As I mentioned in the last blog post of the polar bear dip, I actually went on that day to shoot at the snow covered beach front to try out my camera in inclement weather.

Before going out, however, I had an idea in mind and wanted to use a technique to illuminate snow and control background skylight.

Straightforward photo, on auto. This is what it “looked” like, but it didn’t convey what I wanted to say.

The photo above is sort of accurate as the camera saw it, but the trees were green, it was snowing and the sky wasn’t this bright. The meter was fooled by the dark trees and to compensate made the sky brighter than it really was.

Now this is more accurate to the scene and feeling I wanted to convey.

In the photo above, I used a flash to control the exposure on the trees and illuminate the heavy snowfall. The flash brightened the trees and greyish green is coming through. The flash also illuminated the snow. By controlling the shutter speed I was able to get a depiction of the sky that was more true to the conditions, however, I did change the color balance of the sky to give it a blue early dawn look.

After having a quick breakfast, I set out on my walk to the beach and took the photos below.

Testing the GFX 50sII in severe winter weather.
Testing the GFX 50sII in severe winter weather.
Testing the GFX 50sII in severe winter weather.
Testing the GFX 50sII in severe winter weather.
Testing the GFX 50sII in severe winter weather.
Testing the GFX 50sII in severe winter weather.
Testing the GFX 50sII in severe winter weather.

Equipment used: Top two photos of the before and after trees were taken with the Fujifilm X-Pro2 and Fujifilm XF10-24mm lens. The photos at the beach were taken with the Fujifilm GFX 50s II and the GF35-70mm lens.