Taking Photos in the Snow

I have always struggled with taking photos in the snow, in fact every year that has gone by I have always cursed myself for missing the opportunity of a perfectly clean and clear backdrop that the snow creates. I always know what I want my photos to look like, its just that I never quite get them to turn out right.

So this morning when I opened the curtains and saw we had a nice blanket of snow I couldn't wait till the afternoon where I could pick up the children and take out my camera for a while.

And for the first time ever I actually am rather pleased with some of the shots I got, I took all of these photos using my little £50 point and shot Olympus VG120 camera, nothing at all fancy on the 'snow scene' setting.

I am often saying a good photo is more about composition and subject than camera equipment, and its something over the last year I have really tried to improve on. When I take a photograph now I don't just point my camera and hope for the best, I try to take a minute to think about what is in the background, and what angel I am standing at in relation to the subject.

I thought I would show you some of the different photographs I took today on the walk home from school, we did not go anywhere scenic to take any of these photos, they were all taken along the street we walk daily (yes including the lovely berries at the top of this post - I'd never noticed them before today!)

Out of all the photos I took today, I think I liked this one above of Mikey the best, here I tried to keep above him so that the snow covered floor filled the majority of the shot, I was conscious of the curbs, streetlights and footprints in the snow to try and gain a really clear patch of snow behind him. It wasn't easy as we were walking along the street the pavements are not very wide and the road had been drove alone so there really wasn't alot of clear patches.

So When I was shooting more straight on, I tried to think about positioning the focus onto Mikey, like on the above photo I tried to put Mikey to one side and so his hand was more centred to draw the attention to the handful of snow.

Of course, if there is not much nice snow on the ground, then its always good to see what other backgrounds are available.

I love this photo, standing in front of a rather lovely leafy bush, tipped with snow, it really does make a whole different feel to a photograph when you think about the backdrop, and I took full advantage of this leafy scenery.

Of course, all these photos wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't of had such a willing model.

When we joined up with my elder two from school I didn't get nearly as good shots....

Snowballs firing everywhere, and children not standing still, make it very difficult to capture a non blury photo!

But with no signs of the snow stopping yet, it looks like I will have more chance to practise taking photos in the snow tomorrow!