Sue McMullen – Snow 2013
Betty Rembert – Snow in LIttle Horse Creek
Kim Hadley – Winter in Creston
All photographers know the great advantage of rolling out of bed early and getting out for that elusive first light in the morning. It requires a particular dedication to venture out into a windy, 22-degree morning after a snowfall with a hope the morning will be special and offer an opportunity to capture a unique and memorable image. “It was barely pre-dawn…and I was facing North. The sun had not yet broken the horizon to the east and actually when it did, it was quite uneventful due to how cloudy it was – so the only show of color was during these few minutes before dawn”, says Kim. “It is a very mild HDR…I wanted to preserve the pink in the sky without losing all the details in the valley to darkness.” She found an opening between the near trees to frame the distant mountains. The closer, darker mountain and the black pond provide a clear focal point to bring order to the scene. The early light had a definite blue bias which could be corrected in post processing, shifting the snow to white, but that would alter the reality of the light, remove the “cold” one feels and take away the very pleasing contrast with the pinkish sky. On this particular morning, Kim was rewarded for her efforts.
Canon EOS 50d fitted with an EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM lens
Focal Length – 18mm
Shutter 1/60 sec @ f/3.5 aperture
ISO – 400