The Start of Winter

[Ralph Thornton]

Winter has begun along the Rocky Mountain Front west of Choteau, Montana. Perhaps it's time to start a winter theme.

This view looks up the long valley of the Middlefork of the Teton River. Beaver ponds and springs on the valley floor usua
Ly freeze only during the coldest part of winter. This spot, come mid winter will be buried in snow.

 

[Brodie Jackson]

Very nice
Snow?! i'm so jealous!! lol

 

[Chris Dodkin]

Ralph, it looks so clean and clear - wonderful - do you have any visible pollution at all?

I always have trouble getting my exposure spot-on when shooting snow - any tips form this example?

 

[Pete Askew]

What a beautifully balanced shot Ralph. I like especially the subtle reflection in the water and the lead line past the tree. Lovely.

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Thanks Brodie. I'm definitely looking forward to another good cross country ski season here in Montana.

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Thanks Pete. The reflection IMO makes this shot. It caught my eye for sure.

 

[Ralph Thornton]

Ralph, it looks so clean and clear - wonderful - do you have any visible pollution at all?

I always have trouble getting my exposure spot-on when shooting snow - any tips form this example?

I think my part of Montana has some of the cleanest air in the continental US. But there are times when it is not clean. The high winds can sometimes kick up a lot of dust. The dust storms can be pretty brutal. There are sometimes wild fires, especially during dry summers. The smoke can lay thick on the land. I've had my home smoke detectors drive me crazy on a few hot summer days when the smoke is thick and there is no wind. Even though it may be very warm on those days we have to keep the windows closed to keep out as much smoke as possible. But all in all the high plains of Montana, the Rocky Mountain Front and Glacier National Park have beautiful pristine air most of the time.

Exposure of snow covered ground is indeed pretty tough. The snow is so bright it tends to trick the camera into under exposing the scene. I usually set my meter to evaluative even under snowy conditions. I point the center of my camera at a dark area of the scene and lock exposure then recompose before shooting. This is often not enough though and I end up correcting exposure in post processing of my RAW file. There are also times when I end up taking two photos of the scene at different exposures so I can combine those using PhotoShop. And sometimes I just get frustrated.

 

[Brian Moore]

Beauty Ralph!

 

[Paul Lange]

Thats lovely Ralph! I live in a semi rural area but there is nothing like that anywhere near where I live. Very flat fenland around here. I agree about the way the image is structured, it's very nicely done.