There is nothing better than a cold snowy day to go out and get fabulous photos. How we work with white space becomes even more critical when all that white is all that snow.
Today we set out to compare the GoPro Hero 7 with Samsung’s Galaxy 25 for an intimate, up to our knees in snow adventure. With me was Mx an aspiring sports and GoPro photography student.
THE SNOW CHALLENGE
With snow white as the backdrop color, we needed to seek out strong imagery hidden in plain sight. We started with two images that both cameras would focus on from approximately the same pose. Can you see the difference? Which ones do you prefer?
For our first shared model, we choose an interesting scene with near and far elements. Small branches still intact on bush with larger tree limbs curving away in the background.
The stick branch. Here, a 1.4 portrait lens highlights the branches of interest which jump out beyond the soft blur of everything else.
Mx went for greater depth of field here. All parts of the image are in full focus. Less distinction exists between the branches up front and the now more visible curved limbs in the upper right corner of the photo.
Which one is better?
That depends of the eyes of the beholder.
Which do you prefer?
Here’s the second shared winter snow model we worked from:
I called this one the laughing duck. We trudged through deep snow coming upon this scene. Looks like a large open mouth shouting and indeed, we heard ducks in the distant pond obscured from our view.
Favorite Snow Image of the Day
A frame within a frame. This is Mx’s favorite image from the shoot. Using the iron guardrail as a frame, he creates an old fashioned vignette reminiscent of early 20th Century photography.
My favorite image from our adventure is this one of Mx getting down low for a closeup still image using the GoPro. I love the straight lines of trees descending to the photographer’s silhouette . While one is normally drawn to the white space of a photo, this image draws your attention to the black space at the center with the vertical trees pointing the way.
This image made me wonder if the student saw me as a white tailed photographer hiding behind the tree. Nicely done!
We talked about this image a lot. Woulda, coulda, shouda…Great concept. Amazing perspective. Intriguing image!
Can you tell what frames the image? Do you need to know?
Best of The Snow Shots
These are the images that held our interest and tell the story.
The power of water, frozen and otherwise. I so enjoy both winter workshops in city parks and contrast the environmental differences between this and a long ago summer workshop in a remote section of Northern Maine, celebrating Mount Katahdin with a group of watercolor artists.