Snow Globes

Sometimes an idea comes together perfectly. Such was the case this past weekend, with the first snowfall of 2017. I had a brainstorm for an image, and the conditions were just right to make it happen.

The snow fell overnight, and came down quickly. We went to bed Friday night with a few flakes coming down and awoke Saturday morning with about five inches on the ground. The snow was light and fluffy, perfect for making snowballs and snowmen.

I took a preliminary walk down the street at about 8:30. It was cold, still cloudy, and I was the first one out and about. I walked down to the end of the street and ventured into past the cul-du-sac just a bit.

An idea struck me. In my collection of optical goodies I have a 3″ glass sphere, literally a crystal ball. I could create snow globes. I held the ball in front of me and snapped several images from our back deck.

I popped these into Lightroom and processed them several ways, trying to create a snow globe effect. I wasn’t really happy with any of these.

By late morning the sun came out. I switched over to my 50mm lens on my DSLR and headed back to the deck. I stopped down the shutter to f/22 so that the reflecting sunlight would create a starburst effect. The final touch was to invert the photo so that the image in the sphere would be right side up. Using that technique, I finally had my snow globe.

Having hit upon the proper method, I headed on back down the street. With the blue skies contrasting with the white snow the images in the globe really came alive. Here are some shots of the tire swing I shot earlier, and the area at the end of our street. I’ve included the snow globe view as well as just a shot of the area.

A couple of guys walked past and mentioned that if I wanted pristine snow, there was a place on the next street over where a house had been removed. When I got there it wasn’t as pristine as I’d been told, but it was still nice. I actually think the footsteps add some definition to the scene. I really liked how the snow-covered trees on either side frame the shot.

This is where I got my best shot of the day, which is featured at the top of this page.

From here I wandered across the footbridge over Brushy Creek, pausing to take photos along the way.

Eventually I made it to Suicide Hill, our local sledding venue. Sledding was starting to die down for the day. I’m sure earlier this place was really hopping. However, there were still a few brave souls out on the hill.

I made my way back, catching a couple more shots along the way.

I think the snow globes were a success. I like both the inverted and regular shots. If the snow lingers a bit and the roads clear, I may head out Monday to see if I can capture a few more snow globe scenes.