We have entered the time of the year known as Fool’s Spring. After several days of beautiful 60-degree-and-sunny weather, we finally got a surprise blizzard. In celebration, today’s post is about how to take snowy photos. I’ll be walking you through the step-by-step process of the first phase in my Prep, Shoot, Edit. We’ll look at how to critically consume other photographers’ work from a top-down approach and draw inspiration into our own photos in order to become better artists.
First, we need to choose our inspo. Per usual, all glorious things start with Pinterest. I chose this photo taken by @corpsville on Instagram. When it comes to drawing inspiration from other artists, we are trying to emulate, not copy. In other words, we’re looking to create the same feeling with our own photography style. To do this, I first want to identify the general vibes that I really like. In this example, I really like how peaceful and happy this photo feels. I also really like the contrast between the really warm expression of the model and the cooler blue tones of the snow.
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Now that I know the general feeling of the photo, I need to look at the specific elements that create that feeling. I like to break down elements of a photo into three big categories:
Pose: For this photo, the model has a really soft pose. She’s kind of curled in on herself and her eyes are closed.
Background: For this shoot, I already knew I wanted to shoot in the woods, so I’ve actually reverse-searched to find an inspiration photo that matched the background I had in mind.
Colors: The most obvious color in this photo is the red light on the model. The rest of this photo is very cool toned, which creates that contrast.
Technical: The background in this photo is super blurred out, which really makes the sharpness of the model pop even though this photo is pretty smooth. In technical terms, the photo has a high depth of field, which is achieved by lowering your camera’s aperture.
Now that I’ve identified the broad reasons I like this photo and what specific things the photographer did to achieve it, I’m going to take all of that knowledge and apply it to my style. In the end, my plan ends up looking something like this:
Pose: The exact pose the model in my inspo photo isn’t going to work as well with the outfit I’ve chosen. Instead, I’m making sure that when I pose I create soft lines with my body by putting a relaxed bend in my limbs. I’m also keeping a really calm but happy expression- not a dead stare, but not a blinding smile, either.
Background: Even though I knew I wanted to shoot in the woods, I specifically for places where the trees are thick and I don’t get too many gaps in the sky. This helps to keep a separation between the white snow of the ground and the trees.
Colors: I also really like the technique of highlighting one color in my photo, but I don’t typically like to work with different colored lights like the inspiration photo. To achieve a similar effect, I’ve decided to wear this pink jacket over a pretty neutral black/sage outfit. This way, I’m still highlighting a color but doing so in my own style.
Technical: To get that blurry background, I have to make sure I have somewhere with a lot of light so that I can really open up my aperture, or F-stop.
And here’s the final photo! The prep part of being a photographer is so much fun, I think it’s so important as artists and photographers to constantly be looking toward others for inspiration. In order to make great art, we have to consume good art. For another example of how I draw inspiration from existing photos and translate it to my own style, check out my blog post about my 1989 (Taylor’s Version) Inspired photoshoot. For more inspiration, I have boards up on my Pinterest and my work on Instagram and at my Portfolio. If you really liked this particular photoshoot, check out more work by @corpsville, their work is so beautiful. Stay warm and thanks for shooting with me!
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