Winter can be a challenging time to take photos, the days are short weather is often less than ideal and it can be cold. If you are able to get past these slight challenges then it can be a very rewarding time of year tomake pictures.
1. Dress for the weather
This is the most important thing. Make sure you dress for the weather, and remeber to use layers as the tempature can change a fair bit durring the day. A warm hat and gloves you can use when you are not taking pictures is a must have and a light pair of gloves or fingerless gloves can be great to use while using your camera. A good set of boots is also a good idea even not in the winter. Boots that are lined with gore-tex or something simular is great as your feet will stay nice and dry.
2. Keep your camera cold
This may sound odd but if it warm you will end up fogging up your lens etc. This is more important from when you are coming in from the cold. The best way to avoid condensation is to put your camera in your camera bag and zip it up before you come back inside. Let your camera come up to temperature slowly and you should avoid these problems. The down side to keep your camera cold is that it will drain your batteries faster depending on how cold it is so keep this in mind. Make sure you have a good charge or bring spare batteries for your camera speed lights etc. If you are bring spare batteries you may consider keeping them in your pocket instead of your bag so they will stay warmer.
3. Compensate your exposure
When shooting in bright conditions such as bright white snow or ice your cameras meter will be tricked by the extra light that is being reflected from the snow and ice. A good rule of thumb is to “overexpose” by 1-2 stops or use exposure compensation or your photos will come out underexposed. It is also a good idea to check your exposure on your histogram and your LCD to give you an idea if you are at least close to having the desired exposure.
4. Bad weather
There is a good chance that you will be out in rain,wind, snow or some combination of nasty weather conditions. Although these conditions are not always pleasant to be out in they can often lead to interesting photos and create a unique or dramatic mood. Once again if you are dressed for the conditions it will really minimize your misery in these conditions. Another up side is that these conditions will most likely be few people out to get in your way and you should end up with some pictures not many other people have.
5. Have fun and try something new
Winter is a fantastic season if you ready for it and know what to expect you care really enjoy it. Just like any other situation you may find your self in while taking photos try to make the best of the situation and try to do something creative. Most of all enjoy it and have fun.
Tags: snow, tips, winter
Posted in Flickr, How to, camera, landscape, nature, photo, tips | No Comments »
Last night I decided to try smoke photography for the first time, I have always liked the simplicity and how unique smoke looks. I was quite surprised at how simple it was to take the pictures. The most difficult step was the setup of the shot and after that it was just a matter of waiting for a cool smoke pattern. Things you will need:
- Incense, I got mine at a dollar store for very cheap
- Something to hold the incense, I used a incense holder but you could use modeling clay or something like that
- A dark background, I used a black mat board
- A reflector, I used a white mat board
- A strobe or flash, I used a Nikon SB600
- A snoot or cardboard to make one for your flash
- Somehow to trigger the flash or strobe remotely (wireless receiver or sync cables)
- A camera that can trigger the flash
- A tripod is very helpful but you could probably get away without one
- A remote shutter release would be really handy, I didn’t have one
- Pink Floyd (optional)
Now for the hard part the setup, the following diagram is a basic idea of what you want, and it looks way fancier than my actual setup. The most important thing is you want to make sure your flash or strobe is not hitting your background as you want it solid black. 
Here is my actual setup, notice the cardboard snoot, mat background and reflector. 
My camera setting for the most part where the following:
- 60mm Nikkor micro lens
- ISO 200
- 1/200 sec
- f/7.1
- Flash was zoomed to 85mm and set to 1/2 power
The hard part is getting the focus bang on as its dark and the smoke is always moving. What I found worked best was focus on the tip of the incense and the move your camera up slightly. It seems that even with this the best way to get good pictures is to take a lot. Once you are setup noting changes and you just keep taking pictures and hope that they work out well. Once you have taken some pictures its time to play with them in Photoshop or your image editing software, I will be using Photoshop CS3. Off your camera you pictures will have a black background and white smoke. This looks nice but so do pretty colours!
There are a few things you can do to alter the image, you can invert it to get the white background and add colour, leave the background black and add colour thats all up to you. To have coloured smoke on black background in Photoshop simply goto the image menu and the adjustments and the click invert (or use crtl+ i). Next we will add the colour, goto the layer menu and add a new adjustment layer you will want to select the Hue/Saturation item. Once that control is up click the colourize box and start moving the hue slider to change the colour and you can play with the Saturation slider to make the colours more or less vibrant.
To have coloured smoke on a black background simply skip the invert step. Now you should have something you can show off, take a look at some of the pictures I was able to capture.
Take a look at all the images in my gallery or the set on Flickr.
Tags: smoke, strobist
Posted in Flickr, How to, camera, photo, photoshop | 10 Comments »