Early in the week, I took a beginning photographer to for a sunrise shoot at the Tidal Basin, near the Jefferson Memorial.  The weather was lousy, but, the cherry blossoms don’t last forever, so we went.  Sure enough, we were shrouded by fog.  Since we drove in at 530 am, we made the best of the weather.  Many other photographers were there, apparently having made the same decision that some photographs were better than no photographs.

The fog and mist shrouded the Washington monument, too, obscuring the top.  It wasn’t the photograph we were hoping for, but it was still an interesting look.  I think the only thing my shooting partner learned was to avoid photowalks with me.

Later in the week, Mark and I took a walk in the area around our hotel.  I was concentrating on architectural details, trying to work on my abstract vision.  I struggle with abstracts, especially in architecture.  I’m much more confident finding a smile from a whiny, little kid than finding compelling lines and shapes in the building he lives in.  The only way to improve is to practice, so I kept my eyes open for some abstracts.

We came across St. Mary’s Catholic Church, established in 1864.  The light outside made the stones pop, and the window reflection caught my eye.

The caretaker saw our cameras and kindly offered to let us into church.  I wasn’t carrying a flash, so I cranked up the ISO to 6400.  I thought the swirl of the supports were pretty interesting.  It’s a little orange, but that’s the way it looked.  I played with the color balance, but went back to the original because it just looked better.

As we were walking back – my brain aching from trying to warp it into abstract mode – we came across some window washers about five stories up from the street.  These guys were swinging all over the place, putting on a show for the onlookers below.  The shooting angle was less than ideal, but I needed at least one shot of a person to finish my day.  With some manipulation in the Lens Corrections panel, I was able to get rid of some of the perspective problems.  Joe McNally would probably have climbed the building across the street from them to get it right in the camera.  Oh, well….

I just got back from Alaska, and it was cold!  It was -48 when we stepped off the plane.  I had lots of plans for the trip.  They didn’t pan out.

Why would anyone go to Fairbanks in January?  I really wanted to get some shots of the aurora borealis.  I’ve seen the northern lights many times when we lived in Alaska, but I never had a camera with me in those days.  You need a nice clear night, a night without ice fog.  I hoped  to get lucky while we were there.

The ice fog obliterated the sky for five of our seven nights; the other two, the lights weren’t out.  Yes, I’m quite aware that a big solar storm lit up the night sky right after we left.  Like I said, my plans didn’t pan out.  Here is the ice fog thinning out at 3:30 pm one day.  Notice how low the sun is?  We got less than five hours of daylight each day.

The real reason to travel north in the middle of winter was the arrival of our most recent grandchild.  We scheduled our trip two weeks after the due date, but he decided to come a couple of days after we arrived.  We just hung around the house and waited with the dogs.

When he finally arrived home, I just took a few snapshots and held the boy (when I could get him away from my wife).  It was a wonderful, relaxing week with the family, which just grew by one more.  Doesn’t get better than that.

The boy goes by the nickname of Dodge.  I may sprinkle some shots of him into the blog now and then.  We sure were glad to see him.

Our plans to get home didn’t pan out, either.  But the re-routed flights and misplaced bags came with a silver lining – airline dollars to return in the spring when the weather will be warmer and the boy crawling.  Anyone want to travel north in May?  It’ll be fun….

Are you ready for the winter weather?  This is a great time for photography.  You’ll find lots of interesting scenes for your camera.   The snow covers the ground clutter and simplifies the scene.  On clear days, the sky seems crisp and saturated with color.

You need to take care to cover your camera and lens when the snow is blowing.  A common problem is the fogging of the lens from large temperature differences as you take the camera in and out of the weather.  You should give yourself some extra time to for the camera’s temperature to slowly equalize to the cold outside or the warmth of your home.  If you wrap your camera in a clean towel and insert it into a plastic bag, you can reduce condensation while the camera’s temperature is changing.  When you’re done for the day and the camera has warmed, dry everything.  Your lens will be ruined if you get moisture inside.

With all the light reflecting off the snow, your camera’s meter will react by reducing exposure to average out the scene.  This will give you gray snow, instead of the white you’re seeing.  Adjust your camera by increasing the exposure 1-2 stops.  On an SLR, you can do that in the menus.  If you have a camera with scene settings, be sure to use the snow or beach setting.  You want to keep your whites nice and clean.  Yes, you can do some work in post-processing, but proper exposure is much better than punishing pixels in software.

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This year, I’ve got a special trip planned to guarantee snow.  I’m heading back to Alaska for the snow and, hopefully, clear skies filled with the northern lights.  I’ve seen them many times, but I was in the field with the 6th Infantry Division.  They had other plans for me, and they did not include running around with a camera.  I’ll also get a chance at photographing a newborn grandson.  Guess I better take a flash with me…

There is one last thing to remember when you’re out there in the cold: batteries hate cold weather.  Make sure you keep a couple spares handy in your jacket.  You don’t want to be forced into quitting before you get all that goodness captured.

If you prepare now, you’ll be ready when the first flakes start falling.  Don’t forget to try to shoot from some unconventional angles to make some interesting shots.  It’s more fun that way.

When the weather is less than ideal and you’re on a tight schedule, you have to shoot it like it is.  I guess you can just ignore the photo opportunity altogether, but what kind of photographer would do that?   So, I wrapped my camera in a RainSleeve; pulled my hat around to prevent litter in the bay; and stepped out of the boat cabin.  Captured here by my daughter-in-law.

The falling rain and accompanying mist can create some problems, but they can also lead to interesting photos that most people don’t even try to take.  The rain and mist can simplify backgrounds and create moody images.  The reason is that the light is flat and can really reduce the contrast we are used to seeing in our photographs.  The solution is to think in monochrome, relying on composition, and not color, for interesting photographs.

As we boarded the Portage ferry, Ptarmigan, the captain standing in the rain, next to the bright life ring, in his weathered yellow hat made a nice shot.

There are some advantages to shooting in the overcast conditions.  The clouds greatly reduced the reflections on the water.  This came in handy when pointing my camera directly at the bay to capture this sea otter enjoying a lazy morning swim.  The clouds kept my camera’s meter from going crazy trying to pick this gray whale out of a flashy background.

And, remember, the rain will eventually end.  There are lots of opportunities when the sun shines through holes in the clouds for really nice images.  (The sun came through as we were almost back to Anchorage, of course.)

Make sure you take care of your camera and lenses when you venture out in the weather.  I prefer the RainSleeves for my gear.  You can get a pair of them for about $5, and they’ll last a long time if you don’t rip them.  Many people use other methods like umbrellas or baggies with rubber bands.  A little moisture will probably not disable your camera, but don’t expose it to unnecessary exposure.  Wipe down your gear with a soft, absorbent cloth and let it dry completely.  Obviously, you should never change lens in these conditions.  Doing so will expose your sensor to damage.

Take care, but go out in the rain with your camera.  You’ll get some interesting photos, and it may be the only way to get them.

The main concern is light.  There is an over-abundance of light. It’s bouncing around the pretty little snowflakes and can fool the meter in your camera.  If you’re a point-and-shooter, see if you have a snow setting on your menu; they adjust the light and usually change the white balance.  DSLRs don’t have such settings, so you want to prepare before you head out.  You need to overexpose by .5 to 1.5 stops to get things right.  Once you set your exposure compensation to positive EVs, you should check the LCD to ensure you have things where you want them.  You can make further refinements in Lightroom, Aperture, or whatever you use for post-processing, but getting it right in the camera is always the best option.

As always, feel free to break rules that don’t fit the situation.  Let the highlights blow out if you feel it adds to your picture.  Here, I wanted to maximize the bright (obnoxiously bright) pink hat on Granddaughter2, so I let the light pour in.  You can see the yellow, reflecting from her hood, changing the pink to orangish.  I shot it this way on purpose.  This gives the photo a high key (very bright) effect.

In direct light, your camera may have a tendency to be a little bluish, especially in the shadows.  This is, again, pretty easy to adjust out.  If you’re shooting in RAW, you’ll be able to have the extra flexibility available there, but you can make some adjustments in JPG, as well.  For example, the picture on the left is from my film days.  After I digitized it, I noticed a distinctly blue cast to the photo.  I had to live with it in the film days, but not any more.  I fixed both of these photos in post.

Of course, sometimes the blue belongs.  Glaciers have a great blue color from the density of the ancient, pressure-packed snow.  This is another film image from my time in Alaska, courtesy of the US Army.  I plan another trip there, this summer.  To give you a feeling for the scale, that boat is 85 feet long.

Snow can be a good place to look for abstract shapes and forms.  The snow adds uniformity to the scene and can cover a lot of the distractions normally there.  Set a low shutter speed to catch the snowflakes blurred.

So don’t just sit inside when the snow hits.  Go out and have fun with your camera.  When you come back in, make sure you wipe it down with a soft cloth to remove any moisture.

The final shot is a gratuitous plug for son-in-laws who help out the wife’s old man.   Sure glad they showed up this weekend: they brought the grandkids; and I’m getting too lazy to shovel 30″ of snow.  Thanks!

PS.  If you’re on Facebook, you can become a fan of our blog at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/home.php?filter=pp.  We will soon have a link where you can purchase photos from both of us.  We’ll let you know when we have that in place.