As much as it may pain many of us who live in northern climates, the cold weather is finally settling in for the long haul. This time often comes with great opportunities to capture gorgeous snow and ice photos. It also means a little extra care needs to be taken with your camera while you are out in these freezing temperatures. Before you embark on trudging through giant snowdrifts for that perfect pine tree photo, follow a few items to help keep your camera happy.
1. Batteries despise the cold. Batteries may provide you power, but they tend to go on strike in the cold. If you do not have extra batteries for your camera, now is the perfect time to invest in one spare at the minimum. The cold is hard on batteries. You can loose as much as 50% of your normal shooting life while shooting in the frigid temperatures.
There are a few things you can do to help extend battery life while out in the cold. The first is to keep your spare batteries close to your body. This at least keeps them close to body temperature. The second thing you can do is use those hand warming packs and wrap them around your batter compartment. This has a side benefit of helping to keep your camera warm. You are not looking to get things sweltering hot, but any bit of warmth is going to be beneficial when it is -10 outside.
2. LCD screens also despise the cold. As the temperatures drop, so does the functionality of your LCD. Your LCD screens can become extremely slow, inaccurate in color, or just not function all together when you are out in the cold. This means you have to account for a few things. Know approximately what setting you will be shooting with, and then set them before you leave the warmth of your car/home. LCDs going on strike in the cold also mean they may not show colors correctly. Read More→
This is where you would expect me to tell you about my life, how awesome I am, or why I am so superior to other people in this line of business. I would enjoy telling you how I have wrestled grizzly bears 10 feet tall. Maybe you would like hearing how I have taken on Velociraptors in my days as a young man. Even better is the story how I have traveled to the furthest reaches of space to stop catastrophic alien invasions. The problem will be that you might not believe my awesome stories.
I will keep these awesome stories for the campfire though. I’m just a man, taking pictures, trying to make a living. I ditched my education in computers in favor of pursuing my passion for photography. I enjoy a good cold beer on a warm day. I have a fondness of the outdoors.. I have enjoyed years capturing life’s unscripted moments. Hopefully, I can enjoy many more years of slacking off without fear of those grizzlies taking me out before my time.
My Philosophy is to capture those non-scripted moments. To capture the little details that this world really has to offer. From weddings to insects, I enjoy capturing the life, the details, and the moments that come and go in a flash.