The holidays are over, and we're left with nothing to look forward to but a few more months of bitter cold weather. Oh, and snow! Lots of snow! So let's take photos of snow!
The Challenge
Take a photo with snow as its subject—that can be a snowy scene, where everything is dusted, or a snowball flying straight at your camera lens. We just want to see the snow.
The Technique
Snow reflects light, making it very well lit under the sun. But your auto camera settings will usually appear to underexpose snow images. There are fixes for this. You can shoot manual, of course. Or you can tweak your exposure compensation dial up to +1 or +2. That basically tells your camera, "Hey, let a little more light into the photo. That's cool with me right now."
Also, when you're photographing in very cold weather, you should take some precautions to protect your gear. More on that here.
The Example
Our lead image, by Anthony Quintano. It's a great use of just a few colors isn't it? White snow. Blue sky. Red barn.
The Rules
1. Submissions need to be your own.
2. Photos must be taken this week.
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 970px wide image (200KB or less) AND a natively sized image in email. I know that your photo may not fall into those exact high rez dimensions, so whatever native resolution you're using is fine.
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the proper SUBJECT line in your email (more info on that below)
8. You agree to the Standard Contest Rules - though we DO accept non-US resident submissions.
9. If the image contains any material or elements that are not owned by you and/or which are subject to the rights of third parties, and/or if any persons appear in the image, you are responsible for obtaining, prior to submission of the photograph, any and all releases and consents necessary to permit the exhibition and use of the image in the manner set forth in these rules without additional compensation. If any person appearing in any image is under the age of majority in their state/province/territory of residence the signature of a parent or legal guardian is required on each release.
Send your best photo by Monday, January 12th at 10 AM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with "Snow" in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameSnow.jpg (970px wide) and FirstnameLastnameSnowWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions.