Weeping Willow in the Snow... Finally!

djkane · Jan 19, 2014

I do a lot of traveling and shooting, but occasionally, when I have time at my house I pull out my camera and shoot the same things in a variety of weather, lighting, and while using different settings to try out new techniques or just improve my photography overall. So recently, we got hit with a snowstorm in PA during the Polar Vortex, and I took a shot of a Weeping Willow in my back yard that I actually love... The tree (and pond) has challenged me photographically due to it being super difficult to get a decent shot due to many different elements which increase the difficulty factor (always backlit or incompletely illuminated because of it's position in a valley, distracting background/ugly features right in key spots, and very wispy branches that end up ill defined at the top of the tree... etc. etc.)

MONOLIGHT (9 of 24) by djkanephotography1, on Flickr

Anyway, the snow coverage and stormy grey sky all coincided to provide beautiful diffuse lighting and great white/black contrast to make the focal point (the tree) pop, and I produced a shot that I am truly happy about! I wanted to post it here to see if others also think I captured a good one, or if I'm just excited over a shot that only seems great to me because all the other images I've captured of the same scene are crap and it makes it look good by comparison... Be brutally honest!