Seasonal details
Focus on the details to produce concise compositions with eye-catching results, with minimalist abstract images, creative close-ups and a limited cool blue colour palette
1 JACK FROST
Over the coming weeks, keep a close eye on the weather and, when freezing conditions are forecast, set your alarm early. You won’t have to travel far – frosty windows, garden plants and spiderwebs are among the everyday subjects that look extraordinary when covered in frost. Often a close approach is best, so consider using a macro lens or close-up attachment. Consider selecting a slightly cooler white balance to emphasize the feeling of the cold weather. Depth of field is limited at higher magnifications, so be prepared to select a smaller aperture to generate sufficient depth of field.
2 ICE, ICE, BABY!
Frozen pools, puddles and lakes produce endless opportunities to capture eye-catching and abstract-looking ice patterns. Look closely for air bubbles, cracks, swirls, feathers, and leaves trapped in the ice and for interesting textures and patterns. Fill the frame for maximum impact. A telephoto macro lens is best suited – for example, the Nikon Z MC 105mm f/2.8. If using a tripod, be careful not to break the ice when placing legs and try to position your camera parallel to the ice to place all the surface within the plane of focus – doing so will help you achieve edge-to-edge sharpness. Selecting a cooler colour temperature will create an attractive blue hue that suits ice and icicles. Try adding a small amount of Dehaze or Clarity in processing to highlight texture and detail.
3 KEEP IT SIMPLE
Minimalist photography – where you exclude all distractions and keep compositions concise and simple – can produce bold, eye-catching results. Look for scenes or subjects boasting clean, simple lines and shapes – or that provide a single subject that you can isolate effectively. Negative space is often a key ingredient for this style of shot. The coast is often a good place to capture minimalist shots, with groynes, tide markers, breakwaters, slipways and hand railings providing suitable subjects. Consider using an ND filter to smooth the texture of water and skies and to keep the emphasis on shapes and lines. To produce standout results that you’ll be delighted with, be daring and unconventional with your composition.
4 GET INTIMATE
Don’t simply rely on your wide-angle lens when shooting wintry landscape images – because a medium telephoto, in the region of 70-200mm, will help you isolate interesting detail and structure. By capturing the ‘intimate landscape’, you can avoid the more traditional, conventional, and cliched viewpoints, and discover more original views. Eliot Porter, Hans Strand, and Guy Tal are among the photographers to have popularized this style of landscape photography. Exclude the sky from frame to help distort scale and make the landscape look less familiar. Often flat, low-contrast light works best. Woodland is a popular environment for capturing this style of shot.
5 BOOK A WORKSHOP
With our winters growing increasingly mild, wintry weather is becoming less common in parts of the UK. Therefore, consider booking a dedicated trip to somewhere cold to get your annual fix of ice and snow – for example Finland, Iceland or Norway. Extreme weather can be challenging and even dangerous. Therefore, consider booking yourself onto a photography workshop where you will have experienced guides/tutors on hand to ensure you are in the right place at the right time, and able to make the most of the freezing conditions.
With milder winters more common, consider a trip to colder climes for your fix of ice and snow in your shoot