Nature Photography Articles by Carl Heilman II

For me, one of the joys of snowshoeing, is being able to hike in the winter to new places in unusual conditions to photograph the landscape. Snow, frost and ice are always changing in shape, form, and color. The landscape often appears quite different at various times of the day, and before, during, and after storms. Capturing these moods on film is usually a matter of 'being in the right place at the right time' in combination with proper techniques of exposure and composition. When adding the element of winter weather to the picture, thought must also be given to proper care of equipment and film in cold conditions, as well as personal safety while handling it.

I first started photographing back in the mid-70's, with a Minolta SRT 101 - a real workhorse of a camera. It would be considered pretty basic when compared to the elaborate computerized cameras of today, but when you really come down to basics, all a camera really does is regulate how much light is allowed to pass through the lens and expose the film. On-board computers can help ease the amount of thought that needs to go into getting the perfect exposure, but the basic principle stays the same. So, to simplify a bit, the technical perfection of the final image is directly related to the quality of the lens and any filters used, and the optimum exposure of the film. Film exposure is regulated by varying the shutter speed and the aperture setting. The trick with snow in the wintertime is to help the camera determine the proper exposure. This is one place where onboard computers can be quite helpful, but they're not essential.

The winter world is made up of varying tones of white and colors, but to the brains of the camera, everything is read as light and dark areas. Light meters are set up to balance light readings to expose everything as if it were an 18% gray. Left to its own devices, that's just what a basic camera meter will do - it will underexpose the snow, so pictures come back gray and muddy. So, when photographing in the winter it's quite helpful to have a camera that lets you have the final say in the exposure.

At this point, it's also good to mention that some of the newer computerized, programmable 35 mm cameras actually do compensate for snowy pictures, and do quite a good job of it. The matrix metering of these high tech cameras pretty well compensates for snow in most areas of the viewfinder. I've found though, that with my Nikon N70, that it's best if the central subject is a more normal tone, and not white snow, or the camera may still underexpose the image. Experiment! and run through some film in a variety of situations. Jot down notes to help remember how you compensated, and what the camera readings were, so you can figure out what worked best when final images come back.

How do you compensate for the camera's lack of understanding of the situation? If the camera wants to read everything as gray, then you need to trick the camera into taking the right exposure. To make the camera see everything as black, the camera needs to be set to underexpose the film. To see everything as white, the camera needs to be set to overexpose the film. How much compensation is needed is determined by the amount of white in the scene, the type of metering in your camera, and where you have your camera metering aimed.

Whenever I look at a landscape I want to photograph, I try to look at it in tones of gray, and how many dark areas there are to balance out the light or white sections. That's just what your camera is doing, too - averaging out the whole scene to choose the final exposure at an 18% gray. A typical winter shot from a mountain top in daylight will contain a certain amount of sky (blue, with maybe some clouds), some trees on the snowy hillsides (dark evergreen, or gray branches and trunks), with a certain amount of bright white snow interspersed around the trees and on the mountain tops. The same scene in summer without snow would pretty much average out to the 18% gray the camera expects to see.

In winter, I tend to compensate when exposing a scene like that with snow by overexposing by about 2/3 of a stop. It's good to bracket your shot by 1/3 to 1/2 stop either way, just to make sure that one of your pictures will turn out well. So, take 3 photos - one at 1/3 stop overexposure, another at 2/3 stop overexposure, and a third at 1 stop overexposure. As the amount of white snow in the picture increases, you may need to overexpose by as much as 1 1/2 to 2 full stops from what the camera reads to properly record a mostly white image. When taking pictures at dawn and dusk and working to photograph the glowing colors on the snow, I may use the normal camera reading, and might even underexpose slightly to saturate the reds and purples on the snow. Ultimately remember that you and your creativity are the controlling factor over the camera, and it's your decisions that have the most impact on the final image!

Totally automatic cameras can often be tricked into getting the proper exposure. Many of the simpler point and shoot automatic cameras meter the scene in the center. These cameras usually have a way to lock an exposure so a person can recompose a picture and shoot with the original settings. So, aim the camera at something that is pretty much an 18% gray, lock the exposure, then recompose the picture and shoot. If nothing else is available you can meter off the palm of your hand. Hold your hand in the same plane as that of the picture you'll be taking. That way if it's direct sunlight, your hand will meter in direct sunlight. If there are shadows falling across a scene, then your hand will also have shadows falling across it. This way, I've found my hand to give a fairly accurate reading of what the scene should be. Again, experiment! and bracket!, and keep track of your exposures so you will know what worked and what didn't when the film comes back. Remember that light is the palette of the photographer, and exposure is his means of control over the light.

Filters are another way a photographer can manipulate the lighting in a scene. While our eyes can handle about 10 stops in light intensity variation, film can only record about 4 stops of variation. So, graduated neutral density filters that can darken certain areas of an image allow the film to more accurately record what our eyes are seeing. I most often use a 2 stop graduated filter to compensate for the extra brightness of the sky at dawn, or darken the upper half of an image so water reflections are better exposed, but these filters also have their uses in winter. The intensity of bright snow can be toned down a bit so evergreens become green instead of almost black, or a filter can help hold properly exposed highlights on snowy mountain tops.

Other filters are designed to intensify colors, particularly the warm colors, which can enhance a sunrise or sunset. Polarizing filters help cut down on reflected and stray light which will intensify the blue in the sky and accentuate colors in the landscape. While many of the filters available are an optical plastic, the best are optical glass, precision made and true to color (or lack of). Their cost is a good bit higher than the plastic ones, but this is a definite case of 'you only get what you pay for'!

Much can be said about composition - specific rules to go by and so on, but I find what I'm always looking for is a certain balance in the picture. This holds true for me whether I'm working with a close-up shot, or an abstract, or a wide format panorama. For me, when a scene is properly composed, there is a balanced flow in all sections of the image. Mountains or objects in the image are all in balance with each other from side to side, and top to bottom. I don't place something tall or large on one side without some form of balance on the other, such as another object, or a cloud, or a person. Sometimes it only takes a small shift of the camera position to achieve a good balance. This is best done with the camera on a tripod. That way you can give a lot more thought to what you're seeing through the lens, instead of how steady you're trying to hold the camera. While finding an even balance for each picture might seem difficult at first, after a while, it becomes second nature, and things fall into place quickly even for snapshot type photos!

When I'm outside, I'm almost always composing pictures in my mind. Something will catch my eye, whether it's a small area, or a whole scene, and in my mind I'll immediately start to compose the picture. The first thing I do is close one eye to see if the camera will be able to record the three dimensional aspect I'm seeing. A camera records everything on a two dimensional flat plane and sees with only one eye. It's up to the photographer to work with lighting, and the placement of the camera with respect to objects in the scene, to help create an illusion of depth in the resulting two dimensional picture. It can be a challenge, but when those images come back that have the feeling that you can walk right into them, it's quite rewarding, too.

Sometimes the more difficult parts of winter photography are related to keeping yourself warm, and your equipment operating. The most common problems I face are cold hands, cold batteries, and frost forming on camera viewfinders and lenses. If I'm heading out to take pictures, even in the late fall and early spring, I always take along a pair of thin polypro type gloves. That way I can still do anything I need to with a camera and tripod, but I'm not touching any of the equipment directly with my skin. I find I can manipulate all of my camera controls, and do any setup I need to with a tripod, too. I also carry along a pair of windproof glove shells with gripper palms which offer a considerable amount of additional protection in moderate conditions, and I also have along my expedition grade fleece mitts with wind/waterproof, breathable mitten shells for the more extreme conditions. Also, I always carry a windstopper fleece balaclava, extra insulating layers beyond what I normally need for hiking and safety, and a full wind/waterproof, breathable suit to help keep me comfortable in the worst of conditions that I'd want to photograph in.

With modern cameras, keeping the camera equipment warm generally isn't as important as keeping the batteries warm. Twenty years ago, it was more important to keep the camera itself warm, because the mechanisms would slow down, and the shutter wouldn't open the whole way, if at all sometimes! Today, the mechanics are more efficient, but since most everything is battery driven, cold batteries are usually the first point of failure. I always carry at least one extra set of batteries, and sometimes two - depending on where I'm going and how long I'll be out. Keep one set moderately warm - in a pack or a pocket, so they'll be at maximum efficiency when needed.

Another way to help keep the camera operating at a higher efficiency is to carry it in it's case inside your jacket, and only take it out as long as is needed to take the picture. I've never had condensation being a problem when carrying my camera this way, and it's more likely to be ready when you want to take a picture.

Once the camera is outside and has cooled to temperatures below freezing, frost can sometimes be a problem. Since the frost usually comes from breath freezing onto cold viewfinders and lenses, the solution is not to breathe on your camera! Of course that's easier said than done. . . While a balaclava protects the face and head comfortably and efficiently, it also tends to funnel your breath up toward the camera. I've often gone into breath holding marathons while trying to compose a picture, and then fog the camera anyhow while recovering with a few deep breaths afterwards!

Condensation on and in the camera and lens IS a problem when bringing cold equipment back inside. Keep equipment closed up in its camera pack or case for several hours after coming back inside so all equipment has a chance to warm up to near room temperature before being exposed to the warmer and moister air inside. Even in low humidity conditions inside a house, condensation will form on a cold camera, and possibly inside cold cameras and lenses when they're brought inside. If you don't have a good pack or case for your camera, put all of your equipment in a tightly sealed plastic bag before bringing it inside to help keep it dry.

While most of my suggestions tend to be geared more toward landscape photography, most of them can also be applied toward action photography as well. The color of today's outdoor equipment and clothing adds a real zip to a winter scene. Photographing the action of a race can evoke the excitement of competitive events as well as the camaraderie of the contestants and spectators. Winter can be a great time to photograph wildlife, too.

No matter what type of photography you enjoy doing, winter weather will always add that extra challenge both photographically and physically. Even now, there are times that I don't end up with the photos I imagined I was taking, and there are some scenes that can never be photographed effectively. . . but I will always have the memories, and the spiritual connection that comes from being in special places at some very special times.