Snowfield Photography Experience

The sound of the mountains echoes through the snow, and the buildings lose their color. The lone traveler is far away, unable to see where they came from.
——"Rong Xue · 2023" Sion

There are three experiences for snow photography: timing, location, and people.

Timing#

Timing refers to yin and yang, cold and hot, and time.

Generally speaking, the best time to shoot snow scenes is on a sunny morning. In this situation, you can get the clearest picture, and the reflection of sunlight on the snow will make the scenery more textured. On cloudy days, the clouds will blur the scenery, making the image less sharp.
[Rong Xue One] The sunlight shines obliquely, and the snow is as textured as a desert

[Rong Xue Two] This was taken on a cloudy day, the sunlight is not too strong, and it has a hazy beauty, so I adjusted it to a pink tone

In addition, the temperature is best "chilly wind wakes you up in spring", so as not to freeze and affect operation, nor to sweat profusely from running around for fieldwork. Slightly colder weather will also keep your mind clear and inspire more creativity. Of course, the temperature cannot be too high, as snow not melting is a necessary condition for appreciating snow scenes (obviously). In fact, on such a good weather day, not only photographers are excited, but also morning runners, cyclists, and road trippers all come out. If you're lucky, you might even see horse racing in the suburbs of Urumqi! Measuring the road with jue steps

Occupying the high ground of photography

Location#

Location refers to distance, difficulty, breadth, and life and death.

Secondly, consider the location, that is, the shooting location. It is best to be in a remote area, away from the city (thanks to the people who chose the location for the new campus!). This allows for a more natural and pure landscape. Of course, it is best to choose a slightly higher place to capture the entire snow scene (thanks to the workers who built the road in the middle of the hills and hardened the mud on the side of the road 🙇‍).
[Rong Xue Three] Small hill A
[Rong Xue Four] Small hill B

People#

People refer to thoughts, operations, inspiration, and initiators.

For photographers, the first thing is to use the correct exposure parameters. The reflectivity of snow is between 85% and 95%, and the reflection of sunlight is relatively strong on sunny days. Try to choose a lower ISO value and a higher shutter speed to ensure that the image is not overexposed, and use low light to capture soft snow scenes.
Secondly, use different shooting angles to increase the diversity of snow scenes. An object often has very different effects from different angles. If you are like me, taking pictures while walking, don't forget to look back from time to time.
[Rong Xue Six] Snow Mountain Pass

Lastly, it goes without saying: use post-processing software to adjust colors, improve image clarity and contrast. Here, I recommend the built-in gallery editor of Xiaomi and the Lightroom App (which is very powerful).

Others#

Actually, I just want to show off my pictures. The article is just a byproduct.

Tower Series#

Street Lights#

Texture Details#

Overpass#