Let it Snow

[HiImTom]

I always love stopping at peoples homes to ask if it is ok to take pictures, you meet the most amazing people. Here is a shot that caught me on an old barn on the way to the market. C+C welcome

The moment my finger depresses the button it all makes sense. For thirty five years I have been pushing many different buttons.The thrill and the rush of doing what you love.

Life is so simple, do what you love.

[tbob]

The texture contrast of old wood and smooth ice is very interesting. I think the black and white treatment is a good choice. You might consider a tighter crop so the icicles and wood are more dominant. I cannot tell as I cannot enlarge the image but I suspect the depth of field could be a little deeper. It might be ice that is making tghe wood slightly fuzzy; I cannot tell.

[HiImTom]

I was really drawn into the subject for the reason you stated Trevor. The photo was taken on a Macro Setting, I guess that is why the field of depth was so shallow. Thank you for the suggestion on a tighter crop, I will try it. How would you crop it, the icicle on the top piece of wood would seem to be awkwardly in the frame? Also, I would assume to lengthen the shutter speed to bring more noise and falling snow into the frame? I would assume this to over expose the photo, would you over come this by lowering the aperature? Thank you so much for your help in understanding the technical stuff

[tbob]

I don't think you can take much away in a crop. Just reduce the area on the sides and top to remove some of the unneeded parts. The best way to proceed is to play with the image and try different crops just to see how it looks. It is useful to do this as a way of thinking about the composition for in camera framing before taking a shot and after to see what if anything can be removed if it is not needed in the image.

You are probably on the right track to reduce the speed and aperture. One would have to see the final result to see what happens to the background. However as a general rule; until it becomes second nature to understand what a specific lens will give you for depth of field and sharpness at a given aperture it is worth doing a number of combinations of speed and aperture and then looking at the result critically and thoughtfully.

[HiImTom]

Thanks Trevor for all the information. I will keep tinkering, heck that is half the fun