Creative photography ideas for this winter

Posted by Diana Eftaiha on Dec 18, 2010

logo As the winter season is upon us, some might feel a little discouraged to go out and shoot. And well, you can’t blame them. Who would wanna leave the comfort and warmness of their home to walk around the block looking for something to shoot. But if you think about it, winter is actually the perfect time to shoot. For starters, the light is soft and diffused almost all day long, especially on overcast days. This means you are not necessity bound by no golden hour. Of course I’m not saying the golden hour has no significance in this time of year, by all means it is and always will be the best time of day to capture photos. I’m just saying that during the day, light is not as harsh as on a sunny summer day, so you might wanna give that a shot. Second, overcast days actually accentuate color. The softer diffused light from the clouds helps to richen colors, bring out contrast, and create great exposures. So today I’ve put together a few creative photography ideas to keep you going, and provide some source of inspiration during the winter:

Naturally monochromatic scenes: on an overcast day, everything might seem dull. But look for stark contrasting objects with deep color and shoot against all that dullness. It would be the best way to accentuate your subject and give it the spot light. You can do wonders, and no golden hour and no summer day can provide you with such an opportunity.Photo by Ville Miettinen

Photo by EJP Photo

Photo by Miguel Angel

Photo by marie zucker

Photo by Simo Järvinen
The silence before the storm: an overcast day that is definitely going to rain presents you with absolutely creative, unique, and spellbinding results. Stormy colorful threatening skies can add so much more mood and drama to a photographs.Photo by Ryan Heaney

Photo by Garry – http://www.visionandimagination.com

Photo by Bartek Kuzia

Photo by paul dex

Photo by vgm8383
Sip wine and dance in the rain: aaaah how I’d love to do just that right now! Embrace the rain. Don’t run & hide. Go out and love it, and it’ll give you everything you could ever ask for. Colorful umbrellas. Gorgeous reflections. Shivering souls. Humanity at its purist, most sincere reality summoning you. Answer the call!Photo by EJP Photo

Photo by Doug Wheller

Photo by Sarah Madeleine Louise Horrigan

Photo by hector garcia

Photo by Jean Goff

Photo by Gregory Bastien

Photo by Sarah Madeleine Louise Horrigan

Photo by Eric Hart

Photo by john curley
Veils of snow: snow covering vast land and cityscapes can be such a beautiful thing to capture, and the results would definitely be different from your normal everyday city life shots. Everything looks different than it normally would. Look out for areas completely covered in white, as well as car track lines (parallel and intersecting), foot prints, tiny dog foot prints, half-melted snow scapes, snow skiers … Snow can open a whole new horizon for you to photograph.If you’re worried your photos of snow always appear grey or dull, here’s the answer; snow is bright white, so it tends to fool your camera’s light meter into thinking a scene is brighter than it actually is. In return, your camera would want to close down in an attempt to average things out causing your light meter to give the an incorrect reading, so you end up under-exposed photos.
The truth of the matter is, snow and everything very bright and close to white (such as fog, clouds …etc) is zone 7 (according to Ansel Adams’ zone system standardization). Zone 7 is +2 brighter than average grey. This means that, in order to capture the true color of snow, you need to take your meter reading off of an area that is completely covered in snow only and place it in such a way that your meter reading reads at exactly +2 (without the indicator blinking to suggest possible clipping). Put in simple terms, have your scene register as +2 stops over exposed. This way you can capture true color, white snow.

Photo by santo rizzuto

Photo by Christian Meichtry

Photo by jenny downing

Photo by Trey Ratcliff

Photo by André Mellagi

Photo by Juan Carlos Labarca

Photo by Andreas Wonisch
Pictures in fog: I’ve already dedicated a post for taking pictures in fog, which you can check outhere. Photographing in thick atmosphere such as fog and mist can yield very compelling, moody, and dramatic results. Fog is usually present in the evening through early morning. Taking pictures in fog emphasizes subjects’ shape and form as well as adds depth to your scene. The closest subjects to the cam appear the most saturated and bold, but as objects move further away from the lens things start to get a bit hazy and colors desaturated. So make sure you use that to your creative advantage.Photo by Xabier Artola-Zubillaga

Photo by Marc Dezemery

Photo by Martin Gommel

Photo by Evan Leeson

Photo by Cindy Seigle

Photo by midlander1231
Minimalist photography: when you feel you don’t have any inspiration, or when it seems like there’s not much more to shoot. Think minimalist. Often times it’s what you choose to exclude from your composition, rather than what you choose to include, is what makes the shot! Utilizing empty spaces in your photographs and giving your subject room to breath and shine, can well accentuate and add to its value rather than detract from it. This way, the viewer can’t help but be drawn to your focal point.Try to represent your subject in a contrasting color from the overall image. Try to strip everything, but the point of interest, of all color. Experiment with different aperture settings (once going with a shallow depth of field and once with a great one). Try zooming in and out on your subject to get a variety of angles, views, and results. You can read more about minimalist photography here.
Photo by Eric Hart

Photo by Luis Argerich

Photo by Garry – http://www.visionandimagination.com

Photo by Garry – http://www.visionandimagination.com

Photo by s k o o v

Photo by Toni Verdú Carbó