Photographing Winter Magic: From Snowflakes to Night Skies

Winter offers spectacular, delicate beauty to be photographed. The challenge for photographing winter is not the cold temperatures but the fleeting window to acquire a successful capture. Snowfall can quickly become a salt inundated mess (a notorious scene here in New England) so time is of the essence to photograph it. Wind can quickly strip the trees bare of their sparkly coating. Footprints will promptly dent the pristine coating. The ice pattern on your window or windshield has minutes to exist before the Sun dissolves it into a memory. If photographing snowflakes is on the radar then the challenge ramps up logarithmically.

I confess I am one of those nuts that love winter. I love everything about it. The snow (oh yasss), the ice, the late sunrises, the early sunsets, the color of light from the low angle of the Sun, the clear frigid air, and long shadows. All. Of. It. I like living in an area where the seasons are more distinct, albeit distorted (think sprummer – a day or two of springtime and then straight into 5 months of summer).

📷 – Nikon D850 | 🔘 – Nikkor 28-300mm | 🎞 – ISO 2800 | 🔘 – f/9 | 🕒 – 1/250 second⁠

Keeping Warm

Let’s talk about warmth before diving into photography fun. Although I tolerate the cold well, my hands and feet are the ones that can make or break my tolerance. I always wear wool socks, never cotton or polyester. As the hikers say, “Cotton Kills” and there is a reason for this saying. Cotton doesn’t keep you warm and retains moisture in the fibers. In cold weather, those damp socks suck the warmth right out of your body. Wool is insulating and doesn’t absorb wetness so it doesn’t become a conduit to the cold. I prefer socks with a high content of wool. If you find wool socks that say “wool” don’t assume they are as warm as they should be. Check the contents. I seek socks that have at least 70% Merino wool. They are lightweight yet are incredibly warm.

If my feet are warm, my hands can handle the cold well. I have “photography” gloves but they still aren’t as sensitive as they should be when navigating the camera. Lately, I lean on rechargeable hand warmers. They heat up fast and give my hands a punch of warmth when they need them. They stay warm for hours and aren’t “use and chuck” like the ones you often see.

Winter Basics

Winter is problematic to photograph even before we get into conversing about camera settings and rapidly discharging batteries. The latter is the easiest obstacle to deal with. By the way, your camera won’t freeze. It can take the cold.Just let it acclimate to the warm temperature when you go indoors, protected. I put my camera in a case or Ziploc bag before I go back indoors after a shoot and let it warm up for about 30 minutes to prevent condensation from forming on the camera as it warms up. Batteries discharge rapidly in the cold. Keep the spares in your inner pocket to keep them warm.

As for the camera settings, set your camera to aperture priority and exposure compensation to +1 to avoid grey-looking snow. Take a few frames. If needed, adjust up or down 1/3 of a stop at a time. The snow should appear bright and white. Keep an eye on the histogram and prevent overexposure. You don’t want to lose texture and detail in the snow. Shoot at your camera’s lowest (native) ISO. Depending on your camera, this could be ISO 64, 100, or 200. Focusing on a snowy scene can be difficult, so focus on a contrasting object or focus manually. A warm lens hood can make things look fuzzy so remove it until it is good and cold. Just be careful with your lens while the hood is off.

Revel in the Clarity

The night sky is brilliantly clear during the winter months due to the frigid air. It’s a perfect time to photograph deep-sky objects such as the Orion nebula, Andromeda, the Pleiades, or photograph a nightscape with a sky loaded with sparkling stars. Thanks to the atmospheric clarity, the Moon is extra brilliant as well. During cold months, a halo or ring can often be seen around it. This is created by moonlight interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. In late January/ early February the Milky Way core commences being observable again right before dawn in the Northern Hemisphere (color me giddy!). Keep in mind that the Milky Way is visible year-round, only the galactic core drops out of sight for a few months. It is always magical to see and photograph. Use the NPF rule for pinpoint stars.

Andromeda

📷 – Nikon D780 | 🔘 – Nikkor 70-200mm | 🎞 – ISO 5000 | 🔘 – f/2.8 | 🕒 – 206 3-second exposures stacked, untracked, 50 bias frames, 50 dark frames

Frozen Bubbles

Bubbles aren’t just for summer. I think they are most beautiful when they are frosted over. If you are lucky to have a windless morning with temperatures 10 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 C) or colder, bubbles are lots of fun to photograph. You need a soap mixture with glycerin, or light corn syrup (recipe below). Plain bubble solution won’t cut it. Set your camera on continuous high shooting and use a fast shutter speed. Dip the straw or bubble wand in the mixture and gently blow the bubble and act fast. The bubble will form beautiful crystals and then collapse on itself. If you have an assistant, the success rate will be higher. Nonetheless, you can do it solo as well. The neighbors will think you’re nuts but who cares. There are photographs to be made 😉

Sunrise Bubble

Bubble Recipe

6-7 oz. warm water

2.5 tablespoons corn syrup or glycerin

2 tablespoons sugar

2.5 tablespoons dish soap

1 straw or bubble wand.

Slowly combine the ingredients so it doesn’t become sudsy. Refrigerate overnight before using it. I tend to keep a container in the fridge ready on hand for a windless frigid morning.

There is much to enjoy in the winter. We just have to prepare for cold temperatures and enjoy all seasons, not just the sunny warm ones.

Do you enjoy winter (or not)? What do you like to photograph during the winter months? Let’s hear it in the comments.

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