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Ed Knepley | all galleries >> Photo a Day (PAD) since 5/04 >> jan_08_pad > 1/15/08 - Blizzard
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15-JAN-2008

1/15/08 - Blizzard

Taking a shower in the scene of yesterday's PAD when my wife shouted that there was a blizzard outside - and I wasn't even expecting snow. Took this out the kitchen window (after toweling off & getting dressed). The house in the distance is about 500 yards (quarter mile plus) up a golf course fairway.
I took six shots, each with a different shutter speed, in order to examine the effect on capturing the flakes. I even used my Variable Neutral Density filter to get one at about 4 seconds - in addition to one at the other end of the scale by opening the aperture wide open and cranking the ISO to 800. The answer I was looking for is that faster shutter speeds are better for capturing the appearance of falling snow. It all disappears at long speeds - which is no surprise. I was hoping to find a speed that made the falling snow appears as white streaks. It's in there somewhere - just not at a speed that I tried.
I used the Variable ND filter for long exposure times instead of stopping down the aperture because I wanted to keep the lens pretty wide open while focusing on the large trees. This was because there was a branch from a small tree in my yard that I wanted to keep out of focus so that it would interfere with the shot.

Nikon D300
1/250s f/5.6 at 170.0mm iso200 full exif

other sizes: small medium original auto
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George Christakos16-Jan-2008 17:02
It's like a painting. Fantastic atmosphere Ed.
Michael Shpuntov15-Jan-2008 19:49
It has some kind of painterly effect on it. Great shot in difficult light.
Marco Valk15-Jan-2008 18:13
nice image
Sam Stevenson15-Jan-2008 18:04
You got a lovely grain effect with this one - very nice.