Winter photography is very rewarding and has it's own special magic that photographers can use to their advantage. Winter weather often comes with fog, one of my favorite atmospheric conditions to shoot in. Fog eliminates a background that is often distracting to the viewer. This elimination of the background creates a "minimalist" image with a lot of negative space. In addition to creating a minimalist image, snow and fog also make it easy for the photographer to create "high key" images. High key means the image is dominated by light gray to white tones.Â
This image was captured on Highway 151, just north of main Amana looking directly to the west, roughly half way between 120th and 110th street intersections. GPS coordinates are: 41°50'23.2762" N 91°52'11.2466" W. The camera used was a Fuji XT-3 with the incredible 90mm f/2 lens. The exposure was 1/1600 sec @ f/4, ISO 160. Exposure mode was aperture priority with a manual set bias of +1 1/3 stop. The manual bias is necessary in scenes with dominant white tones to offset the light meter's middle-gray (18% reflective) "average scene" reading.
Obviously, a winter snow scene is NOT, on average, middle gray. So you must take corrective action to avoid a severe under exposure. White tones should register white or nearly so, NOT middle gray.Â
The next photo was taken in 2018 with minimal snow cover, but fog and cold weather. Camera XT-3, lens 35mm f/2. Observe how the fog helps minimize a distracting background, but in a lesser amount compared to the first image. The location is main Amana Woolen mill dam, looking east from the walkway on the bridge.Â