RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Comments and criticisms on the black and white version, please. I'm including the original, on which I didn't get the proper exposure, so you can see what I was working with.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

The crop helps it, but not much. I think you have it cropped too close to the sculpture. There is too much going on behind it with the black dirt showing through the snow. I would suggest going back on a day when you have just had a fresh snow fall and take it with fresh snow. I don't think the silhouette works with this because the shapes are so confusing. You might also want to make sure that both the bird and the cat are on the same plane. You have the bird in focus but not the cat. I think that for silhouettes to work they need to be in sharp focus. I would be interested to see this shot again with better light and better position.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Fair enough. As for more snow, all I have to do is sit around and wait. I blew the original exposure, and shot it at f/3.5, which caused the depth of field problem you picked up on. I don't feel I've got a good handle on exposure in snow, but I'll have plenty of opportunity over the next couple of months. :(

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

Here is a pretty good link that talks about shooting in snow.

http://www.geofflawrence.com/snow.html


The best advice I can give is to shoot in raw and shoot manual when photographing snowI think you have snow coming your way right now :)

You can do this, it just takes a little practice. If you need the aperture wide open and you need everything in focus just move around so everything is equal distance from the lens. In this photo that would probably be fairly easy to do.
But don't worry about everything at once. Start out maybe getting the exposure correct, then once you have that mastered, get the composition so that it is pleasing.

ReFlections Loc: From LA to AL

Don't forget your exposure compensation for shooting snow. Snow, without it, may have a grayish tone.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Thanks to both of you. Let's see what tomorrow looks like (white for sure).

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

You've got a nice concept for a silhouette. I agree with CM's analysis and with your plan to give it another try. It's a cute little whatever (I am so partial to black cats anyway - love your avatar). It could be made to show up well against the snow if you can get it set up before the next snow where the cat and the birds are both flat silhouettes and facing your expected shooting position - that way you won't have to track up the fresh snow to fix it. Try an aperture about double what you did the first time and try different shutter speeds. I'd suggest you shoot in RAW for this experiment so you can tinker with white balance without penalty. White balance is often "off" in snow shots. If the pole is leaning a little, you can straighten it in post but you can't do anything about focus, and both objects (cat and birds) will need to be sharply focused and their shapes clear. Give it as much headroom (above the object) as you can so you can get rid of all the leaves and bushes with cropping and still not bang it up against the top of the frame.

And please show it to us!

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Thanks. FYI, I shoot in raw (Nikon D5000). I picked a bad aperture - well, I rushed it and left it where it was from a previous shot - and you see the results. My subject won't disappear, it's a few feet from the front door, so I'll have the opportunity to make up for my mistakes.

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

Post your next attempts here so we can watch as you improve.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

Yes, Ma.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

It's 14 degrees out there, so I'm not rushing out to try again. Here's a color and B/W version from today. The color version is pretty much "as is," and I lightened the shaded snow area a bit in the B/W version. The angle is different from the other day, and I still have a bad angle with the rock on the left side.

I'll undoubtedly try again, but it's not pleasant out there, and I banged up my wife's car trying to get out of the driveway. I'm not in a good mood. :( :(

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

I think your getting there. You have enough detail now to tell what everything is and it appears to all be in focus. Given enough time the rock should go away with more snow or try a little cloning to get rid of it.
I am sorry to hear about your wife's car.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

So was she.

RMM Loc: Suburban New York

This may be the final version. Thoughts?