Courthouse and Snow
The lighting was perfect and it was snowing and I snapped a picture. It was not until I got home when I noticed how this turned out...
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The lighting was perfect and it was snowing and I snapped a picture. It was not until I got home when I noticed how this turned out
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Jun, 2016Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I live in Monroe, Wisconsin and this is the courthouse downtown on the square. The courthouse building is one of the most photographed in this area but I decided to try something different and it worked.Time
In November 2015 it began to snow in the afternoon and I was feeling happy because I wanted to capture some fresh snow pictures the next day. I was at home and it was about 9pm and I looked outside to a street light and saw how the snowflakes looked in light and said I am going downtown right now! From 9-1030pm I went down and shot.Lighting
Really as I drove around the square and looked at the ambient light from the new street lights that have only been downtown for a couple of years now, I took a couple of test shots with and without flash, for the snow falling, and this picture happened without flash. This image was an accident because I was bracketing for HDR and I did not like the results. But months later I pulled this under-exposed shot in to Lightroom and nudged exposure, shadows, and clarity and that was it.Equipment
Canon EOS REBEL T5, 18-55 kit lens! 18, ISO 100 3.5, 1/100. I handheld the camera and was in the middle of the street because there was no one downtown and I was trying to make sure I got the whole courthouse in the picture. I absolutely dislike the kit lens with Canon but this was the widest lens I had so at least it took one good shot!Inspiration
If you are a photographer in Green County Wisconsin you have a courthouse picture because it is a historical landmark and a cool looking building. When it started snowing and I saw that scene it just clicked Courthouse and Snow! So far my courthouse picture is different than the rest because of the snow and it was taken at night.Editing
Very little post all in Lightroom. I had to crop the shot down because there was a very reflective street sign I wanted out of the shot. I brought up the exposure, shadows, and clarity and that was it. It was by accident that I even went back and re-edited this shot because I was working on a different angle shot and then this one appeared and it was a happy accident moment.In my camera bag
Right now I still have my Canon T5 and I have bought adapters so I can shoot my Pentax glass which I have a 50prime, 135prime, 200prime, 70-300 tamron, Canon 75-300, and I usually have a roll of film in my Minolta SRT101 with a 50mm 1.4 as well. Then I have all the boring stuff like a tripod, monopod, selfie stick, spare batteries etc. I am upgrading my lenses as I can but I am a manual shooter for the majority of my shots.Feedback
Look around and do not stay in one spot. Snowfall can be tricky but sometimes you can get lucky by varying your settings. I still think like a film shooter and try to see the shot before I take it but with digital you can take a test shot and see where you are at. If you have editing software, you can bring somethings back in post so don't be afraid to underexpose here and there because sometimes it works. The old advice of expose for the light and let the shadows fall in is also helpful but don't get caught up with metering and settings and then not take a picture because your camera says it is not good. Take the picture! A faster shutter speed at night captured my image but I had the light and if you have the light with snowfall you can stop the action with faster speeds.
