Winter Photography Tip

Gary Tonhouse photographing Nature's Wonders

Nature has to offer many exciting designs.
You have to look a little more closely during the winter months.
Don't just look over the landscape - but look down an up once in awhile.
These interesting ice patterns would not have been photographed if I would have continued to look in front of me.
Remember, your camera meter wants to make everything midtone. The brilliant color of white will turn a murky gray if you do not compensate for this brilliance. Open up from one to two stops to add more light.
Example: Aperture set at F16
                  1 stop open - Aperture F11
                  2 stop open - Aperture F8

                  Shutter set at 1/125 of a second
                  1 stop open - 1/60 of a second
                  2 stop open - 1/30 of a second

The photograph above is the end results of a few hours spent on a Saturday morning here in Iowa.

The locations of the photo sites are very close to both Steve and our home in Ankeny. You DON'T have to travel great distances to capture stunning photos of Natures Beauty.

Steve and I were on our way home after capturing some magnificent sunrise photo's at Saylorville Lake Ponding Area when I asked Steve if he would like to make one more stop. Of course, Steve was agreeable to this and it turned out to be one of my most memorable mornings.

I am not sure how long we stayed at this location, but time is meaningless when your adrenaline is pumped up from excitement and joy of the natural beauty that our environment has to offer.

As you can see by the above photo, Nature has many exciting images to offer.

It's a photograph of anticipation. You know, as soon as the sun's warm rays begin to cast its warmth on this pond, this image will be gone forever and will return to its liquid state.

Enjoy the many natural wonders of winter. Look not just straight head but in all directions.

CLOTHING

Warm clothing is must during the
winter months.

You will always be able to spot G. Tonhouse on the Iowa landscape in his colorful Patagonia hat and clothing.

He might even tell you about his royal blue long johns that he wears religiously during the winter months in Iowa.

Proper clothing will help stay longer
when these unique photo opportunities occur.

Let the warmth flow through your body with the proper clothing and the photo ideas will flow through you also.

BATTERIES:
The life support of your camera system.
They always seem to expire during exciting moments.

During the winter months the cold can have a very negative effect on them.
I always carry spare batteries in my camera bag and try to alternate
between the ones in my camera and the ones that are in my camera bag.

DuraCell Batteries .. Click here for info

Keeping your batteries warm this way can give you additional hours of photographing.

Always carry additional batteries, no matter what the season.

Enjoy the many natural wonders of winter.
Don't forget to shovel the sidewalk an driveway
before venturing out on your photo adventure.
Ya Right !!!!

Exposing for winter whites:

When your camera meter is pointed at a predominantly white snowy scene, the meter "thinks" that it is measuring a very bright scene and recommends an exposure that makes the white snow appear gray (midtone, or darker than white). Since most of us would like our snow to appear white, we need to overexpose from the meter reading (be sure to meter just snow). The amount of overexposure necessary to do this varies, depending upon the lighting conditions, the film that you are using, and just how white you want your snow to look.

For starters, a one stop overexposure is a safe bet to whiten just a bit, and is my recommendation for those using print films (because of its great latitude). A +1 exposure is also likely to be your best bet on overcast days. A 1.5 - 2 stop overexposure is generally where I find that I like my snow scenes. This is generally the range for slide film users where the snow will appear bright, but still retain detail. This is also a good start on overcast but bright days. If you like your snow very clean and bright with little detail, use a +2.5 - 3 stop overexposure, especially on very bright, cloudless days.
In all cases, and especially if you are using slide film, bracket your exposures. I sometimes find that my starting exposure is not always the most appealing when the film comes back from the lab.

If you are using an automatic (point and shoot camera) and you have an exposure lock button, you can compensate by using the following procedure:
Fill the frame of the viewfinder with a DARKER area and depress the exposure lock button. The camera meter will overexpose the scene based upon the dark area that you metered. Caution needs to be exercised so that the metered scene is not too dark. To make sure that you get the shot, shoot at least one metered in this way, and another exposed automatically.

+2 ½ stops open	textures white
+2 stops open	white with detail
+1 ½ stops open	very light
+1 stop open	light
+½ stop open	darker light
METER READING----MEDIUM TONED SUBJECT
-½ stop open	lighter dark
-1 stop open	dark
-1½ stops open	very dark
-2 stops open	dark with detail
2 ½ stops open	BLACK

The overcast snow scene above is pretty much lifeless and boring. This is how the camera recorded the
scene with center weight, aperture priority metering. Sometimes you need to trick you camera into telling
it that it needs more exposure for the overall scene. By adding a 1 stop exposure increase to the scene,
look what happens to this winter wonderland scene. Mouse over the photograph to view the exciting change.