As I type this, we have no snow on the ground and daily temps in the 30s. I think it will creep into the 40s over the next week or so. Crazy. Not unheard of, but definitely unusual. And utterly uninspiring. It’s like the third November in a row. (Update 2 days later – we have snow! Only 5 or 6 inches, but snow! Am going out to play shortly, just gotta finish this coffee.)
So with those uninspiring conditions and my revival of my jewelry business (I might post photos of that, but not sure), I didn’t go out to walk in nature except once in January and so far this month, none. It makes me a little sad since I love it so much. I suppose if I was properly motivated, I would go find something; even if it is just slushy mud and sticks.
But there was a spell in January where we had a whopping 6 or 8 inches of snow and so one day I went and I’m so glad because that could be it unless March and April turn evil and dump 4 feet on us.
One thing that can be fun and also frustrating, is to get the color of snow right. How hard can white be, right? If it were only that simple. Snow takes on the color of whatever is reflected onto it and changes with every second. Take this…whatever berry and pine needle – I chose to go with a reasonably cool color temperature rather than warm. It could go either way, but I like the contrasts and it’s in shade so wouldn’t be rosy. I also didn’t crank the white level up too high which sometimes works. It’s all interpretive up to a point.
Oh and a tip for processing snow photos – change your background to white. I find it helps a lot in setting a proper white point and for making sure you have the right hues and tints.
Back to my one January outing. As so often becomes the case, this was mostly about macro and minimalism. And little trees in snow.
The light was mostly direct sun so created lovely shadows and backlighting from time to time. Even in shade though, things were interesting and kept me moving down the trail. This little curl of bark was just too perfect and cute to pass by.
And I was really happy I had the tripod with me for some stacking! I LOVE when I find Indian pipe in the snow. These guys were behind a small sapling and I had to bend the little branches out of the way while I framed and took the shots for the stack (10 images total). I don’t think it minded. No little limbs were hurt.
And more little wonders –
Look at that little bit of snow on the top! That’s what stopped me for this and darn if I didn’t screw it up. I didn’t get the whole of the stem in focus. I thought I had, but bah, I didn’t. Striking little thing though. Here’s another one that stopped me –
They look like tiny bananas, but I think it’s a type of pea. No idea. Cute little things though. And speaking of cute, here are some more seed pods. These are from Wintergreen or Chimaphila umbellata. I’m so glad I found these now since I photographed them a few months ago blooming and just after the flower went to seed. These are split open to release them and hopefully some of those seeds will produce future plants.
Well that’s it for my one trail walk for January. As I type this, I’m fresh back from one in February after we go 5 or 6 inches of snow. I hope there will be more!
As always, lovely photos. I like them all – but the little bits of green are my favorite.
Yeah, I love moss in snow. The other day I shot a bunch of Club Moss in snow and will put those up soon. It was a fun couple of hours before I lost the light.
Looking forward to them. I also plan to do some photostacking . . . . have not done it in awhile, and my newer camera does it automatically. Those could be posted here, if, and when (meaning at my blog).
Ooh, let me know when you do and I’ll have a look. My old G9 does auto stacking in camera as well, but it is never as good as I can do in Zerene.
It’s up and ready with a few of my usual comments! Let me know what you think. 🙂