When I photograph fireworks, I always think of a sentence from Jonathan Miller’s wonderful book, On Reflection: “The natural world reveals itself in borrowed light.” To me, it’s kind of funny that I think about this when I’m shooting fireworks because this type of photography is actually an exception to the rule.  Most of the photographs we take—from a portrait of a mother holding her baby, to a sweeping—involve capturing light that’s reflected off of the main subjects. But when you photograph fireworks, it’s like you’re photographing a sunrise or sunset: the light source itself becomes the subject. 

So, for starters, shooting fireworks is different than capturing more images. You’re shooting into the light, in a way. But it’s not just that. Not only are you shooting the light source itself, but you’re also shooting the images at night. And if you’ve ever tried your hand at night photography, you know how difficult that can be sometimes. But, don’t despair! We’ve put together some tips as well as links to other fireworks tutorials in order for you to help you get the best results.

Tips for photographing fireworks

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity of shooting fireworks in several settings, from Disney World to the North Fork of Long Island. Here are some of the lessons I’ve learned over the years.

Select the right camera and lens

Using a full-frame mirrorless or DSLR will almost always yield better quality fireworks photos because the top-quality sensors and high-quality lenses in the camera system will more likely deliver images with sharp, crisp details with lower noise. Consider using a zoom lens in the 24-105mm range, to give you flexibility when composing a shot. Try it at both the wide and long ends of the zoom range.

Shoot both RAW and JPEG files

Although most interchangeable-lens cameras these days produce high quality JPEG image files, since night photography is one of the most challenging settings to shoot in, you’ll want to also capture RAW files to give you more flexibility to reduce noise, adjust brightness as well as contrast, and make other adjusts. Set your camera to a mode that captures both RAW and JPEG files.

Use a tripod and a wireless remote

Since you’ll be using long exposure times, you’ll need to set up a tripod. But sure to get one that’s sturdy, and won’t move when the wind blows. You might need to weigh it down with weights if it’s a windy night. Also, use a wireless remote to fire your shots to minimize camera shake. If you can’t bring a tripod, you can try setting your camera on something stable like a rock or tree as a makeshift tripod. If you’re lacking a remote, you can also use the self-timer so you don’t shake the camera when you push the shutter button.

Choose and experiment with exposure settings

You’ll most likely be using a very long exposure, such as a 1- or 2-second shutter speed, but you might need even longer shutter speeds. To capture more than one fireworks burst, set the shutter speed for Bulb, hold the wireless button down, and then cover the lens after you’ve caught each fireworks burst. To add some depth of field, use an aperture of f/8 or f/16. And, at first, try using ISO 400. 

Mix up the format

Don’t only take landscape-oriented photos. Zoom in and try to photograph portrait-oriented shots, or even try out a panorama, particularly if you’re using a smartphone.

Experiment with filters and specialty lenses

Using a specialty lens, like a Lens Baby select-focus lens, can provide you with some cool lighting effects when capturing fireworks. Another method is to add filters–just make a copy of your original image, and use the copy to apply filters. Using filter software plugins for Photoshop, like those from Nik Collections and Boris FX, you’re able to dramatically transform your fireworks photos.  

More helpful tips for photographing fireworks

If you’re still looking for more tips for photographing fireworks, here are some links that can help.

Joe McNally: Summer, the 4th, Fireworks…and a Great Contest

On this blog post, you’ll find three great photographs of fireworks by acclaimed National Geographic photographer Joe McNally, all shot in New York City, which include the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. McNally also has some valuable advice on preparing for shooting fireworks.

Fireworks Photography How-To

This tutorial, which also links to a 2011 tutorial, photographer William Sawalich offers some great tips to improve your fireworks images by  adding context or by including a lake or body of water in the composition.

Taking Pictures of Fireworks… Featuring Lindsay Silverman

Here’s some valuable Nikon-specific tips for shooting fireworks, whether you’re using a Nikon DSLR or perhaps a Nikon Z-series full-frame mirrorless camera.

How to Photograph Fireworks

In this long how-to article, by Todd Voenkamp, you’ll find lots of very useful tips to get the best results when shooting fireworks. 

Video: Learn How to Photograph 4th of July Fireworks in Under Three Minutes

Don’t have time to read a long article? Then, check out this three-minute video on shooting fireworks.

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Readers who protest that digital special effects are not your cup of tea, this one is for you. It’s an in-camera project harkening back to the film era, and it doesn’t necessarily require computer time. While Sara K. Byrne, a Portland, OR, wedding pro (www.dylandsara.com), didn’t invent the idea of a double-exposure silhouette, she has certainly mastered this captivating echnique.

ENTER OUR MONTHLY PHOTO CHALLENGE: DOUBLE EXPOSURES

Byrne combines two images in her DSLR. One is a silhouette, in this case a head-and-shoulders portrait; her second, “fill,” image, is a colorful snippet from nature, here a blossoming cherry tree. Her camera’s multiple exposure mode did the grunt work of merging the two frames, automatically filling the second, textured image into the black areas of the silhouette.

Not all digital cameras have this capability. Current models that do include the Canon EOS 5D Mark III, 1D X, and 70D; most Nikon DSLRs; Fujifilm’s X-Pro1 and X100s; and the Olympus OM-D E-M5, among others. With some, combining exposures works only with RAW captures.

Aligning the images is easier, says Byrne, when you work in live view mode. Avoid overexposure, which can flare the outline of your sil­houetted subject, and compose against a pure white background for a perfect fill. And take your time to find the right fill for your double-exposed silhouette—if your camera allows, you don’t need to make the two shots at the same time. Save one to your memory card until you find its complement.

For more tips, watch Byrne’s video.

Step 1

Shoot the sillhouette. Make it against a white sky or a white studio backdrop. When shooting outdoors, a low camera angle can help get a clean white background with no intruding clutter. Byrne recommends shooting about an hour before sunset on sunny days. You can line up the dimmer afternoon light behind your subject and, with proper exposure, produce no flare.

Step 2

Find the background texture. Color helps, and so do line and complementary shapes. As with the silhouette, find a texture that can be captured on white, with a minimum of surrounding clutter.

Step 3

Prepare your camera. When you’ve found the texture to place within the silhouetted figure, you’re ready to make the composite. Dig through your camera’s settings to find the multi-exposure mode. Select it and switch your camera to live view. Find and select the base silhouette on the memory card. It will be displayed on the LCD screen.

Final Step

Line up the images. With the silhouette displayed on your camera’s LCD screen, aim your lens at the textured subject. The texture (i.e., leaves, trees, flowers, bark, or rocks) will appear within the black silhouette. Finesse the texture’s effect by adjusting the camera angle, zoom, and exposure settings. When the textured overlay complements and fits well within the silhouette, fire away. Your camera will automatically merge the two.

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The auroras, be they australis or borealis, are frequent subjects for photographers and timelapse artists. But with the stunning glowing formations still only producing meager light, long exposures are a must to show off their beauty. But over the last month, Abisko National Park in Sweden has been privy to an incredible run of the northern lights, and one night they were so bright, they overexposed a timelapse being recorded by [photographer Chad Blakley](http://Abisko/ National Park).

Blakley runs organized trips to the parks to view the lights, and apparently the aurora has been visible for 29 of the last 31 nights. However, on the night of February 1st, something truly amazing happened. Talking NBC, he explained:

It’s extremely rare for the auroras to get that bright, but when they do, you have to admit it’s more than a little magnificent. So, who’s up for an expedition to the northern extremes to go try and shoot the lights?

[via SLR Lounge]

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To flip mundane seascapes into something more magical, the secret is simple: lengthen your exposure times to a full minute or more. Darren Moore, a photographer from Surrey, England, has mastered this technique. His seascapes are more like dreamscapes, free of the clutter, grime and boring detail of everyday scenes.

The cool thing here is that you really can do this yourself. All it takes is a camera that lets you set long exposure times, a tripod to hold your camera steady, and, assuming you want to shoot in daylight—and not in the dead of night—a neutral-density filter to thread over your lens.

Neutral-density (ND) filters cut the light reaching your camera’s image sensor or film without affecting the overall color balance. They let you make accurate daylight exposures that are measured in minutes, not the more usual fractions of seconds.

ND filters are calibrated logarithmically, however, which can lead to some confusion. An ND filter that blocks 1 stop of light, for example, is commonly labeled 0.3; a filter that blocks 2 stops is labeled 0.6; and so on up the line. The maximum-strength 3.0 filter will dim down a scene by 10 full stops.

You can buy screw-in ND filters of different densities to fit each of your favorite lenses, or get a kit with a standard holder (such as the Cokin) that works with a variety of lens sizes. Variable ND filters, such as those from Hoya and Tiffen, let you dial in up to 9 stops of neutral density.

Step 1: Gather your gear

Start with a camera that allows bulb settings, a sturdy tripod, and neutral-density filters (with or without a holder) for your lens. A telephoto lens will give you a deep working distance that lets you shoot far from the water’s edge. Also, a remote shutter release will let you fire the camera without jogging it.

Step 2: Find the right beach

You will want a sheltered location with a gentle surf and a minimum of swimmers in your background to clutter it up.

Step 3: Wait for the right conditions

Moore went early in the morning of an overcast day to take advantage of its soft light, hazy horizon, and lack of crowds.

Step 4: Make your (long) exposures

After mounting your rig and composing the scene, ask the model to hold absolutely still for the duration of the exposures, which could be a minute or more. The pose should be natural, have some visual interest, and be easy to hold. You may want your model to turn away from the camera to avoid a blurred face.

Final Step: Finesse the scene in software

Moore wanted to exaggerate the dreamlike quality of the scene by getting rid of background detail. This included the horizon line, which he eliminated by selecting it with Adobe Photoshop CS6’s Marquee tool and applying a Gaussian blur to the selection.

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By now you’re almost certainly aware of how amazing the images coming from the International Space Station can be. But, most of them have been captured looking out through the windows. Astronaut Koichi Wakata, however, has been making interesting photos inside the station itself.

His light paintings are made with a device called the Spiral Top, which was created by artist Takuro Osaka. As the name suggests, it’s vaguely top-shaped and is designed to light up and spin around in zero-gravity to create dramatic patterns. If you’re not familiar with this type of light painting, it’s achieved by leaving your cameras shutter open for an extended period of time while a bright light source moves aroudn in front of the lens. It results in mesmerizing light trails.

The photos are cool, but the real exciting part is how much potential the idea has. Not only can you float the light source in mid-air, but the camera can float freely as well.

If you want to see more of his experiments, check out his Twitter and give him a follow.

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This has been a big year for Matthew Pillsbury. In February, the New York-based photographer had a retrospective at Aperture Foundation, an accompaniment to the recently released monograph City Stages, which covered a decades worth of his masterful black-and-white large-format long exposures of urban spaces. Two months later, he was awarded the prestigious John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts-Photography, which led him on a photographic journey all the way to Japan. This month, Pillsbury unveils his newest series, “Tokyo,” on view at Benrubi Gallery in New York from Sept. 10 – Oct. 25, 2014, which features his first, stunning foray into the world of color photography. Pillsbury spoke to American Photo recently about his transition from black-and-white and about the advantages of photographing as a foreigner.

Tell me a bit about your process. How did you decide to photograph in Tokyo and what kind of scenes did you seek out?

I had been to Tokyo 10 years ago and had been fascinated by how totally foreign it was. I speak French and English and in most cities I can find my bearings quite easily. Tokyo was the first time I felt lost both physically and linguistically. After photographing extensively in places that were current or past homes of mine, I thought it would be interesting to go back to Tokyo and photograph something I didn’t know or sometimes even understand.

I also felt that Tokyo was emerging from a period of economic stagnation and was resurgent culturally and economically and was poised to change in the years leading up to its hosting the Olympics. I really went over willing to photograph anywhere people congregate or where something significantly cultural takes place. Some places were familiar to me as a foreigner and in other cases I [spoke] to locals to get ideas. I try to find a varied mix of locations.

How does the experience differ photographing in a city foreign to you, like Tokyo, as opposed to photographing in a city like New York, where you are based?

In a way I found it liberating. I felt like being so obviously a foreigner I could try things and if I [were] lacking the proper permit or access it would be ascribed to my not knowing any better and I wouldn’t get in trouble. The advantage of photographing in NYC is that I can bring to it the knowledge of having lived there many years.

This is your first major work that includes color photographs. What inspired the transition from working in monochrome alone and what was it like combining the two modes for your final sequence of images?

The transition to color is something that I had been toying with for a few years, but it happened both suddenly and yet very naturally in Tokyo. Locations like the Cup Noodle museum and the Robot show needed to be in color.

One of the things that I have always loved about black-and-white is how it allows for multiple light sources and pictorial elements to be tied together into a visually coherent whole. In this case, I was specifically interested in allowing these photographs to explode with their bursts of color. On the other hand, certain pictures like the mirrored Tokyo Plaza escalators and Nakagin Capsule Tower were more interesting to me in black-and-white. I hope that my viewers will find the mix as natural and interesting as I do.

Where do you see yourself going next, both physically and photographically?

I received a 2014 Guggenheim fellowship to photograph in Japan, so I plan on going back over the fall and continuing my work there and eventually going to other cities in Asia.

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Portrait shoots with dancers can be insanely fun. They typically have unprecedented body awareness and physical capabilities that are a blast to photograph. Shooter Karl Taylor put together a tutorial with light-maker Broncolor (this isn’t a sponsored post, but the video was produced by Broncolor) about how to take dance portraits with both flash and motion blur.

By using a mixture of strobes and hot lights, the photos have both a sharp version of the dancer, as well as a swirly trail of blur representing their body movements. While the video uses several pricy Broncolor lights, you could also achieve a similar effect using more simple equipment like a speed light and a basic lamp.

It’s a fun project to try and there are tons of possibilities due to the slightly unpredictable nature of the process.

You can see some of the results on Instagram.

From: ISO1200

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The magic of photography has always been its ability to freeze an instant in time—to capture what Henri Cartier-Bresson famously termed the decisive moment. It’s magical because we can’t see the world in that way—we have no pause button to savor our experiences stopped in time. But a single, frozen instant doesn’t express motion very well, and that’s where long exposures can add another dimension to still photography—the dimension of time. You can take what would be a static image captured at a fast shutter speed and transform it into something dynamic. An effective tool for artistic interpretation, it’s also fun and, with just a little practice, easy to do with ordinary photo gear.

Autumn Maples, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The Water Ballet

For a nature photographer, no other subject presents better opportunities for capturing long exposures than moving water. Waterfalls, cascading streams, and ocean waves are but a few examples.

You’re going to need a tripod, a remote shutter release or the camera’s 2-second self-timer to avoid camera shake, and preferably overcast lighting conditions. The lower light in them makes it easier to achieve longer shutter times, and the light is more aesthetically pleasing, too.

I approach a waterfall or stream scene just as I would any other landscape. I work in aperture-priority auto mode (Av or A), choose an f-stop that gives the desired depth of field, then adjust the ISO until I get the shutter speed I want—higher ISO for faster speeds, lower one for longer exposures. I often need a smaller aperture than necessary to slow things down.

That’s because one problem encountered in long-exposure photography is too much light. If you just can’t leave the shutter open long enough without overexposing the image, opt for a neutral-density (ND) filter. These reduce the amount of light entering the lens, allowing for longer exposure times than would be possible otherwise. The key is that they reduce light uniformly, so contrast and dynamic range are not affected—unlike a split neutral-density filter.

ND filters are available in different strengths designated by either the number of stops they soak up or in terms of optical density. A 3-stop or 0.9 density ND is ideal for waterfalls in bright sunlight, slowing the exposure to a second or so. A strong 10-stop or 3.0 ND can blur clouds over several minutes, even on a bright, sunny day. Variable ND filters are also available, although these can be expensive.

How much you should slow things down is a matter of personal taste. The volume of water plays a big part in making the decision: Longer exposures work best with lighter streams and help express grace or fragility. Relatively faster shutter speeds are more effective for heavier cascades, as they help convey the feeling of power or strength. My own preference is to keep some texture and detail, and that means shutter speeds of 0.5 to 4 seconds for most situations, but there are plenty of exceptions.

For ocean waves, a very long shutter speed—20 seconds to several minutes—can smooth out the water and reduce distraction in the image. Waves, surface undulations, and refracted light all blend together into a creamy, smooth surface, leaving only the essential elements that make a powerful composition.

Tree in Wet Sand, Hunting Island State Park, SC

Tracking Motion

Panning is a technique in which you move the camera parallel to the subject. The subject remains relatively sharp, while the background blurs due to the motion of the camera. This is a great technique for moving wildlife or birds in flight.

I will use shutter-priority auto (Tv or S) since I am looking for a very specific shutter speed and the depth of field is nearly irrelevant—everything but the moving object will be blurry anyway. I usually start with a shutter speed of 1/15 sec and modify if needed. If there is too much blur in the moving subject, I will speed up to 1/20, 1/25, or 1/30 sec. For subjects that are moving too slowly for a good effect, I’ll try a slower shutter speed. It pays to experiment until you get the effect you want.

A tripod isn’t necessary when panning and will probably be more of a hindrance than a help. Set both autofocus and drive modes to continuous, and turn on image stabilization if you have it. (Many newer lenses will automatically stabilize along the opposite axis you are panning; older lenses have a manual switch for panning mode.) Use a smooth turn of the torso and begin focus-tracking the subject well before you shoot.

Gently press the shutter release and hold it down to take many exposures. Continue to track the subject until after the exposures are taken, which will help avoid the tendency to stop panning once the shutter is pressed.

The more blur you capture in your image, the more abstract the moving subject becomes. I like to see literal elements in the image, with just a hint of blur to give it a dynamic feel.

Snow Geese, Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, NC

Panning for Abstracts

Panning stationary subjects or scenes vertically or horizontally is a great long-exposure technique that creates a dreamy, painterly look (click here for a slight diagonal pan)). One ideal situation is a forest or stand of trees with many strong vertical elements within it. Here, you can pan the camera vertically along the prominent tree trunks during a long exposure. Horizontal panning of a clean, even horizon along a coast can also produce some beautiful results.

Shutter speeds of 1 to 6 seconds are best for these images, but you should try others on your own. Pan slowly with a long-er exposure, or quickly with a shorter one. Try keeping the camera still for half of the exposure and moving it though the other half; this imprints more literal elements of the scene while introducing just a touch of blur.

Clouds and Fog at Twilight, Clingmans Dome, Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Stretch it Out

Your camera’s meter helps give you the right exposure for shutter speeds of 30 seconds or less. But what if you want or need an exposure time of several minutes? Try this: In manual-exposure mode, select 30 seconds for the shutter speed, an ISO of 100, and the appropriate f-stop for depth of field considerations. During late twilight, early dawn, or if using a strong ND filter, your meter will likely indicate underexposure.

Now, increase the ISO in full EV steps until the meter indicates correct exposure. If it’s two steps—for example, ISO 100 to 400— then double the exposure speed for each step, here 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Then reset the ISO back to 100 and the exposure mode to Bulb.

Shutter speeds of several minutes can transform a raging ocean into a smooth, creamy, luminous sea, and a sky full of afternoon clouds into dynamic streaks of light that span the sky.

Richard Bernabe is a professional nature and travel photographer from South Carolina. He has written many photo instruction books and leads workshops and tours all over the world.

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The evening light illuminates a toy shark on top of a car and a tree stripped by the wind in an area heavily damaged by a tornado in Moore, Oklahoma

The evening light illuminates a bent street sign in an area heavily damaged by a tornado in Moore, Oklahoma

If you follow our regular Photojournalism of the Week series, Lucas Jackson’s name should be familiar. We featured his image when a gunman open fired in front of the Empire State Building and when hurricane Sandy ravaged the New York metropolitan area. So, it came as no surprise to us when his long-exposure night shots of the aftermath from the massive tornado in Oklahoma brought a unique visual element to a scene saturated by media. We spoke to Lucas as he was getting back to New York. Here’s what he had to say about how this unusual series of images came to be, and just why they do such a good job at telling their story:

How do you bring a fresh perspective, as a photojournalist, to a disaster scene that is being widely reported by other media outlets?

Reuters committed to having me stay on this story long enough that I was able to see beyond the obvious images of people reacting to their situation, so that was a big part of it. In the early stages of a news story like this, it is difficult to do something different because your job is to cover the story as it unfolds. Only once things have reached a point where the story has begun to slow down, and is not developing by the minute, can you start to follow your own curiosities. In my opinion it is at that point that it becomes possible to take a step back and come to a deeper understanding of the story.

Where did you come up with the concept for this series of images? Have you employed this style of shooting to other similar scenarios?

The concept for the series evolved by accident actually. I had been working to send pooled photos of a memorial earlier in the day and the only real time I had to photograph was after that ended. By that point in the day it was twilight. I had originally stopped to photograph the Memorial Day fireworks over a damaged home, and while driving away I saw a tree that grabbed my attention. I took out a tripod and took a slow-shutter photo allowing the ambient light to bleed into the frame. I liked the effect that the ambient light and deep depth-of-field had on the photograph so I looked for more subjects knowing that a series would be much more impactful. I also felt that the light in these very still and deliberate images did a better job of three-dimensionally capturing the extent of the damage.

I have used slow shutter speeds before to varied degrees of success both in Afghanistan and in Iceland. I feel that slow-shutter photographs, taken in a still camera, are something that no other technology can match. It is a technique that can be used to show people something that they cannot see otherwise, even with their own eyes.

These photos are void of people, yet, from everything we’ve seen of the tornado’s aftermath, they are some of the most moving images out there, why do you think that is?

I actually felt they did a unique job of capturing the extent of the damage when I was shooting them. I think that in a disaster like this, the damage is so extensive and complete that it becomes difficult to convey, especially when so many images start to look similar. During the day you tend to concentrate on the human toll of this disaster and all of the stories that are playing out as time goes. These images, being essentially landscapes, force both the photographer and the viewer to concentrate on the destruction, and the human element is implied by the recognizable items in the frame. The viewer can imagine those elements being connected to them and it evokes empathy.

Were you by yourself when you shot these?

I was. This area was actually not accessible to the public after dark because of a curfew, but I spoke with a Moore Police Department Sergeant when he stopped to ask me what I was doing, and once I explained it, he said that I could stay. Luckily he understood what I was trying to do and was open to it, while trusting that I would behave as a professional and not do anything that would make him regret letting me stay. That does not always happen. I think it helped that he enjoyed photography as a hobby.

I know you recently came back from Afghanistan and since, have covered quite a few domestic disasters and breaking news stories. Do you consider yourself to be a conflict/disaster photographer?

I do not actually consider myself a conflict/disaster photographer. My job has me doing a plethora of things every day. I literally take photographs almost every single day in New York. I am in charge of our entertainment coverage here in the city and Reuters covers all kinds of financial, news, sports, and feature stories as well. It is actually the deluge of daily work that has helped me improve my skills as a photographer. If it is possible to make some of these press conferences or the floor of the New York Stock Exchange look interesting, than working in a conflict or disaster zone, where there are genuine stories to tell, is easy in comparison. I say this because my first job is to honestly and accurately capture the subject. Second, my job is to inform the reader. If the subject is not displaying obvious emotion, then I need to use composition, color, or exposure to make the photograph interesting enough to draw in the viewer. Finally, I need to create content that is timely and helps Reuters tell the story visually. In conflict or disasters the subjects are instantly recognizable and the situations inherently evoke emotion. That means my first two jobs come more easily and what I have to do is figure out what information to squeeze into a little rectangle.

For the technical geeks out there, do you mind sharing with us the gear you used to make these images, and your approximate exposures?

Gearwise I was using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II and either a 50mm f/1.4, 16-35mm f/2.8, or 70-200mm f/2.8 lens on an Induro carbon fiber tripod with a ball head. I didn’t have an intervalometer with me so the longest exposure I could get was 30 seconds and since I wanted a really deep depth of field (f/8-f/22) for these, I was using either the shutter speed or ISO to change the exposure. With the images that have people in them I was often shooting at ISO 800-3200 in order to get the beautiful low light in the photo while also freezing the subject. For the still life and landscape photographs I was most commonly on ISO 800 but I went to 400 sometimes and even up to 1600. My exposures for the landscapes was anywhere from 5 seconds to 30 seconds. I also played with the White Balance in the camera which gave the background different colors. The crazy part is that these photos are basically straight out of the camera, I had very little, if any, toning to do to them.

The post Behind the Lens: Lucas Jackson on His Long Exposures of the Oklahoma Tornado Aftermath appeared first on Popular Photography.

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Vincent soyez, a commercial portrait photographer based in Brooklyn, NY, is always shooting.

“I constantly keep my eyes open for interesting visuals. In fact, if I don’t shoot regularly, I start to feel that something is missing almost on a physical level,” he says. “The photo shown here is a view from one of my windows. I felt seduced by the calm of the moment, and had to grab my Leica X1.”

What makes this shot special is its exposure. By setting it manually, Soyez was able to expose for plenty of atmospheric background detail while letting the camera’s flash exposure system make sure the defocused snowflakes weren’t completely blown out.

If you find yourself in a similar situation this winter, don’t give in to the impulse to shoot in your camera’s “green” or auto mode. The AE system will almost certainly be fooled into thinking the scene is well-lit because of the bright white snowflakes in the foreground, and underexpose the scene in the distance.

You can see more of Vincent’s work at vincentsoyez.com.

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