Nature Photography Class

The winter nature photography workshop offered by Dan Iverson through Northfield Community Services was, to everyone's gratitute, postponed from last weekend, when the temperatures were below zero, to yesterday, when they were in the upper 20s or even higher by the time we got outside.

After an hour of classroom time during which we discussed the basics of aperture, shutter speed, depth of focus, and the trade-offs between all of the above (most helpful to those students who had cameras with manual settings, which my point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix does not have), we headed out to the St. Olaf natural lands between the base of the wind turbine and Northfield Hospital.

Winter photography presents particular challenges on a sunny day, because with snow on the ground there is just so much light to deal with. However, the low position of the sun in the sky creates wonderful shadows even near midday; in the summer photographers have to get out there early or late in the day to get the same effect. Shadows on the snow added dramatic impact to several of my favorite photos of the day.

If you'd like to see some of the photos I took, you can click through on the album below for the larger version and view it as a slideshow if you wish. I've included some comments about each.

Nature Photography Class