The skiing trip is just around the corner, the winter clothes are already packed, and the camera cannot be missing either to capture the beautiful moments and the winter wonderland we all dream about. The Winter season always comes with its magical moods that can become unique shots if you stage them correctly. Here are three important tips we want to share with you to make your winter photography experience even better.
1.Outsmarting the pitfalls of photographing in winter sceneries
Underexposure
Larger white spaces in a motive can irritate the exposure meter because the system records too much light, which causes the aperture to close. Consequently, this will cause the picture to be underexposed. to prevent something like this from happening, use the function “exposure corrections” and try to experiment a little to find the perfect settings suiting your wishes. It is also possible to adjust the value of the ISO. If you reduce it by half, the amount of exposure should double. Perhaps, your camera even offers a preset “snow” programme, which definitely will spare you some time and nerves.
White Balance
Do not despair if the colour scheme is not optimal when having a look at your final results. Nowadays, there are many good photo editing software programmes out there that will help you to adjust the colour scheme accordingly. Simply use a filter that helps to correct colours or selectively choose the colours you want to adjust.
2.Perfect winter motives
The Winter season is perfect for macro shots. Look for details in your motives, like flowers covered in a unique layer of ice. Thereby, it is important to pay attention to a steady camera position, which is essential because the exposure time is longer and the depth of field is only a few millimetres compared to usual shots. Most of the time, digital compact cameras already offer you a preset macro programme. If you can set the aperture, then you should use a small aperture to get the sharpest possible pictures (e.g., f11 to f22).
3. The best equipment
No winter wonderland without some pitfalls. Cold and humid weather are two dangerous characteristics that, eventually, will harm your equipment. The cold weather will decrease battery performance and might cause other damage as well. Subsequently, be prepared and bring additional batteries and keep them close to your body to keep them warm at all times. Additionally, when changing from cold to warm temperatures, be careful not to expose the camera to a sudden change in temperature. This might cause condensation to settle in the camera’s body and harm internal technology. Having a look at the camera’s manual can help to prevent damages too.
Now that we provided you with some useful and important tips, we hope you are even more prepared to shoot some amazing pictures in awesome winter scenery.
Don’t put your X-series camera into hibernation for the winter, get outside and make the most of the conditions
We may be in the colder and darker months of the year, but there are still photo opportunities. The good news is Fujifilm X-series cameras are ideally equipped to make the most of the season with a range of features that will help you to get the best possible shots in all wintry conditions. As the temperature drops, there are a few extra considerations for your camera gear.
Power
Battery performance can be severely affected by low temperatures, so it’s worth buying an additional cell if you’re going to be out regularly in freezing conditions. Make sure all batteries are fully charged before you leave home and if they do die while you’re out, putting them somewhere warm – next to your body, ideally – can often grab a few extra frames.
Misting up
Going from a warm house or car into cold air will inevitably cause your X-series camera to mist up with condensation so, if possible, you should avoid subjecting your kit to large temperature changes. If it’s safe to do so, put your kit (without batteries) into your car a couple of hours before you go out so it can acclimatise. Similarly, putting your kit in a colder part of the house will help reduce condensation build-up – just don’t forget the batteries before you leave. The same applies when you come back in after a cold shoot. Reverse the process, placing them in a colder part of the house first, then gradually warming them up to room temperature. Sealing kit in a plastic bag with a silica gel pack can help. While you’re out, keep lens changes to a bare minimum or, better still, avoid them altogether. Should you get condensation, avoid the temptation to wipe it away and wait until it clears naturally. Unless you own a weather-proof X-T1, using a camera cover and keeping a chamois leather close to hand is a good way of keeping your kit dry.
And don’t forget to apply all these rules to yourself, too. Layer your clothing to stay warm and dry and be sure to take warm drinks and food to keep your batteries charged!
After some cold snaps? Try these…
Frosty close-ups
This is the perfect subject matter for the XF60mm Macro lens on interchangeable lens X-series cameras or the Macro/Super Macro mode on a fixed lens model. Suitable objects abound so keep an eye out for interesting patterns and subjects that can add a welcome splash of colour.
Snow scenes
For simplicity, select the Snow program setting. For more control, dial in some + exposure compensation – try +2 in sunny conditions – to avoid the snow rendering as grey sludge. Early morning starts are best and use the Velvia Film Simulation mode for vibrant blue skies.
Starry nights
Grab your tripod and head out on a clear night. Consider using the open flash technique to illuminate foreground subjects. Avoid including the moon in the shot and use an exposure of at least 30 seconds to render some stars.
Mist and fog
Look for distinct shapes and try using either the Soft Focus filter setting or increasing the ISO to introduce some grain. Shooting in black & white can be effective, as can fitting a telezoom such as the XF55-200mm to pick out more distant details. Check out this blog for more tips for shooting fog.
Winter portraits
A great option, regardless of the weather. Hats, scarves, big coats and umbrellas all make great props. The XF56mm is the ideal portrait lens and be sure to make the most of that super wide aperture to throw backgrounds out of focus and deliver beautiful bokeh.
As winter starts to set in, photographers are looking for ways to capture this cold season. For me, winter is best covered in the morning. This is a personal preference but in the mornings you have frost, a reasonable hour for sunrise and (if you’re lucky) fog or mist.
There are three types of fog, so you need to decide what you are looking for and this will depend on your location:
Ground fog – In mountainous/hilly areas and cold patches you can get ground fog collecting in valleys. After a rainy night or over wet ground you can get shallow precipitation fog.
Sea fog – Also called advection fog, this is where warm air passes over cold sea water.
Sea/River smoke – Where the air is colder than the water, creating a generally shallow level of fog, this is generally restricted to water areas, hence river smoke.
When trying to photograph fog you need to use the weather forecast to understand what the evening will be like in your desired location. I was fortunate enough to visit Curbar Edge in the Peak District the afternoon before my first morning I was there to scout the location. It was just before sunset and the fog was forming in the valley below and at that point I decided to try it out the following morning to see how it would look.
The weather for my first morning at Curbar was drizzling and there was a thick layer of cloud, which meant it was pretty unlikely I’d witness much golden light, I thought I’d set out and give it a go. I am so happy I did! This was my first real experience of photographing mist and it is incredible how quickly the spectacle evolves in front of your eyes. I one point I was photographing down one end of the valley, taking some long exposures, only to look over my shoulder and see that it had dramatically changed down the other end of the valley!
I used the X-T1 and the XF18-135mm lens for my main set up. As it was a wet morning the weather-sealed kit meant that I could stop worrying about the system and focus on the spectacle. As well as offering weather sealing, the XF18-135mm meant that I had great versatility, meaning that I didn’t have to worry about changing lenses the entire time. However, I also ended up using a neutral density filter to reduce the amount of light reaching the sensor to further extend the shutter speed. This was great but because I was using a filter set instead of screw in filters it meant that the front element was exposed to the conditions. Long exposures and rain drops do not mix! Thankfully a little umbrella tucked away in my bag helped to shelter the filter.
Generally I was not bothered about using a fast/moderate shutter speed so I set up the system on a tripod and used ISO 200 (the lowest RAW compatible ISO) and generally around F8. The addition of the ND filter, which was a 10-stop filter, meant that the shutter speed required was dramatically decreased. This results in the mist smoothing out, giving quite an interesting effect. See the comparisons below (note that despite the fact the ND filter is meant to be neutral it has put a distinct colour cast on the images).
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The ND filter extended the shutter speed so much that I had to use the bulb setting, as the required shutter speed was longer than 30 seconds. For this I used the remote trigger that allowed me to hold down the trigger (lockable) to keep the shutter open for as long as required. The X-T1 shows the length of the shutter speed on the back screen, this is very helpful. There is something to consider thought when using long exposures: the processing time. As soon as you go beyond 30 seconds, the processing time dramatically increases from seconds into minutes, this isn’t a problem but is something to be aware of when trying to photograph a scene that is evolving constantly.
To make sure I didn’t miss any moments while the X-T1 was processing and to get some different shots, I used the X100s with ISO 1600 to produce a fast enough shutter speed to allow me to use the camera one handed. Picture the scene: a wonderful valley filled with fog unfolding in front of me, one camera on a tripod; my left hand sheltering it with an umbrella; photographing the scene with the X100s in my right hand at the same time! Who says photographers can’t look cool…
The three above photos were taken with the X100s using the monochrome + red filter jpeg preset.
The reason I chose Curbar Edge is because it provides a high vantage point. This is really important to optimise your chances for good mist photography. It generally means that you should be hit by the early morning light and so should warm up faster! This is a valid point to consider on crisp winter mornings, not that it happened this time around. A high vantage point allows you to see for a greater distance, hopefully providing you with a greater number of layers to your picture. At the top of a valley, Curbar Edge allowed me to see for miles along the valley, which offered both valley fog and river smoke. The ability to then use a telephoto lens to zoom in on particular areas can result in some quite striking shots.
But also having the ability to instantly zoom wide was a great asset to try and obtain a variety of photographs.
The colour photos were all taken with the X-T1 and I used the Classic Chrome camera calibration in Lightroom which produced wonderful colours in my opinion. I have only just started using this camera calibration and I love it.
Though on this occasion the sun didn’t break through the thick cloud cover, the spectacle was nevertheless remarkable and I can only imagine what it would have looked like if sun rays had broken through.
The second morning
Despite being very happy with the previous morning I decided to give it another go as the forecast suggested there was a better chance of a proper sunrise. This time round I decided to not focus too much on lengthy shutter speeds, but instead the details in the fog. What I didn’t expect was the amount of fog!
The range of the 18-135mm meant that I could capture the grand scale of the fog at 18mm, with the car in the first of these pictures giving a sense of scale. Then using the longer end of the lens I pulled out particular parts of the landscape, such as the little cottage that looks like it should be in Harry Potter and the hilltops surrounded by a sea of fog, turning them into islands. As well as the incredible amount of fog, the sun did make a bit of an appearance too. Despite this it was a very cold morning, producing a wonderful frost. I was very happy to have packed a hat and pair of gloves.
I positioned myself so part of the hilltop was between me and the rising sun, creating a backlighting effect on Curbar Edge, which brings the fog alive.
Because of the brighter sky this time round I needed to use a ND gradual filter, where unlike the filter I used during the first morning, this one changes from one end to the other, as the name suggests. At one end it is darker (you can buy filters at different stops, depending on how dark you want to make part of the image), while at the other it has no effect on the light. I use these when I am photographing something with a sky that is much brighter than the ground below. With the above image I used a filter which didn’t stop down the light enough to correctly expose the sky but I like it nevertheless because of the frost (it get particularly difficult to expose correctly when the sun is in the image). While the picture below is a slightly better example of a ND gradual filter in use.
I hope this has proved helpful and now it is your turn to get out there and photograph the wintery conditions. Let us know how you get on.
Christmas may be over, but there are still plenty of subjects and techniques to keep you and your X-series camera busy.
Winter wonderland
The days may be shorter and the temperatures lower, but there’s no denying that the winter months are a very photogenic time of year. Hopefully, we’ll get a good fall of snow over the next few weeks, which means great photos are to be had.
Like any time of year, taking good pictures in winter does involve some planning. If snow is forecast overnight, it could be worth an early start the following morning. If you’re lucky, it will be bright and sunny and you’ll get shots of the landscape before the snow starts to melt or gets covered in footprints. With this in mind, be sure to check the weather forecast the night before.
Make sure you charge up your batteries too, as cold weather can reduce battery performance. Likewise, we’d advise you to leave your camera (minus the battery) by the front door – this tends to be the coldest part of the house and makes it less likely for your gear to mist up due to a change in temperature when you get outside. Buying an extra battery would be a good idea, especially if you plan to be out and about for a while, plus be sure to pack a warm drink for yourself, in addition to making sure you have plenty of warm clothing. Oh, and make sure you put the battery back in the camera before you leave!
Once you’ve set foot outdoors, there will be plenty of photo opportunities to capture – these images above should give you some pointers. As well as going for the obvious landscape shots, look for more abstract images as well as close-up and detail pictures.
Most X-series cameras offer a preset Snow program mode, which should be your first port of call if you want to get great results quickly. To take more control, use exposure compensation to make sure the white snow comes out white. Select +1 in overcast conditions and +2 in sunny conditions to avoid underexposure.
While we’re sure you’ll make every effort to keep snow and moisture away from your X-series camera while you’re out, if it does get dropped in the white stuff or picks up moisture, place it in a plastic bag with a few sachets of silica gel when you get home. Put them in a warm (not hot) place for a day or two and it should clear up.
Shoot a 365 project
Lots of photographers traditionally start a 365 project at this time of year. The premise is simple: take one picture a day for a whole year. It sounds simple enough, but it will give both you and your photography a real challenge. To add extra spice, you could insist on using just one feature, lens or function on your X-series camera!
Fun of the fair
Funfairs spring up in towns during the festive period and you can use them to create eye-catching long exposure images. You’ll need a solid tripod and a low ISO (100 or 200), then select a long shutter speed of around four seconds and fire away. Alternatively, try your camera’s Night Portrait exposure mode and get a low light portrait.
Feathered friends
In colder weather, food becomes more scarce for birds. Attract them to your garden by offering a regular supply of nuts, suet balls and fruit. They’ll keep coming back once they know food is on tap, giving you the chance to photograph them. The XF55-200mm or XC50-230mm lens would be perfect to get in close.
Church interiors
Interiors of churches and cathedrals provide a plethora of photo opportunities. Head to one on an overcast day to avoid strong contrast between light and dark areas and try a range of shots including majestic wide-angle images. Set your X-series camera’s Dynamic Range to DR400 to maximise highlight and shadow detail.
Creative candles
Warm up those winter shots with a candle. Whether on their own or in groups they make perfect subjects. Combined with a face, they make great portraits, too. Increase the ISO on your X-series camera to avoid the flash firing, which will spoil the effect of the ambient light. Leave the white-balance on Auto to retain a warming glow.
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