I have been letter boxing and than using an Exacto knife to cut the letterbox part away if needed.

Still I have a roll of Velvia 100 in 120 waiting for that moment when I can get my hands on a 6x12 even if only for a little bit! That's assuming my friend doesn't spoil me with his GW690 first though!

EDIT: I just realized I have a picture similar to yours except in spring time hanging on my wall. Funny!

 

[imac wannabe]

I travel a lot and get to bring my camera along. I enjoy landscape photos and machinery type stuff ie race cars, planes etc. I had a period of time off over the holidays and started doing a winter project..reloading bullets Anyhow, I broke the camera out after noticing the interesting reflections and symmetry of the half finished bullets. Got the camera out and viola! Photos. Now I'm not suggesting these are great works of art but I sure had fun playing around with a fairly mundane object just lying around. The point is...just look around, you don't have to go out into the cold


Bullet Reflections by Paul Kohler, on Flickr


Bullet Reload by Paul Kohler, on Flickr

Paul

....feels like crap. Seriously I feel like I've run out of good ideas to take pictures of. Furthermore I just grabbed a roll of Fujichrome Velvia 50 that I promised I would save for spring time but the film might as well be burning a whole in my drawer! I want to photograph some vibrant things and while I'm sure I could find some vibrant things nothing in winter time seams to have all the colors that Velvia could take advantage of :/ Anyone feel like winter is a boring time? I mean I'll definitely be out there with my DSLR and my 35mm with some resonably cheap film but winter time doesn't even seam like its worth a digital file let alone a roll of Velvia :/ Maybe I just live in the wrong area or haven't found a good spot..not sure..

 

[Apple fanboy]

I travel a lot and get to bring my camera along. I enjoy landscape photos and machinery type stuff ie race cars, planes etc. I had a period of time off over the holidays and started doing a winter project..reloading bullets Anyhow, I broke the camera out after noticing the interesting reflections and symmetry of the half finished bullets. Got the camera out and viola! Photos. Now I'm not suggesting these are great works of art but I sure had fun playing around with a fairly mundane object just lying around. The point is...just look around, you don't have to go out into the cold

[url=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8175983187_c24ebb54c9_b.jpg]Image[/url]
Bullet Reflections by Paul Kohler, on Flickr

[url=http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5491/12528181244_86b43bcd83_b.jpg]Image[/url]
Bullet Reload by Paul Kohler, on Flickr

Paul

I like them! Especially the first one. Great repetition and reflections. Finding a good picture in the everyday and mundane is what makes a great photographer stand out IMO.

 

[nateo200]

I travel a lot and get to bring my camera along. I enjoy landscape photos and machinery type stuff ie race cars, planes etc. I had a period of time off over the holidays and started doing a winter project..reloading bullets Anyhow, I broke the camera out after noticing the interesting reflections and symmetry of the half finished bullets. Got the camera out and viola! Photos. Now I'm not suggesting these are great works of art but I sure had fun playing around with a fairly mundane object just lying around. The point is...just look around, you don't have to go out into the cold

[url=http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8203/8175983187_c24ebb54c9_b.jpg]Image[/url]
Bullet Reflections by Paul Kohler, on Flickr

[url=http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5491/12528181244_86b43bcd83_b.jpg]Image[/url]
Bullet Reload by Paul Kohler, on Flickr

Paul

I feel as though photography and guns, target practice, etc. have very similar aspects, such as how addicting it can be! I don't think I would reload just because I wouldn't trust it as much but thats a great picture. BTW I'm from Appleton, WI as well! Well technically Milwaukee but I lived in Appleton for a bit.

 

[imac wannabe]

Appleton

Thanks for the note! I grew up near Appleton and have lived here with my family for 20+ years now. I use to work at Midwest Airlines in MKE.

Paul

I feel as though photography and guns, target practice, etc. have very similar aspects, such as how addicting it can be! I don't think I would reload just because I wouldn't trust it as much but thats a great picture. BTW I'm from Appleton, WI as well! Well technically Milwaukee but I lived in Appleton for a bit.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

Just a crop The original is a classic 3:2 format, shot on an original Sony NEX-3, 16 mm. The pictures are big enough to be cropped down to virtually any format (and most of my landscape pics are in a 2:1 format).

To post on the Internet all I do is to "change image size" to 850 to 860 pixels or so horizontally using PS, then "save for web" using the same application. While doing so turns an image to a very small size, on a computer screen it displays this size horizontally (around 7" or so across the top on my 13" MacBook):

As long as it's a still image, you should be able to change the size as noted above using PS Elements, CS5, and CS6.

 

[nateo200]

850 lines across? Man your brutal! I mean I know you gotta protect your images but thats really low and for people with retina screens it enlarges like crap, for valuable photos I usually upload at 1920 lines across or 2560 if its wider than 2:1. I know this one photographer who only uploads 640 lines across from his 5D MK.III to facebook, remember facebook butchers the image already :O Its so bad because its essentially thumbnail quality on my retina screen and if you try and enlarge it there are horrible compression artifacts...