I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m amused that someone somewhere will want to figure out a great way to photograph snow falling at night, so like any respectable human, they’ll google it.  And, someone somewhere will light on this post.  You there, if this is you, you might just want to click the back button now.  But, wait, first let me tell you I relate to your desire to take pictures of falling snow at night, because the look of snow illuminated by a single lamp is gorgeous. 

Anyhow, you’ll want to move along because this post won’t help you.

SweetGuy bought me a kick-butt camera tri-pod for Christmas.  I haven’t played with it yet, so last night when the blizzard kicked in I decided it would be the perfect time to mess around with the tri-pod, and hopefully capture some beautiful nighttime snowfall shots as well.

Rather than this being a tutorial on how to take said shots, you’ll note by the finished product that this is actually a lesson on what not to do.  So here goes:

1. Do NOT go outside to take pictures of the outdoors.   Because, dang, it’s cold!
2. Instead, take pictures through a window. 
3. Do NOT look up expert’s suggestions of the best camera settings for these conditions.
4. Do NOT bother trying to really understand what those pesky things like ISO and aperture do.  They are just window dressing.
5. Instead, fiddle with all the settings in the dark.  If you fiddle enough, and just keep snapping away, one of them will turn out perfect.  That’s the way the pros do it.

If you follow the above instructions, behold:

 

LOOK, it’s a too bright, fuzzy lamp surrounded by what appears to be rain.  AND the glowing green eyes of the Abominable Snowman, I’m sure.  That’s one quality picture, let me tell you.

And if you follow my lead and continue adjusting random settings randomly (and at random) having no idea what you are doing, you will also end up with these gems:

Hey look, Abominable is levitating now.  That never ends well.

I don’t even know.

Now, there’s a keeper.  I must remember the settings I used for this one.  At least Abominable has come back to earth.

So, here’s the thing.  I actually did learn how to take a good nighttime falling snow picture.  Gather in and pay attention. 

1. Move the camera outside.
2. Switch the camera mode to AUTO.
3. Set the camera self timer for ten hours.
4. Snap.
5. Go to bed.  Check out the results ten hours later: 

I’ll be holding a clinic next Thursday.  Seats are filling fast.

Oh, and as long as I’m showing pictures I took this morning, here’s a few that make me very happy, despite the fact I stayed up til 2:30 AM believing I would have a snow day.  And, I don’t.  Oh, ALSO, upon announcing at 2:30 AM that I was definitely, absolutely going to bed, Magoo incredulously exclaimed, “Are you seriously going to bed?”  As if I was crazy for even considering the notion.

Where’s that empty nest?  And, here are the pictures, I’ll stop talking now.

 

And, lastly, soak in this pure joy:

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 12:18 pm and is filed under Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.