The Moment+Repost

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
1

The Moment
The Moment1067×1600 1.01 MB

I went out with a creative lens, a 90mm macro, and a 70-300mm. I’m not sure why I thought this was a good idea. :slight_smile: I was taking advantage of the longer focal lengths to shoot down the creek from a bridge and framing this up. I had just clicked the shutter when I heard the hiss and plop of falling snow, and I was pleased to see that I caught the drop - a happy accident. I don’t know that it really adds to the image, but it’s definitely the moment and it’s the story of what happens after heavy snow.

Specific Feedback Requested

Any. This is my first time really taking some time with winter images. I think I struggle in the forest, generally resorting to macro, and the blanket of snow seemed to help make the larger scenes more interesting.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
1/1250, f/8, 85mm, ISO 1250. 70-300mm lens on an adapter. Other than f/8 and 85mm, I clearly was not paying much attention to my settings. I was using exposure comp to “overexpose” some due to the snow which I’m sure impacted this some (auto ISO, and possibly aperture priority or manual - not sure which).

22-01-15-3-0035
22-01-15-3-00351600×1600 1.41 MB

With this one I tried to eliminate some of the edges as suggested by @Kris_Smith and @Diane_Miller to focus on the falling snow and open water. I tried several ratios and unconstrained, but I felt like the square ended up working the best as far as including/excluding what I wanted. If you have any additional thoughts, feel free to share. I feel like it’s not quite “there”. :slight_smile:

3 Likes
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I love going into the woods when it’s like this - the snow on the branches is wonderful. The small slice you have here is inviting and I’d slice it even further, cropping to frame the water better and eliminate the tree on the right and the bits in the LLC. The falling branch is a nice touch and should be played up some as well.

Overexposing for snow is the way to get it right - your meter wants to turn it 18% gray. That’s how camera meters work and since the snow isn’t gray, you need to expose longer to get it to look white. Although snow isn’t really white either, but I’ll shelve that for the moment.

When you say you have the lens on an adapter, I assume you’re using a legacy lens or one not made for your camera. ?

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I like @Kris_Smith’s idea of cropping in to show the falling snow more.

I don’t know how hard it is to catch, but it would be so neat be able to go out looking for it. I’ve seen it happening on a grand scale when skiing somewhere years ago, and it was magical.

If I was shooting a snow scene and the light wasn’t changing with clouds drifting by, I’d fill the frame with sunlit snow and set a fully manual exposure to make it just short of white. With the processing flexibility we have these days with raw files, it should be pretty easy to tease out the desired detail.

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Karla, I like how all of the whiteness frames the gap, where the explosion of falling snow is an excellent surprise. The change in texture between the branches and the snwy ground/small creek looks good. You could crop tighter, but then you would lose the feeling of lots and lots of snow with just a small opening.

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Thanks for your comments. I’m hoping to do some reworking this week and repost.
@Kris_Smith - Yes, the lens is for a different camera mount, but with an electronic adapter. Not quite the same as native mount, but it works fairly well. I have heard some discussion on snow not really being white. :slight_smile:
@Diane_Miller - It was pretty much fully overcast by then, but I was attempting to expose about as far as I could to the right without clipping anything.
@Mark_Seaver - I was going for the frame and the contrast, but I think I got distracted by the pretty snow cover above the gap. Also, there really isn’t anything interesting in the gap, unfortunately. I’ll do some experimenting. I have other compositions also, but none with the snow fall.