Tips for Winter Landscape Photography

Winter landscape photography in the mountains with snow and beautiful light

Intro & Objective

Wintertime. Maybe the most beautiful time of the year.

Winter scene

At the same time, maybe the most difficult season for landscape photographers.

First of all because they are challenged by a general strong light caused by the snow reflection.

Second, because snowy days are rare and winter without snow makes no sense for photography.

Moreover, the outside (minus) temperature is not the most comfortable for a human being, not even for a sportsman.

Thus, this article`s scope is to give you valuable and useful tips how to manage all these above mentioned issues and additionally to teach a beginner how to chase beautiful sceneries of winter landscapes.

Winter photographs must have a scent of a fairytale…And, either they create impact to the viewer or they don`t. If not, then you can forget about it.

So, let us start learning how to capture stunning landscape photographs during the winter season!

Necessary equipment

Digital technology and is nowadays so advanced so that you could have at least a high end mobile telephone of the latest generation and you could consider prepared to capture great photos.

They say that it is not the tailor that makes the man. It`s the same thing in photography: not the equipment makes the photograph but the eye of the photographer behind the camera. This is what we will find out later within the next chapter, learning some rules to observe the best views cropping the reality from 3D to 2D in order to get to the maximum impact.

But for now we will define a few minimum requirements really necessary, without which we can't even hope for something somewhat attractive.

It would be useful to have a device with a strong resolution (megapixels) and zoom in capability and quality. The last requirement translates into high quality lens, either professional stand-alone lens (if you use a DSLR or a mirroless camera) or a sharp very good miniature lens if the photo camera is the one of your mobile phone (i.e. Leica etc).

Noise reduction is also very important because the most spectacular photographs should be captured at sunrise and sunset when the light is low. Of course this issue is not an issue anymore if we use tripod. In this way we are able to set long exposures in order to increase the quantity of light necessary during the blue hour of the sunrises and sunsets.

So, a tripod is helpful to be considered as part of the gear.

Maybe, not so many of you think too much about other type of equipment that has nothing to do with photography, as clothes or other stuffs.

I can tell you that you should reconsider a bit and put this line on your to-do list when you consider your luggage for a winter photo tour.

Imagine the following scenario and scenery: 6 a.m., early in the morning, on a hill, outside temperature is -20 degrees, maybe snowing, deep snow layer, strong wind. More than the camera you need preventive measures in order to resist waiting tens of minutes or even a couple of hours needed for a good rewarding photo.

That is why the white season for photographers needs more that usual some custom features besides the photo gear. So, first of all you need to add to your luggage or backpack the this items:

•Thermo clothes. There are even heated clothes in the market, running on batteries. But use at least some sport thermic clothes as: pens, shirts, socks, jackets, hat etc. It is mandatory not optional!

•Hood. Cold (windy) days could badly harm your face! Mandatory!

•Gloves for photographers (special fingers designed to be able to push buttons, or even to handle the touch screens).

•High capacity batteries + additional spare battery/batteries. When is cold the batteries level is going down faster.

•Head front light. Dealing with sunset and sunrise weak light, you need to find the way in and way out of the spot maybe in the dark.

Winter landscape photography in the mountains with snow and beautiful light

Shooting Tips & Tricks

#1 Choose the best time of day. Blue hour and golden hour.

Who hasn`t heard of "blue hour" and "golden hour" must definitely experience them, not only from a photographic perspective but also to delight own eyes with the most beautiful colors and phenomena of nature: sunrise and sunset.

The blue hour (conventionally named after the color of the sky and the color tone of the dark shapes on earth) is the period of about one hour before sunrise and one hour after sunset. Then the ambient light is uniform either above the horizon line ("in the sky") and what is below the horizon, i.e. "on the ground", so that the risk of "burning" the photo at the top and being too dark (" without information ”of detail and with image noise) on the bottom, is the lowest.

Another very important advantage of this time of day is that the sky can be colored in other colors as well, besides blue (red, orange, yellow) which helps us to capture a more pleasant image, with a nicer tone. Also the equalized and low light level allows us to work with long exposures that gives an artistic note (e.g. moving clouds, moving car headlights in the case of cityscapes).

Beautiful pink sunset shine enlightens the picturesque landscapes with fair trees covered with snow.

The golden hour, on the other hand, gives us the warmest sunlight of the whole day, so that through its tone but also through the possibility of shooting in backlight (contre-jour), resulting artistic photos, more pleasant to look at. This period is about an hour after sunrise and one before sunset. But in winter season, because the sun angle is lower, the duration increases up to 2 hours even).

Christmas landscape

#2 Look for a favorable angle to highlight that view.

Most of the time, the position of the camera, both horizontally and vertically, radically changes the perspective on the subject and thus the impact on the viewer.

First of all, the spot for a photograph must be carefully chosen so that all the elements of the composition "stay in place", as if "put by hand". That is why must be checked several positions around the landmark searching for the optimum alignment (see below: framing rules and composition).

From the point of view of the height of the station point, the extremes often bring spectacular results and come out of the clichés of ordinary tourist pictures. For example: positioning the camera directly on the ground can bring a much more dynamic perspective by emphasizing vanishing points, increasing the scale of the object-subject eventually. A higher positioning instead (if the topometry of the place gives us the possibility) allows us to include the subject much more broadly and to offer the viewer a completely different sensation and experience, more difficult to access, out of the ordinary. That is why drone photography has tremendous success nowadays, because of unusual perspective offered to the viewers.

Winter Landscape

#3 Aim for the perfect framing for a harmonious composition.

As regards the composition there are art schools and visual arts courses that deepen this theme. For a minimum of knowledge, however, in photography, a set of recommendations regarding the framing and positioning of the subject is often enough, such as the followings among the most important:

•Rule of Thirds: the subject is framed taking into account a virtual division of the photo into three parts horizontally and vertically. So it will stand either on the dividing lines of the thirds or if it is punctual at their intersection at the point of strength (or point of interest)

•Natural frame: seek to form a simulated perimeter frame from any element in nature or built so as to highlight the subject in the center (e.g. tree branches, fence horizontal elements, house window frames etc).

•Pattern: any composition that contains a pattern that has repetitive elements can become very attractive to the human eye. Feel free to use any pattern and rhythm from the natural or artificial environment (man-made).

•Diagonals: more than during the other seasons (spring or autumn), in the wintertime, when there is consistent snow, we can play with lines. Lines can represents: fences, roads, etc.

•Black and white is the wintertime setting: winter gives us the potential for high impact pictures when taken in black and white. The white color of snow and black or dark grey color of objects form a very strong contrast especially in monochrome images.

#4 Use an appropriate depth of field (DOF)

In landscape photography, I recommend introducing as many plans as possible that are interesting, of course, and complement each to the other to create harmony. There are usually three fields: the near one, the middle plane and the far field – most of the times used as background.

In the nearest field, flowers or stones can be used. In the median plane it is desirable to be the subject (e.g. a house, a beautiful tree, etc). In the distance it is interesting to have nice perspectives, or fog, or a special sunlight. All combined with various shapes of the the sky. A filling or framing primer can also be inserted in the sky (if there are no clouds in the sky), tree branches for example.

The recommended aperture for landscape photography if we want to show clearly all the planes and thus to have a maximum depth of field, is f16. There is an exception, when we deliberate intend the nearest field to be blured in order to create a more artistic mood, the aperture should be close to the other extreme, i.e. f4.

But when we crop the landscape with a tele-lens (or a zoom of a mobile phone camera), the aperture should be lower (wider actually, more open). And I recommend f8 which is the sharpest aperture size for the majority of lens in the market. In this case the DOF is not important.

Winter landscape photography in the mountains with snow and beautiful light

Winter landscape photography in the mountains with snow and beautiful light

#6 The mood.

A very important thing is the atmosphere, the moment and space mood.Search for special weather conditions like: foggy days, nice form clouds, smoke from the houses etc.

Winter landscape photography in the mountains with snow and beautiful light

Winter landscape photography in the mountains with snow and beautiful light

Winter landscape photography in the mountains with snow and beautiful light

Winter landscape photography in the mountains with snow and beautiful light

#7 Wait for the right moment.

Patience is golden in the case of quality lanscape photography.

We need a generous budget of time for photography when we travel if we want spectacular photos or unique `wow` captures in the end. An ideal and special combination between subject-light-movement can occur very rarely or not at all. Fortunately, if we prepare and wait, we may be lucky to show up, sometimes right at the end of the photo shoot, but it's perfect and it's worth it.

Now you understand why in wintertime you need that special thermo outfit too 

The most appreciated shots in wintertime are those with a significant layer of fresh snow. Thus, my advise is wait for the day after a heavy snow and travel the next sunny day in order to catch the untouchable renewed nature scenery.

So: Good patience and good light!

Winter landscape photography in the mountains with snow and beautiful light

Editing

For landscape photography post processing is highly important in order to create an amazing picture. So, keep this in mind that it is not enough to shot correctly and to capture the most beautiful or extraordinary landscape! In my opinion editing has more that 50% impact on a photograph, maybe even 80% in some cases.

I recommend the most two apps for editing: ******** Photoshop and Nik Collection.

Photoshop is unlimited as options and creativity but is a little bit more difficult to handle for a rookie. But there is a good news when you shot raw and not jpg: there is Camera RAW module and its fine tuning tools.

After some basic adjustment (but with hight impact) I open the image in Photoshop main module and adjust it a bit as final touch. For the ones who are not familiar with Photoshop, Lightroom could do exactly what CR does and even more. So this could be a better option.

Nik Collection gives us a gallery of pre-sets that creates instantly refined photographs combining diverse adjustments in an efficient combination with great final effect. It can be operate stand-alone or as a plug-in either in Photoshop or Lightroom. If you are a fan of old/vintage effects, I also recommend Topaz. This app is one of the most diverse regarding filters/effects (analog style etc), and maybe the best app for noise reduction.

For concrete tips and trick regarding editing you could follow my profile and my future articles dedicated to this part.

Do's and don'ts

The horizon line must always be straight / horizontal (also the verticals - such as church towers - must be vertical).

It is excluded that in the case of a photograph containing people in the foreground, they overlap over vertical filiform elements in the back in the background (e.g. poles, trees, etc.)

Use bracketing for levelling the exposure of the sky and white snow against the dark ground or trees.

NOTE: all my pictures used within this article are captured by a mobile phone camera!

***

Sebastian Vasiu is a Romanian awarded photographer. He was born 43 years ago in a lovely small town called Orăștie (German name: Broos), in Transylvania.

Orăștie has always been considered as a regional cultural center. Nearby, in the Orăștie Mountains, are located some of the oldest human settlements in Romania (A.D.), from the times of Dacians and Romans: Sarmizegetusa Regia and Sarmizegetusa Ulpia Traiana - the two capital cities 2000 years ago. In this region, the traditions have survived throughout the time. The highlands of Orăștie’s neighborhoods probably influenced Sebastian and pushed him towards landscape, travel and documentary photography about villages and villagers. One of the most picturesque site in this countryside areal is Fundătura Ponorului, a place where the time had just stopped and where life is so simple. This is one of the most photogenic spots in all of Europe, but unfortunately not known to many of my own countrymen. It was love at first sight for Sebastian. Most of his favorite photographs are located in Fundătura Ponorului, called by some, the “Hand of God” or „Heaven on Earth”.

Following his heart and talent for sketching (yes, he drew a lot since childhood), Sebastian decided to attend the Architecture Faculty of Timișoara. He loves natural living that involves not only a eco-friendly living but natural homes with a “natural” approach in life, as well. He is an assiduous seeker of traditional old homesteads and traditional way of living.

Sebastian was an editor for diverse magazines and the founder of his own magazine called „Fotografia Românească”.

He was also a jury member in several photographic competitions and even founder of one of the most important event in his country: Romanian Photographer of the Year.

As a top side of his career, Sebastian was a teacher and trainer, organizing photo tours and workshops all over Romania and Europe. He shared his experience gained in time and confirmed by many prizes and awards.

Sebastian’s first contact with a photo camera was years ago, in the mid 80's. At that time his father used a Russian photo camera named Smena ( Смена). He was fascinated with the “camera obscura”, (as many children probably were), and the sepia photographs with friends and family.

But Sebastian’s attraction to photography is somehow secondary; it came as an attachment to his passion for travel, to enjoy being in nature. At first he used photography as a tool, a vehicle to get to the photographic memory, to be able to archive the best moments, to share them with the others. Now he is doing it most of the times premeditative, in advance organized in order to be able to reach the result beforehand imagined and planned.

Sebastian Ionuț Vasiu
View blog View portfolio
  • Sebastiaen
  • București, Romania
Member: AIA, AA, ARA, OAR, UAR, ProPatrimonio, AAF RO

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Kmasud380

February 10, 2021

Great article,  thanks   

Williamwise1

January 30, 2021

Great article and beautiful photos! My wife is from Romania and I have travelled there a few times. I once visited Bran and would love to go again when this COVID stuff is finished. Great article! William 

Stevengranville

January 24, 2021

Mountains mountains mountains. I live in the Fens in England where it's as flat as a pancake with nothing but muddy fields as far as the eye can see. I relied on being able to go to other places to get inspiration.. but lockdown has put an end to that. I guess I'll just have to work on skies!

Sebastiaen

January 24, 2021

Thank you Cllhnstev, FabioConcetta and Mcardleh for your appreciations!

Cllhnstev

January 20, 2021

very nice, lovely  scenery

FabioConcetta

January 20, 2021

Gorgeous blog, with gorgeous images!

Mcardleh

January 19, 2021

Very impressive images to be captured with a mobile phone!   Great examples of the points you make and I love the terminology you threw in - the blue hour and golden hour - now I can see why it is called that.  Thank you!