Snow Serpent

Today’s post is a change of pace.  While not trying to rush the season, I thought I’d go back to earlier this year and share some snow sculpting photos.

The occassion was the 2009 Flakeout Festival, held every year in the Wisconsin Dells.

The harsh sunlight, long shadows, and cold tempertures formed the primary challenges on a crisp February day. This sculpture was of a serpent – the detail on the face and mouth is amazing – and the snow sculptors worked all day Saturday and part of Sunday to get it right.

Snow in and of itself can be a tricky subject to photograph. The bright white surface often fools the camera’s automatic sensors, which don’t quite know what to do with the preponderance of white – and often photos turn out grayish and without definition.

WALL-E

If your camera allows you to adjust the white balance setting, this is the time to use that feature. Some cameras will have a setting for snow, or will allow you to set a custom white balance.

Setting a custom white balance is the best way to go – but prior preparation is key, since this involves photography a known neutral source in the target light and then telling the camera to use that photograph for setting the white balance on subsequent photographs.

Much more common is changing the white balance in your post processing software, but you must shoot in RAW (the photograph, not you) for this to work. Setting the proper white balance will give you back the crisp whites you saw when you took the picture.

Hope this cooled you off on a warm summer evening – enjoy the rest of the summer before it gets away from you!