Last night, we were suppose to only get 6″-8″ over night… at mid-night, when we looked on to the deck, there was easily another 12″ inches…
This morning, there was over 19″ total inches on our porch, 4″-5″ of which was from the storm late last in the week…
I know many people saying that they are ready for Spring already, this has been one of the snowiest December to January’s on record, and we have not even gotten to mid-season yet!
The schools were closed for a second day, and it easily took me an hour and a half to get all the snow off our driveway, and then finally, I was able to spend a few minutes with my camera out in the snow.
As Chester County was getting its first real snow fall of the New Year on Thursday and Friday, I was very anxious about getting out and getting some photography in, but was thwarted with the regular activities of life: Clients, Family, Plowing, Roads, etc.
But I was finally able to get out late yesterday afternoon, to shoot the little stream along Norwood Road heading into Downingtown, which was fairly untouched, except for a single set of tracks left by a dog and it’s owner.
As I trudged through the snow with my camera bag and tripod, I was reminded of an earlier series of comments I made on “cold weather camera tips“, and I thought I would revisited the post to single the content and to add additional thoughts and information.
Heading Out – Things that can slow down
Most people when faced with shooting in cold conditions, generally only think about what cloths and boots they are going to wear to keep them warm during their photographic adventure, which is very important, but it does not stop there.
Your camera also has moving parts that need to be included in your thinking.
The Camera Body
Before the advent of Digital Cameras, Traditional Film based cameras had many more moving parts that one had to be concerned with when working in cold weather.
On Traditional Film Cameras, the Film Transport mechanism and Rollers where usually the most vulnerable as the lubricants became more viscous and in extreme case, freezing altogether.
One also had to be careful with the film itself, because it to could be brittle, and break when being thread into the camera body.
There was also the increase in static electrical charges, that could cause little lighting patterns on the film, especially during the rewinding process.
With Digital Cameras, obviously there is no need to move film, so issues associated with the moving and winding film became less relevant.
In both Film and Digital cameras, the mirror mechanism that allows one to look in to the eyepiece and then see through the lens also has the potential of slowing down as the temperature falls.
Lens
The blades that make up the iris diaphragm or aperture of the lens and the mechanics uses for auto focusing can also be sensitive to the cold. These features may slow down, stick together or freeze, there by not allowing the correct exposure or focus quality.
Batteries
As the temperature falls, the chemicals inside the batteries used to produce a current, will begin to diminish, and at some point, the camera will stop working at all.
Ever have problems starting your Car in the winter?
Needless to say, I keep my batteries as warm as possible, and carry an extra set.
What to do?
The most obvious answer is to keep your camera gear warm by simply keep it near your body for warmth, and do NOT breath heavily on the camera in an attempt to warm it up!
This can cause condensation which is the biggest evil!
Condensation
As mentioned earlier, condensation, which is caused by the sudden changes in temperature, can damage your camera’s electronics.
This usually is a cumulative issue, meaning, it might not happen on the first time, but after many sessions.
What needs to occur, is the gradual transition of temperatures between indoors and outdoors on your camera.
Use your camera bag as a place to help in the transition. The bag’s cushions and partitions will help to absorb the temperature extremes.
It is also good practice to place your equipment into plastic bags as part of the transition and condensation control.
There does seem to be a debate about keeping the camera inside your coat.
Here you have to be sensible, and coordinate with you environment.
Remember:
You body heat is going to make for a larger extreme when you take it out
Your body sweats, adding moisture to the situation
If you have to keep your camera next to you body, use caution and common sense.
When traveling to your destination, keep your gear in the coldest section of your car, like the back and maybe even the trunk. That way, the camera can slowly cool down. Use the reverse when heading home.
In our house, we have a “mud room” area, that is not as warm as the rest of the house, but it is where I can acclimate the camera, before it reaches my office, which also happens to be a colder part of the house!
Other Cold Weather Tips
Carry an Extra Set of Batteries
Remove the Batteries until needed – Warm Batteries
Turn off the LCD screen until needed – Battery Drain
Turn off the Auto Focus feature until needed – Battery Drain
I hope you have found this posting useful, so go out an enjoy the cold weather with you camera!
The past two nights, we had our first snow falls of 2011.
It was nothing major, about 3″-4″, enough to give the ground a good covering, and then some.
I was not able to go out Friday, but after running Family errands all Saturday, I finally got some time at the end of the day!
Grabbing my gear, and knowing that I did not have much light left, I jumped in my car, and headed to the little stream area off of Norwood Road in Downingtown.
Having driven up and down this road thousands of times, I knew of a small little parking area, about mid-way down the road. After parking, I realized that it also seemed to be an entrance to an ancient access road.
Snow Stream hdr 08
Now I was ready to go! I through my camera bag and tripod over my shoulders, and headed slight back out the road, and into the woods.
Having never walked this area before, it was funny breaking new territory with the fresh snow, but finding trails was very difficult.
Eventually, I did find two sets of prints in the snow: boots and paws, and by the looks of the paw prints, that canine was having allot fun!
I had to cross the stream, back and forth several times, scouting and shooting with each adventure, and I was capturing everything in multi-exposure HDR.
It was getting colder by the minute, and I was not collapsing my tripod with each shoot, which on several occasions, also doubled as a nice balancing rod!
Snow Stream hdr 13
Slowly, I moved up stream, finding many wonderful shoots, and taking in the beauty of the moment.
After about an hour, the light was getting too low and so was the temperature.
I crawled back up to Norwood road, startling homeowner across the street, shoving their driveway, as I broke through the trees.
It took me a few more minutes to get back to the car, and another seemingly successful outing.
– Andrew
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Update
May 31, 2011 – With the Winter memories slowly fading away, I finally got a chance to revisit Norwood Road Creek with my son, Logan, for an afternoon walk in the cold water!
It was a cold early morning with a steady wind blowing across the area, but the night sky was crisp and cloud free!
While waiting for the event to start, I was reading various Facebook posts from friends talking about how the clouds in their area where making in nearly impossible to see the moon.
Finally, at about 1am, I packed up my car with my camera bag, tripod and extra clothing, and set off to my secret location.
Driving to my location was very easy, and I was surprised not to see many people out looking into the sky.
After getting to “my” location, and setting up, I realized, “my shoot” was not going to happen with the event occurring nearly straight over head.
Oh well, I was going to get some picture no matter what.
What really surprised me was how bright the moon was!
I did take a few early shoots from “my secret location”, but then packed up and headed back home because the wind was cutting right through me.
At home, I setup again, but used the garage to block some of the wind, and I was able to go inside to warm up a little between captures, and have a beer!
Initially, I was able to shoot at ISO100 at 1/15-1/80 in the ƒ8-11 range, but by the full eclipse, I had to push the CCD sensory speed up to ISO1600, and focusing was becoming very difficult.
By 3am, I packed up for the morning, and went inside.
I was too tired to download my images, and went to bed.
After a night to recover, I finally transferred my 150+ images my computer, and used Adobe Lightroom to sort though all of them.
Even with a tripod, I was able to notice, the wind moved the camera just enough to cause many rejects.
I ended up shooting a 50:1 ratio, which is not very good, but if I had been using traditional film, I would have gone broke with processing charges!
Yeah Digital!
I did spend some time looking on Flickr to see what others had captured before I created my final composite, and finally posted everything to my “2010 Winter Solstice – Lunar Eclipse” Flickr set.
