Ottawa Snow Storm

[Round Tuit]

For the first time since 1947, Ottawa got 50 cm (20 inches) of snow in one day. The snow started at 5 AM and kept falling until 8 PM.

I tried to capture the stormy feeling but was not very successful.



I would appreciate advice on how to catch the look of a heavy snowfall.

Andre

[Tronhard]

Hi Andre:

I am no expert on snow, in fact I will travel long distances to avoid it - as I write from summer in NZ...

However I think the principle holds the same for snow or sand. Finding a drift against a recognizable object whose size we can compare the drift would provide an immediate sense of a major deposit as per the examples that I just pulled off the web.


Drifts of sand taken by Steven Michael

The one below, taken by Deb Del Vecchio Scully in 2013 is another example...

[DickyOZ]

Looks pretty heavy to me! A recognisable object part buried is always a good indicator of depth. Over here I always look for flood markers when photographing swollen creeks.

[george013]

For the first time since 1947, Ottawa got 50 cm (20 inches) of snow in one day. The snow started at 5 AM and kept falling until 8 PM.

I tried to capture the stormy feeling but was not very successful.



I would appreciate advice on how to catch the look of a heavy snowfall.

Andre

Next time use the on camera flash. It catches the nearby snowflakes giving more accent to the storm.

George

[IzzieK]

Use a faster shutter speed. If you can see the streaks going downwards, you can photograph it, if you know what I mean...Look this post:

Is this "street photography"?

I shot that through the windshield of my car while waiting for hubby to come back from the supermarket. Then in Nik's I used High Key effect and it brought out some more of direction of the snow falling. This is my first shot of a show falling by the way...some people don't like it, but I did. I only had my P&S then but it is fast enough to capture the falling of the snow. Of course you can do it in Photoshop too when you already have the shot of show on the ground to make your scenario more gruesome looking but that is cheating...

BTW, as Snoopy had said, "I am not going outside until the temperature is above my age." And I agree with him...

[Mike Buckley]

Andre,

You did a better job with this image than you give yourself credit for; though it will never be on a magazine cover, it definitely has the makings of a keeper.

One of the important characteristics of snow, ironically, is the grey tones. Without them, you get just a plain, featureless field of bright tones. That can be excellent in certain situations. However, in your situation you have composed the scene to take into account a lot of appealing foreground interest that can be brought to the viewer's attention considerably more by increasing the tonal variation. I did that mostly by selecting the ground and dragging the center of the tone curve toward the lower right corner of the graph. I also tweaked the white and black points and then brightened the image to emphasize the feeling of the blizzard. I cropped to bring greater attention to the snow blowing in the trees; eliminating much of the sky prevents the viewer's eye from wandering aimlessly.

You might want to review the histogram of your version and mine to get a better understanding of the tone distribution in the two images.

[Dave Humphries]

I tried to capture the stormy feeling but was not very successful.

~

I would appreciate advice on how to catch the look of a heavy snowfall.

Hi Andre,

I think key is having something dark in the foreground which will cause the falling snow flakes between you and it to be clearly visible - then, as already mentioned, a shutter speed that allows them to be seen as short streaks rather than dots.

This wide angle shot doesn't have that and the falling snow is almost invisible due to its small size in frame - visually; it could almost be fog, especially if not enlarged in LyteBox.

The EXIF shows the above was captured at 1/160s, which might be OK as a shutter speed for flakes nearer the camera (where their angular speed will be higher relative to your camera), if they were contrasted against something.


All that said, Mike has done something great with his work on it, which appeared while I was concocting my response.


Full EXIF: Canon T3i 24mm on 18-55mm lens, f/10, 1/160s, 100 ISO, processed in LR 5.6.

btw, I also noticed that your Camera's Copyright message is still dated 2015 - which, come to think of it, so is mine

Cheers, Dave

[Shadowman]

Looks stormy to me, nice effort. I'd lose some of that foreground and you'd have a more promising capture.

[bnnrcn]

I think I like both versions, I would crop the first version from bottom though

[rpcrowe]

I added some structure which showed the buildings and the trees better and therefore outlined the falling snow.

[wtlwdwgn]

I like the original although as said above I would crop some of the bottom out. Part of the problem is that our lenses 'see' better than we do. You could use a longer focal length lens which I think would help convey the stormy feeling.

[Round Tuit]

Wow, what a lot of excellent advice.

First, I would like to apologize for taking so long to acknowledge your contributions. A large part of the delay was caused by the storm itself. Clearing 20 inches of snow from 80 feet of driveway require a lot of shoveling and, as much as I enjoy it, I have reached the age where it takes me longer than it used to. The storm also prompted the School Board to cancel school buses for two days. When that happens, grand-parents get to enjoy the company of their grand-children for a whole day at a time. Enough said.

Trev and Richard - Thanks for your suggestions. That is a good way to emphasize snow accumulation. I have some of those photos from previous storms. In this case however, I was trying to capture the intensity of the snow as it fell.

George - While playing with my grandsons, I had the opportunity to try the flash during a snow shower. It works great to highlight falling snowflakes near the camera. I found that it needs to be done from a sheltered location otherwise it also highlights the out of focus flakes close to the lens which result in bright blobs.

Izzie - I'm not sure that I understand your suggestion to use a faster shutter speed. Wouldn't that freeze the snowflakes rather than produce streaks? BTW, I like the second shot in the thread that you linked.

Mike - Your expertise shines through again. When I took the picture, I was trying to capture the blandness of the scene, the grey sky, the featureless snow, the desaturated colors, etc. Increasing the tonal variation is the exact opposite of what I was planning to do. Thank so much for pointing me in the right direction.

Dave and Steve - I think that you hit the nail on the head. Wide angle is not the way to go to capture falling snow. I took a quick glance at a tight crop in the middle of my original shot, which simulates an longer lens, and it make the falling snow much more prominent. It is a very different shot though and I now prefer what Mike did.

John, Binnur and Steve - Loosing some of the foreground seemed like a good idea to me too until I looked at the approach that Mike suggested. Putting more interest in it now appeals to me more.

Richard - I take it that by "structure" you mean "local contrast enhancement" or in Lightroom term "clarity". If that is the case, I now agree with you entirely.

Thank you all. You make this site so worthwhile.

Andre

[Mike Buckley]

Clearing 20 inches of snow from 80 feet of driveway require a lot of shoveling and, as much as I enjoy it, I have reached the age where it takes me longer than it used to.

Considering that you enjoy shoveling that much snow, I strongly recommend that you interview three psychiatrists before choosing one to work with. I also shoveled that much snow a few weeks ago from a driveway about that long and wide enough for two lanes of cars. Immediately after, I saw the snow shovel that a good friend uses. So, I bought one and simply can't believe how much more effective it is than a traditional snow shovel. See this thread for more details about that.

[Mike Buckley]

When I took the picture, I was trying to capture the blandness of the scene, the grey sky, the featureless snow, the desaturated colors, etc.

The scene was considerably more bland than usually seen from that vantage point. However, if you had been able to get to other areas perhaps such as a vacant athletic field or rural area that showed no signs of human presence since the snow began falling, the scene would have been even more bland. In that situation, I would have used a different method of treating the photo to bring out that blandness. The street scene you photographed had comparatively less blandness, which compelled me to think differently about the kind of treatment to use.

For me, the moral of the story is that our capture and post-processing techniques need to comply with the scene we're photographing, which in turn means that we need to be very aware of the details in the scene.

[Manfred M]

Andre - I'm glad I missed that particular weather event.

I very rarely shoot during the actual heavy snowfall; it's a bit like trying to get a clear shot in a heavy fog, tricky, if not impossible. I prefer to shoot when there is a break and it snows more slightly or towards the end of the storm when there are still enough snowflakes in the air to show in the shot, but not cause too much of an issue with the visibility. A tripod and a slow shutter speed can be interesting. Night shots can be quite effective too, as gray skies and heavy, fresh snow lack contrast, yet the harsh light from street lights can give you shadows that provides some interesting effects in the shot.

[jcuknz]

But we do get snow down here in Dunedin and I used to ski the various fields in the South ISland .. but venturing out in my newly acquired SUV I got this ... more in sympathy with the cattle than anything else ...

"Blizzard"

[Round Tuit]

... I strongly recommend that you interview three psychiatrists before choosing one to work with.

Believe me, many of my friends would agree with you. Mind you they usually put up with my quirks.

I also shoveled that much snow a few weeks ago from a driveway about that long and wide enough for two lanes of cars. Immediately after, I saw the snow shovel that a good friend uses. So, I bought one and simply can't believe how much more effective it is than a traditional snow shovel. See this thread for more details about that.

That is quite the contraption and it seems to work

[Round Tuit]

...

For me, the moral of the story is that our capture and post-processing techniques need to comply with the scene we're photographing, which in turn means that we need to be very aware of the details in the scene.

Lesson well worth remembering. Thanks again

[Round Tuit]

Andre - I'm glad I missed that particular weather event.

I very rarely shoot during the actual heavy snowfall; it's a bit like trying to get a clear shot in a heavy fog, tricky, if not impossible. I prefer to shoot when there is a break and it snows more slightly or towards the end of the storm when there are still enough snowflakes in the air to show in the shot, but not cause too much of an issue with the visibility. A tripod and a slow shutter speed can be interesting. Night shots can be quite effective too, as gray skies and heavy, fresh snow lack contrast, yet the harsh light from street lights can give you shadows that provides some interesting effects in the shot.

The month of March is always good for at least one good storm.

I'll give the night shot a try then - just for fun. As for the tripod and slow shutter, wouldn't that result in a shot very similar to taking the picture during the heavy snowfall part of the storm?

Andre

[Round Tuit]

But we do get snow down here in Dunedin and I used to ski the various fields in the South ISland .. but venturing out in my newly acquired SUV I got this ... more in sympathy with the cattle than anything else ...

"Blizzard"

And I thought that you were all sunshine and Koala bears