For most of the year, the best light is around an hour either side of sunrise or sunset. Once the sun is high in the sky, the light can be too harsh and flat for a lot of landscape photographers’ tastes. On short winter days, however, the sun travels on a much lower arc than normal, providing us with a pleasantly angled light throughout the day. Of course, on some winter days you might not see the sun at all, so make the most of it when you do and shoot all day!
29 Essential Winter Landscape Tips
Winter is a special time of year for landscape photography, and with the right preparation you can capture some spectacular images. Four leading landscape photographers share their expert tips for photographing winter landscapes.
29 Winter Landscape Tips from the pros
A specialist in landscapes and nature, Colin Roberts turned professional in 2005. He has received a number of awards for his nature images, including International Garden Photographer of the Year and the Royal Horticultural Society’s Photographer of the Year.
1. Leafless trees in mist or fog
Many deciduous trees have a stark beauty in their leafless form, and make worthy landscape subjects throughout the winter. Those trees growing on hilltops and ridges are usually framed against the sky, so they can be photographed in almost any weather. However, trees that grow in valleys or parkland can be difficult to photograph in isolation, especially if there are buildings or other trees close by.
The answer to this is to shoot them in a misty atmosphere, when the mist is thick enough to obscure the nearby surroundings. This effectively sets the tree against a blank canvas. Many trees have an irregular shape or a marked lean, so try viewing them from various angles in order to find the one that is most appealing.
Black and white works particularly well in winter. Image: Colin Roberts
2. Capturing falling snow
For a snow scene with a difference, try shooting while the snow is falling – it’s a great way to capture the wintry atmosphere in your winter landscape shots. The key is to pick a suitable subject, so avoid wide-open views where the snowfall effect is lost, and instead build your composition around a strong feature, such as a tree, bridge or small building.
Choice of shutter speed will determine how the falling snow is rendered, so relatively long exposures of 1/8sec or less will show snowy streaks rather than flakes. I prefer to stay at around 1/60sec to capture a slight sense of movement without overdoing the effect. Try to shoot away from the direction of the falling snow and fit a lens hood to help protect your element from stray flakes.
3. Working on snowy compositions
A snow-laden landscape is such an inspiring sight that it can be tempting to shoot rather randomly, with the result that none of the images really stands out. In these situations it’s more important than ever to work on your composition and not to shoot snow for the sake of it – we all know it’s better to come away with one or two great pictures than a whole batch of mediocre ones.
Remember to isolate the main focal points and use linear elements to add perspective and depth. Also, exploit the simplicity that a blanket of snow brings to the landscape. Employ a variety of focal lengths, but be careful not to overuse wide angles. There is so much white in a snow scene that the perspective of a wideangle lens can easily overdo it, pulling in large areas of featureless white space that cause the shot to lose impact.
Picking out small details and add extra impact to your images. Image: Colin Roberts
4. Winter details
Ice, frost or snow can transform the look of some natural subjects, bringing a short-lived beauty that shouldn’t be missed. Equally, even the most mundane man-made objects can look appealing or quirky when coated in crisp white snow.
So in cold snaps look out for wintry details like the shapes and patterns in frosted leaves, bubbles trapped in frozen puddles, or even snow-clad signposts and fences. A standard 50mm lens will focus close enough for most subjects, while a short telephoto will help you isolate details from a more comfortable distance. Of course, capturing winter details doesn’t depend on extreme weather – look for texture in tree bark, the intricate patterns in stalks of bracken, or the colours in moss and lichen – all of which can be shot in any conditions.
5. Shooting contre-jour
From November to January the sun never rises too far from the horizon, making it the ideal time to experiment with backlit subjects. Shooting towards the sun – or contre-jour, as the technique is known – is something we instinctively
avoid, but it can produce eye-catching results.
The best approach is to obscure the sun with part of your subject, as this will effectively mask its brilliance and reduce the risk of lens flare. The result is a dramatic high-contrast image that shows the subject in virtual silhouette. Tilting the camera down slightly will include any shadows that radiate from the subject into the foreground, giving a more dynamic edge to the composition. Vertical structures, such as trees, spires or lighthouses, make ideal subjects for this technique.
6. Planning for snow
A planned approach is a key factor in successful landscape photography. This is perhaps more true in snowy weather than at other times because of the dramatic effect snow has on subject matter, not to mention the fact that it can arrive unexpectedly. So to avoid venturing out at a moment’s notice on a snowy morning with no clear idea of where you’re heading, it’s crucial to make a list of suitable snowy locations so you’re prepared.
With an ordered list you can plan your itinerary before setting out, based on the conditions at the time. As always, safety comes first, so monitor local weather reports and be clear on the extent of the snowfall. A dusting of snow soon transforms hills and open areas, but woodlands need more of a thick-snow look to be appealing.
Early starts can present wonderful conditions in winter. Image: Colin Roberts
7. Make an early start
Early starts ought to get easier in winter when the sun rises later, although it never feels that way when you have the cold to contend with. However, the tortuous routine can pay dividends – for the light, of course, but also if there’s fresh snow on the ground.
Footprints and melting slush can all spoil a snow scene, so set out before dawn if you want pristine views of virgin snow. Available shooting time is extended because a blanket of snow raises ambient light levels by several stops, allowing you to start earlier. It’s also worth being on location as soon as you can in frosty conditions before the sun begins to melt away the beauty. Also bear in mind that frost lingers much longer in areas of shadow, so head for the high-points first and leave the valleys and hollows for later.
8. Go mono for snow
By its very nature, snow lends itself well to mono images. With so much colour stripped away and many features reduced to mere outlines, it becomes much easier to focus on shape and form. What’s more, many of the best black & white images are of high-contrast subjects, which deliver punchy monochromes with pure whites and solid blacks – so snow certainly fits the bill.
Isolated buildings or trees often have great potential in mono, as do snow-clad walkways and jetties. If you like abstract compositions, then black & white is always a good option, and no less so in snow. Try creating some simple graphic images by shooting patterns or lines that form in the snowy conditions, using a telephoto lens to crop out surrounding distractions wherever possible – less is more with this type of image.
Jeremy Walker
Jeremy Walker is an award-winning photographer specialising in high-quality landscape and location photography around the world, for use by advertising, design and corporate clients. A belief in ‘quality is everything’ serves Jeremy and his clients well.
9. Carry spare batteries
Always carry spare, fully charged batteries. Batteries hate the cold and will soon start to drop in power and efficiency. The colder it is, the more quickly the batteries will fade, so combat this by keeping the batteries warm. Don’t keep them in your camera bag, which will invariably be close to or on the frozen ground. Instead, keep them in an inside pocket and protected with a soft cloth.
10. Warm up batteries
If you are shooting in winter conditions and the light is fantastic but your battery has failed, completely turn the camera off and remove the battery. Try to warm the battery up in your hands, in your clothing or in any way you can (except a naked flame). Just a little bit of warmth could give you those crucial extra few frames so you don’t miss out on that special shot.
Power management is key to not missing out on amazing winter landscapes. Image: Jeremy Walker
11. Avoid using the rear display
One of the biggest drains of electrical power on a modern camera is using the monitor for everything – live view, image
review and even camera settings. In cold conditions, use the monitor as little as possible. You do not have to review every image or check every single histogram. Discipline yourself to using the monitor only once every three or four frames, and use the good old-fashioned viewfinder a bit more often instead.
12. Carry a head torch
A head torch will leave your hands free for the important stuff, such as shooting images or eating chocolate. Not only is it useful to help see the camera settings in fading light, but it will also help you to see your way back to the car – you may go out in bright sunny conditions and not even consider the fact that it will get dark later on. A torch is also a useful distress beacon if you get into trouble – use six long flashes followed by a gap of a minute and then repeat.
13. White balance
Be aware that shooting beautiful snowy landscape scenes with a blue sky will often lead to the shadows becoming dark blue. In the right image this is not a problem, but so often in a winter scene cold blue shadows do nothing for the overall feel of the image. Experiment with the white balance settings: take your camera off auto white balance and perhaps set it to 8,000K for a warmer feel. It will take some experimentation, but just try to get rid of those cold blue shadows.
Don’t let the bad conditions put you off heading out shooting winter landscape photos. Image: Jeremy Walker
14. Draw in the snow
If it has snowed and you have nothing to shoot, get drawing in the snow. Use the fresh snow as a blank canvas, from love hearts and smiley faces to snow angels. Consider the direction of the sun first so your artwork will be nicely lit from the side or behind, and try not to walk across your handiwork before you have shot it!
15. Shoot water
If you are struggling for winter subject matter to photograph and you cannot travel far, you will find that there is usually some form of water nearby, even if it is just a pond, puddle or stream. Water is a great winter topic because of the infinite amount of patterns and textures that are created.
Think close-up or macro rather than wide landscape. You could create your own puddles and effects by putting trays of water out overnight when it gets really cold. Put leaves (or anything!) in the water and see what sort of patterns, shapes and textures you can shoot the following morning.
16. Add scale
Use human figures to give your winter scene a sense of scale and place, and if they walk into your scene it’s easy to get rid of the footprints in post-production. A figure can be distant, silhouetted or colourful, but it will certainly help to tell the story within the image.
17. Be comfortable
Making life as comfortable as possible for yourself when out shooting is paramount. If you have room, carry a small Thermos flask filled with a hot beverage such as tea, coffee or soup, and carry comfort food such as chocolate or cake. Hanging around in the cold isn’t fun on an empty stomach.
The majesty of a winter landscape is sometimes best conveyed by a subject in the scene. Image: Jeremy Walker
18. Dress for the occasion
There is nothing worse than being cold on location – trust me, I know, because as I write this I am in Iceland. Use layers of clothing and not just one big thick garment. Merino wool is a fantastic base layer (look for the Icebreaker brand at good outdoor shops) and build up from there.
Footwear is just as important as coats, jumpers and jackets. With cold feet, you will soon lose the will to hang around and wait for the perfect light. Proper winter boots and two pairs of socks will go a long way to helping you have hours of fun standing around in the snow. Although wellies are good for keeping snow melt and rain water out, if you are using them in winter they must be of the Neoprene-lined thermal type, as standard wellies have virtually no thermal properties at all.
19. Use filters creatively
Flowing water with snow and ice in the foreground or background, or moving clouds in a winter landscape, are very fertile grounds for the use of neutral density filters. Introduce blur and motion, and experiment with patterns and textures that are created by longer exposures.
20. Snow shoes for tripods
Shooting in soft snow can be a problem as your tripod can just sink in, leaving you with a very short working height. Recent winters in the UK may not have seen huge snow drifts, but if you are shooting where snow is likely both Manfrotto and Gitzo make saucer-sized discs that fit to the bottom of each tripod leg, enlarging the footprint and spreading the weight. These are also useful for using tripods on sandy beaches to stop them sinking into the wet sand.
21. Solitary colour
Winter scenes can look a bit bare or bland if your are not careful – just far too much white emptiness. Try to introduce a small area of localised colour to give an image a bright focal point and lend some impact or mood to the scene. A single solitary colour, no matter what it is, will give life to the image.
Art and Winter
December has arrived, and with it, so has winter! In fact, in the northern hemisphere, the period between December 21 and 22 coincides with the winter solstice, the day in which, astronomically speaking, begins the coldest season of the year. It is important to highlight how this period has been widely investigated by the work of the greatest masters in the history of art, becoming a cult theme of artistic representation. In fact, painters such as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Caspar David Friedrich, Oscar-Claude Monet, Gustave Caillebotte, Vincent Willem van Gogh, Edvard Munch and Marc Chagall tried their hand at painting winter landscapes. In addition, there are also many examples of allegorical depictions of this season, which were executed by artists such as, Giorgio Vasari, Bartolomeo Ammannati, Jacopo Robusti, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, and Lorenzo Baldissera Tiepolo.
Oscar-Claude Monet, The Magpie, 1868-1869. Oil on canvas, 89×130 cm. Paris: Musée d’Orsay.
Marc Chagall, Above Vitebsk, 1914. Oil on canvas, 73 x 93 cm. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario.
Giuseppe Arcimbolodo, Winter, 1563. Oil on panel, 66 × 50 cm: Paris: Louvre Museum.
As far as landscape painting is concerned, the first examples in which this genre assert themselves, finding a certain autonomy, date back to the Hellenistic age. During the Middle Ages, however, despite the persistence of Hellenistic motifs, sometimes in Byzantine and Carolingian art, the natural element assumed a purely symbolic and decorative value. Later, during the German Renaissance, landscape painting was once again the object of independent artistic research, marked by a real topographical investigation, aimed at expressing the dramatic forces of nature. In addition, this pictorial genre was also ennobled by Flemish artistic research, in particular by the descriptive landscapes of J. Patinir, by the fantastic ones of H. Bosch and by the glimpses of everyday life of P. Bruegel the Elder. In Italy, the evolution of landscape painting was inextricably linked to a new realistic type of representation, closely linked to the new interest in space and perspective research, which found its greatest examples in the work of L.B. Alberti, Piero della Francesca and Pollaiolo. As far as the scientific observation of the natural datum is concerned, this was undoubtedly brought by the artistic research of Leonardo da Vinci. Finally, despite the work of all these great masters, landscape painting began to be considered in all respects as an autonomous artistic genre only in the 17th century, becoming the subject of countless masterpieces.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Winter landscape with skaters and bird trap, 1565. Oil on panel, 38×56 cm. Brussels: Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder: Winter Landscape with Skaters and Bird Trap
Speaking of paintings depicting winter landscapes, a classic of the genre is surely represented by Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s work, Winter Landscape with Skaters and Bird Trap. In this painting, the artist has probably depicted the snow-covered village of Pede-Ste-Anne, in Brabant, where the inhabitants, taking advantage of the weather situation, engage in a variety of activities on the ice. The colors of the work, chosen by Bruegel to immortalize this scene of daily life, although few and repetitive, are able to give the painting an atmosphere to say the least suggestive. in addition, the pictorial rendering of the fog, which, created in the background of the panel, has certainly contributed to transform the work into one of the artist’s greatest masterpieces. Moreover, of particular effect is also the contrast between the whiteness of the snow and the silhouettes of the trees, the buildings and the characters, which are observed by perching and flying birds. Precisely linked to the presence of the latter, in the foreground of the panel, and more precisely on the right, is painted a large bird trap, around which are present, running a great risk, some volatiles. Therefore, the critics wanted to catch in Bruegel’s work also a moralistic intent, in fact, the threat of the bird trap would represent an allegory of salvation, and temptations, that can be encountered in the course of life. The skaters, on the other hand, who continually risk slipping on the ice, would indicate the transience of human existence.
Gustave Caillebotte, View of rooftops, snow effect, 1878. Oil on canvas, 64×82 cm. Paris: Musée d’Orsay.
A Winter Scene with a Man Killing a Pig by David Teniers the Younger
I think there is an adage, or maybe it was just advice I was once given, that says you should be happy with what you have or maybe it was that you should just want what you have. There is certainly an element of truth in that as I can always remember a disastrous policy my former company brought out in making it known to all the employees what each person earned by publishing the grades of each employee and having a separate list of salary against each grade. Up to that point nobody knew what each other earned and most people had, until then, been reasonably happy with their remuneration but once they found out what their colleagues earned there were unmerciful screams around the building.
So what has all this got to do with art? The reason I bring this up is that as I told you the other day I went to see the Group of Seven and Tom Thomson exhibition at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and a large number of them focused on winter in Canada. The winter scenes were well executed and very lifelike. However the problem came when I decided to have a look around the rest of the Gallery and its permanent collection and came across a winter landscape by David Teniers the Younger and really, in my mind, it was in a different class to those of the Canadian artists. I was completely amazed by the works of the Canadian artists until my eyes focused on Teniers’ work. Of course, by now you know I love Dutch and Flemish art and therefore I am slightly biased with my comparison but I thought I would let you compare the two styles and see what you think.
David Teniers the Younger was born in Antwerp in 1610. His father was David Teniers the Elder, also an artist, as were his son David Teniers III and grandson, David Teniers IV. His artistic connections don’t end there as his wife, Anna, was the daughter of Jan (Velvet) Brueghel the Elder and granddaughter of the Master himself, Pieter Bruegel the Elder. His initial art training came from his father whose artistic talent would soon be eclipsed by his son, who would become the most famous, most revered and most prolific of the Teniers’ family of artists. Adriaen Brouwer, who at the time was well known and well loved for his everyday scenes, greatly influenced Teniers during his early career as did Rubens who was his wife-to-be’s guardian. At the age of twenty-two he was registered in the Antwerp Guild of St Luke and would later become deacon of that painter’s association.
In 1637 he married Anna Brueghel. The major part of Anna’s dowry was made up of pictures and drawings completed by her grandfather, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and her father, Jan Brueghel. Teniers spent much time studying these beautifully crafted works of art and they proved to be significant in the development of Teniers’s genre painting. In the year of his marriage to Anna Breughel, Teniers painted his first genre work entitled Peasant Wedding, which hangs in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. It was the period between 1640 and 1650 that art historians believe Teniers produced his finest works. His expertise at depicting village scenes with large crowds of people, often in an open landscape was breathtaking. There was often an element of humour in his paintings and warmth in the way his characters were depicted on his canvases. In many of his works one could recognise the influence of the Bruegel family.
In 1651, David Teniers and his family moved to Brussels and besides carrying on his own art business he took up the post of court painter and the director of the art gallery of the Spanish governor-general, Archduke Leopold-Wilhelm. If you look back to My Daily Art Display of January 18 th you will see a painting Teniers completed entitled Archduke Leopold William in his Gallery at Brussels, which precisely documented some of the famous works from the Archduke’s collection. Whilst looking after this vast collection Teniers made many small-scale individual copies of paintings in the Duke’s collection by foreign artists, especially the paintings of the Italian Masters. Of these, two hundred and forty-four were engraved in 1660 under the title Theatrum Pictorium.
On the death of the Archduke Leopold-Wilhelm his successor, Don Jon of Austria continued to employ Teniers as court painter and in 1663 Teniers founded the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp which still exists and is one of the oldest of its kind in Europe. David Teniers the Younger was a highly productive artist and when he died in 1690, he left more than two thousand works. Most of the major galleries of the world exhibit a number of his works. He was an extremely good businessman and was highly liked by the aristocracy. Teniers knew the type of art the people liked and was very astute when it came to following the latest fashions and whims of his clients. His art work covered numerous subjects from portraits and religious scenes to genre pictures and still-life paintings. Teniers died at the age of seventy-nine in Brussels, five years after the death of his eldest son, David Teniers III.
The featured work for My Daily Art Display today is a painting David Teniers the Younger completed around 1650 and is entitled A Winter Scene with a Man Killing a Pig. The painting is amazing. It just glows in front of your eyes. An art historian and contemporary of Teniers summed up the beauty of this painting when he wrote:
“…For the richness of his golden and silvery light, for the delicacy of his vivid colours there is only one word, and that word is ‘magical…”
Before us we see a winter landscape and in some ways reminiscent of Teniers’ wife’s grandfather, Pieter Brueghel’s work, Hunters in the Snow another winter landscape painting completed almost a hundred years earlier. As well as being a landscape painting it is also a genre picture which does not offer us an idealized landscape, but instead provides us with a window for us to see real people getting on with their daily lives in a real setting. Snow lies deep on the ground and by the looks of the dark clouds there is more snow to come. Look how the artist depicts the rays of weak sunlight forcing their way through the clouds to light up the frosty winter scene.
Work on the farms almost came to a halt at wintertime giving time to the peasants to take the break from working the fields and well-earned time to sleigh and skate. To the left of the painting we see some houses. In front of the nearest house, a pig is about to be slaughtered. Although we may cringe at the depiction of the killing it should be remembered that in Teniers time this would be a common practice. It marked a time of celebration and we see emerging from the end house, a woman carrying a baby and an old man, dressed in black, leading out a young child so they could witness the scene. The butcher kneels on the animal while a woman holds out a pan to collect the blood. Every part of the carcass will be used. The children would be given the pig’s bladder so that they could blow it up and use it as a ball. The skin, once the hair had been singed off it, would be used as a kind of leather, maybe for shoes. The flesh from the large animal would provide meat for their meals all the way to Lent, at which time, the staple food would switch to fish until the end of the “fast” and the arrival of Easter.
So now you have seen an early twentieth century Canadian winter scene and a mid-seventeenth Dutch winter scene and I will let you choose which you prefer
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
