Staying With Colors in Winter

There are many great sunrises throughout the year but it seems when it is so cold, minus something but who's counting, the air is so crisp with zero moisture that even clouds do not hinder the color in the sky.  If anything they seem to improve upon what is available, both in the air but on the ground as well.

Unless you have water, and that doesn't always help, you cannot see the colors in the sky on the ground but, with the white of snow and sometimes the reflective aid of the frozen water this is achievable. 

Mid-February Snow

Here we are just a tad over half way through February and it's still snowing and cold.....oh yea, it's still officially winter.  The weather guy hit it on the nose this time, forecasted approximately 2" and that's what we got.  Only real issue is that along with the snow came the bitter cold but the snow was "dry" if that's possible.  I blew the driveway off with a leaf blower in no time at all.

At some points in time we had near white out conditions, however, there was no real wind, just heavy down falls of snow.  Flakes ranged from 1/2 to 3/4".  Very pretty.

As even set in the snow stopped and the skies cleared.  There was just a hint of cloud with moisture looming but they kept on clearing out more and more.

Perfectly clear night.  Caught the tail light of a passing vehicle heading east and if you notice, just above the radio tower and to the right is a plane caught in the frame heading in a southerly direction.  I didn't see it on the camera screen after taking the shot, I just happened to look out the window after removing the camera from the tripod.  The plane would have been out of range by the time a setup again.  Maybe next time I take night shots I will wait around for a plane.  Wonder where they were going?

Fridays "Winter Colors"....On Saturday

Today we are having snow squalls with winds of 54 mph.  Good thing with winds that high is that there's not a lot of snow or we would have drifting problems.  By the way, this is suppose to be my Friday posting so Friday on Saturday and the "colors of winter" can be seen here, behind that next cloud of snow coming our way.  We have been teased with sun and blue skies all day but then the gray clouds and white snow show up just to remind you that it's nasty outside.  On the other hand you could say that this picture is the tease of summer sun with blue skies of summer and it's about to rain.  About five more weeks and we should see a change in the weather.....here's hoping.

Look At It Two Ways

Coming or going....a 911 is a 911.  Even those these are miniatures of an icon and they have been used here to test the bokeh effect, you have to admit that there is nothing wrong with this icon.

Winter Colors in Nightly Snowfalls

In my quest to find color in winter I did some experimenting at night.  The first photo was intentionally blurred with movement by me and not in post processing. 

Only thing done in post processing is to get more warmth.  The lighting in the area was from sodium vapor (6) in the near proximity.  This fence line is 450 to 500' away and the edge of the woods is 1000' plus.  Camera was set at 6400 ISO at 270mm, f-6.3 for 0.8 sec. 

This image was set at ISO 6400, f-5.6, 119mm and 1/8 sec shutter speed.  It too was hand held.  The intent was to use the lighting from our post light and the lighting from a neighbors porch light that can be seen in the middle at the top of the image and pick up the beads of moisture on the branches of a bush in our court yard.

First, this image was shot at 6400 ISO at f-4.0 for 1/20 sec at 30-mm.  There was some editing in Lightroom 5, then OnOne Perfect Suite 8 and then Photoshop CS5.  Just a note, I'm looking into Prefect Suite 9, something I usually don't do until there are two versions out from the last one I bought but there is a big improvement...we'll see.  I will probably do the 30 trial first, they do give you the whole program were some limit the use.  My intent here was to pick up the snow in the air and in color, with the sodium lights, it was somewhat lost.

These Friday postings are about color in winter and even though it is said that black, white and everything in between is NOT color but opaque in my untrained eye it sees b/w as color, just not brilliant.  Question, is chrome a color, if so then b/w must be color because they make up chrome...this is why I'm considered stubborn.  I just say I'm a product of the 60's and proud of it.

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