Winter is one of my favourite times of year to celebrate the seasons, it is the perfect time to get out with your film camera and capture the stark landscapes, heavy frosts, dramatic sunrises, sunsets, and snow scenes at this time of year.
First light by Texan Mama
I love shooting in black and white during this time, I love the drama it creates when shooting the big skies and the stark trees. Remember that in winter the daylight hours are of course much shorter so if you shoot in the early afternoon you can also get those wonderful long shadows. When I buy film I tend to go for an ISO of 400 or higher at this time of year and I find Ilford black and white films are brilliant plus they provide a fantastic postal service for a very affordable price. If I am capturing frost on leaves or intricate ice patterns I will use my 50mm F1.8 fixed lens on my canon film camera, I didn’t think it would work but it does and gives me the sharpness I need that I don’t get from the old film lens.
Winter scenes provide wonderful textures and patterns and these look great in black and white, they give that fantastic moody stark imagery.
Taking photographs of snow with a film camera needs some amount of planning. With digital it’s easy to check your exposure to avoid that blue/grey cast you get when you take pictures of snow but on film you don’t of course get to see your pictures until they are developed. You need to over expose your film so it brings out the white of the snow as your in built camera light meter will underexpose and read an average which will make the snow grey to match the average. I don’t have a light meter or a grey card so I allow for this by shooting in manual and change my exposure but if you are used to shooting in aperture priority then just open up your aperture. If you are using black and white film you may need to up your exposure by two, this may add a bit of extra moodiness which will be no bad thing. If this all seems too hard then the easiest thing to do is to ask your developer to increase exposure by one or two stops when they are developing your film.
wonderful winter shot by fellow muses Kirstin
and Cara
It is all about having fun and experimenting so go out there and enjoy the wonderful visual winter feast, wrap up warmly and don’t forget that snow turns to water so don’t get any on your camera! Also, don’t forget to put your images in the film Friday flickr pool as well. Finally, for those of you who shoot with polaroids, the lovely Debra will be discussing cold weather shooting on December 28th.
All this week we are giving away prizes, we have some expired film from Meghan, a place on an amazing ecourse from Holly, and wonderful gadgets from Lindsey so do check them all out. Today’s prize is a wonderful book called “the nature of photographs” by Stephen Shore – just leave a comment for the chance to win. We’ll announce all the winners on December 25th.
These are gorgeous. Love that last shot in particular. Lots of great tips. Great post.
Lovely photos, especially the couple on the snowy road! Superb post!
Beautiful shots. Encourages me to get out and explore on these cold winter mornings when I was really planning on hibernating till April.
Lovely images! I forget how beautiful black & white can be…I naturally gravitate toward color but need to get some b&w film to try!
these are all beautiful. i’m anxiously waiting for some snow to capture the snowy landscape in black and white.
the dreamy pictures have me wishing for snow. i started shooting film last winter, but we had a remarkably dry winter, so I didn’t get to play with film in the snow. i hope i get the chance this winter.
they are all just stunning shots and i, too, love the light and quiet of winter. while i am not the biggest fan of walking in snow, i love to look at it and i am looking forward to trying to capture at least a little bit of the feelings i have from all the glorious shots you have showcased! great piece!
Delightful images and informative post, Justine! We’ve had lots of snow already, so I’ve been out shooting digital in our woods. During editing, I’ve changed many images to B&W. Winter often “reads” so close to B&W that it is an easy transition and seems to suit!
Thanks for the give-away opportunity! Looks like a great book.
It’s hard to feel inspired when it’s wet and grey outside, but seeing these images in b&w has made me think that it may be a new way of exploring photography on those days when there seems nothing worth capturing.
Such beautiful examples of winter film photography. I can’t wait to play with it myself this winter. That book sounds fantastic.
Lovely to see you here, Justine. Congratulations! I find your black and white photography to be so inspiring. I haven’t done much but you are pushing me there. Maybe this winter …
Will go and try this in January in snowy Germany! The examples are truly amazing, I especially love the second last one by Kirstin.
Gorgeous photos!! Thanks for all the tips, too. I love the black + white!
~ Wendy
Love your series of b/w, you always do such an awesome job with them and your film work is amazing.
I so want to get out for a winter walk now beautiful images
Great shots! I love winter.
Gorgeous photos, all.
loved reading what you shared and the images are wonderful!
gorgeous photos and helpful tips!
These are magical! Love your shots!
Wonderful and inspiring post. I want to do more black and whites – they are so timeless.
such beauty! inspiring me to play more with b/w
I love readin gall the posts that the Muses post-I find them so inspiring especially when Im not feeling to creative or inspired myself….beautiful work
Beautiful images of winter, all so peaceful.