Best Tips To Shoot Outdoors In Winter

Winter is one of the most exciting and anticipated seasons for all photographers. During this season, nature is decorated with a unique look as snow falls gently onto the ground and surrounding trees. Hence why the winter season is considered a great time to capture amazing photos out and about. 

As temperatures differ from place to place, it is critical to be prepared when shooting content outdoors during winter seasons. Good preparation will help to enhance the winning percentage. Are you wondering how to better prepare for winter photography? What should be the best tips to shoot outdoors in winter? To eliminate this confusion, we will give you some short suggestions to get a good result soon.

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Tips To Shoot Outdoors During the Winter Season

#1. Examine The Shooting Location

Surviving the cold temperatures is the most challenging task for many photographers. We want to eliminate any chance of frostbite and hypothermia considering all temperatures tend to drop immensely during this time of year. With that being said, doing some research before heading to your intended shoot location will allow you to plan ahead and set your expectations. 

In fact, it is said that a better idea of ​​the situation and exact time can turn the game in your favor. The more you focus on the precise shooting area and surroundings, the better and more professional photos will come out from your camera. 

#2. Protect Your Camera Gear

I find many photographers can relate, but camera gear is extremely important! If I break my camera, it's like breaking a leg (not to be dramatic). Overall, I want to emphasize this tip to protect your camera gear due to unexpected occurrences during winter shooting. 

A tip to protect your gear would be to use a water-resistant cover and form a habit to keep the camera inside the cover when you don’t need them to use. For this, you can keep the camera cleaning kit and warm clothes so that you can reduce the cool moisture from them. In general, cold and wet air is a significant cause of damage to electronic devices. So, it is better to keep your camera and batteries inside your jacket so that they can stay dry and ready to use at your need.

A few of my favorites: water-resistant camera bag and camera cover.

#3. Take Advantage of the Winter Weather

Winter weather allows us to capture all the little things, such as the snow glistening off the frozen glass lake, or the way the trees dance in the forest. The weather brings a glamorous look with special natural effects. The wintery impact is best for getting deep and blurred photos.

Therefore, I recommend testing out your manual camera settings and using a white background to get the fairy effect in every photograph. 

#4. Use Different Color Filters

Utilizing different color filters can enhance your overall content. For example, using a polarised lens to capture a different emotion. This can be best suited for keeping the blue sky darker, enhancing extra beauty to clouds, eradicating glare, and ensuring widespread saturation to every color. 

Moreover, photographers can take different angle shots from up and down perspectives. You can use multiple camera frames with various camera polariser lenses to see outstanding results in your photos.

#5. Set Up Preferable Camera Settings

During this weather, snow is dancing everywhere. When you attempt to capture snow in your frame, they can overexpose your photo from every angle. So, what can you do here? You can adjust the exposure settings by following the weather requirements. 

While adjusting the camera exposure, you will be able to catch more details in every action, and the creative method can improve your photography level into the professional stage.

#6. Apply Various Angles and Themes

Applying various angles and themes is one of the great tips to shoot outdoors in winter. We all know that there are several festivals all over the world during the winter season. As a photographer, it’s a great opportunity to catch some magical stories in your pictures. 

Here, you can apply Halloween lights and themes as your background and take some portraits to make it unique and stunning.

Great lights to utilize when shooting: Colored lights, Christmas lights.

#7. Mentally Prepare Yourself

In addition to preparing physically for a great photography experience, one should also prepare himself mentally. Remember, mental fitness is a must to think of something creative and exceptional. While practicing photography at low temperatures, you may need to surpass many obstacles like heavy snowfall, blizzards, and even sometimes hypothermia.

In addition, those life-threatening situations can sometimes become severe and lead to accidents. So, we recommend you keep some first aid equipment always in your bag to use in emergency cases. (Emergency survival kit). 

Lastly, a tip to mentally prepare yourself is to instill confidence! Be confident about what you are doing and what you are going to do in the future. By gathering enough confidence in your mind, you can stay protected and learn to use the best strategy at the perfect moment. 

#8. Make The Best Use of Sunrise and Sunset

Indeed, sunrise and sunset are the best time to record the weather and sky-changing effects. At those times, you can take some great landscape shots between glossy snowfall and the rising sun. Following the time, the falling snow glitters like pearls. 

The important tip is that you can lie on the ground and keep the melting snow and sunrise or sunset on an aligned scale.

Final Thoughts

While going through the best tips to shoot outdoors in winter, you have acquired a lot of knowledge on winter photography. To get a better result in winter photography, you must apply all the tips in your profession.

Try out these tips and upload your content creations on Dissolve Creators here!