Winter's Hike

[benchdog]

I've driven past this spot several times and always wanted to stop and on this day we had several inches of fresh snow and decided to stop. I took a couple of shots before this one hoping the creek would be my leading line into the picture but it got kind of lost in the snow. So I decide to hike into the scene and use my tracks as the leading line.

So I was wondering what everyone this about the composition? Are the tracks strong enough or do the fade away to fast?

What do you think about the exposure?

Thanks for viewing




Exposure 0.008 sec (1/125)
Aperture f/8.0
Focal Length 18 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0EV
Exposure Program Manual
Metering Mode Multi-segment
Exposure Mode Manual
White Balance Auto

[junaidi]

i prefer that the picture not to be black n white. somehow, its just kill the pic with both the sky and snow are white and the trees black. well that just me. i'm no pro and still new in photography.

[cesarderio]

Beautiful shot! I love it just the way it is

[benchdog]

junaidi, this is not converted to b&w straight just a very overcast morning Thank you

cesarderio Thank you

[windrider86]

I like how the path leads you into the woods. The sky could have a lot of impact with a bit of play.
Use the levels tools to bring up the brightness and use the dodge and burn on the sky to really give the clouds some impact!

[benchdog]

Originally Posted by windrider86

I like how the path leads you into the woods. The sky could have a lot of impact with a bit of play.
Use the levels tools to bring up the brightness and use the dodge and burn on the sky to really give the clouds some impact!

Thanks windrider86, I haven't used the dodge and burn tool much I'll work with and see what happens.

[LenDog]

Nice Winter scene! I'm personally glad this season is almost over, but that's just me.

The tracks lead well, I'd be curious to see the effect if the tracks went right, then left, but that may not improve the leading line at all.

Agree with windrider on the sky. I'm guessing you use photoshop, I use LR and would put a GND on the sky and add contrast and clarity.

The only disturbing part of the composition is the chopped off tree, but you'd need a wider lens since you couldn't get any lower and keep the tracks in the perspective. It might work if the tracks in the snow sort of meandered more thru the middle rather than turned hard to the right, then they'd remain in the photo even if your angle was lower.

The one thing you can easily do different is adjust the WB, auto simply doesn't work for snow. There are a lot of opinions out there, but try using the "cloudy" setting as a start point. I've found that a gray card doesn't even work well for snow, and I end up using the tone curve adjustment tool. Another adjustment that really impacts snow is clarity, up or down depending on the photo.

If you get more snow, give it another "shot"! But I really hope you don't get more snow.

[Krusty79]

I don't have any experience shooting in the snow, but since you commented on my image, I'll give you my thoughts. I like the concept and the composition for the most part. I'd like to see more variation between the sky and snow and Windrider's suggestion should address that.

Regarding the composition, I'd prefer a little more foreground and a little less sky. That will also move the horizon away from the middle of the image.

My last comment is about the footprints themselves. I kind of expected to see distinct footprints, but instead it almost looks like something has been dragged through the snow. I guess it's hard to get clean footprints when you're slogging through powder. It never snows where I live, so I don't know how difficult it would be to get clean footprints.

[benchdog]

Originally Posted by LenDog

Nice Winter scene! I'm personally glad this season is almost over, but that's just me.

The only disturbing part of the composition is the chopped off tree, but you'd need a wider lens since you couldn't get any lower and keep the tracks in the perspective.

Thanks LenDog

I'm glad its over this year also and will be missing winter by the time August rolls around. The Tree really bothered me also, I shot a portrait with the tree and a landscape without the tree and didn't like them.

The exciting thing is I just purchased a new wide angle lens. Can't wait to get out with it and will diffidently retake this next winter with the new lens.

[benchdog]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

My last comment is about the footprints themselves. I kind of expected to see distinct footprints, but instead it almost looks like something has been dragged through the snow.

Thanks Krusty79 for the feed back.

When you deal with the amount of snow we get you are wearing snowshoes to walk through this. Mine happen to be 32 inches long.