Lawn Ice
Aftermath of a Texas ice storm. Each grass blade had a new coat.
Aftermath of a Texas ice storm. Each grass blade had a new coat.
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Dec, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken in a city park a few blocks from my home.Time
We had experienced a big ice storm overnight resulting in many big branches and whole trees down all around town. I was one of the fortunate ones who only had a few small sticks break out of my trees, so I grabbed my camera and went out to record the event while it was still early, before the ice would start to melt.Lighting
Ice in the trees is most beautiful when lit up with light from behind. Trees in my neighborhood were glowing at the top, but houses cast shadows on the bulk of the trees. This one standing alone received the sun from top to bottom from pretty close to sunrise. Then I just had to wait for the sun to get high enough to catch the grass in front of the trees.Equipment
I shot this with my Sony A77 with my 16-50 mm lens at 16 mm. I didn't use a tripod because it was bright enough for fast shutter speeds, so camera shake wasn't an issue, and I wanted flexibility to get down next to the ground.Inspiration
In west Texas, snow and ice events are rare. When I came out in the morning and saw the treetops glowing white from the sun hitting the ice, I knew I had to go find some trees away from houses so they were fully lit up.Editing
I didn't do a lot of post-processing, because when I took this I didn't know much about post-processing. I used Lightroom and made some adjustments to the highlights and the whites and blacks just to get good contrast and not clip detail out of the picture.In my camera bag
This day I only had my camera and wide lens and a longer lens that I didn't end up using because all my shots were wide-angle. Normally I carry my camera, a long and a short lens, my tripod and cable release, a few backup batteries, and a few filters I rarely use.Feedback
These weather events are rare in west Texas. The only way I know to capture them is to keep your camera ready and pounce on every opportunity that presents itself. In my thinking, bad weather is good. Maybe it would be better to say different weather is good. When the weather changes, get out and find the beauty in it and shoot.
