Shooting Winter and Snow Studio Portraits
I love shooting portraits outside on location but winter can pose problems. Changeable weather and short days don’t help but cold, wet weather are my nemesis. So perhaps it’s not surprising that I find myself spending more time in the studio at this time of year.
Being stuck in my studio doesn’t mean that I can’t also embrace winter and bring the outside inside. A great way to do that is to make it snow.
In the video below I walk you through both the lighting and Photoshop post processing.
If you’d like to try my Photoshop Snow Action you can download it from https://www.gavtrain.com/?p=2490
If you’re after the falling snow in a can that I used for this shoot then check out the Snow Business store http://www.snowsupermarket.co.uk/falling-snow-c4/falling-snow-spray-in-a-can-p9
Awesome!!! I know what I’m doing over Christmas break. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Has anyone had any luck finding that spray show or one like it in the US? The US Snow Business site doesn’t list the spray for sale, and other sites like Amazon only sell the kind meant for crafts.
I had the same problem! (Texas) I ended up coming across the super fake snow at Hobby Lobby at 80% off. It…worked… but I spent more time cleaning it up than I did shooting at the end of the day! Also, Amazon.co.uk will ship to the US, but it costs a bit more. But Snow Business is currently unavailable there too!
I got this from Amazon and it seems like it will work out. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GHTNE9C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Did it work? I thought that looked like a white snowy craft or Christmas Tree spray paint.
I am also looking for that theatrical snow spray seems to be hard to find where can I get it
Hi gavin
What trigger system are you using for your omd em5 mark 2. I have omd em5 n looking for high sync trigger with remote flash. Also please recomend a good slave flash.
Thank you for this tutorial. I teach photography to high school juniors and seniors and I’m always looking for tutorials like this one. The kids love challenging projects that result in dramatic photos and I know they’re going to be excited to take on this one. We have everything but the lantern and snow so I’ll find those and as my Brit friends say, we’ll “Give it a go!”
Thanks Gavin for these great tutorials.
I always enjoy them and I love learning from you. Your pictures look like magic and I sometimes can’t believe that these setups are so easy. Thank you for the snow, I’ll try it.
Love this shot!
Same problem here, I’ve looked for something similar to what Gav used but can’t find anything in the USA 🙁
That’s a great video; I learned a lot from it. What a great tip for “lighting” the lantern in Photoshop! I’m curious if there’s a way to add a bit of warm light on the side of the model’s face that’s toward the lantern. Perhaps another layer with a more understated version of the same technique? I’ll have to give it a go and play around with it.
Hi Teresa – you make a good point. The lantern should be lighting up the lantern-side of the model’s face and hair. One simple adjustment (in Elements 15) would be to use the Selection Brush to paint an area slightly smaller than the area that you’d like to highlight, then
Select-Inverse
Select-Refine Edge-Feather
Select Inverse
Enhance – Adjust Lighting – Brightness
DeSelect
To keep the highlights soft and realistic, feathering needs to be quite wide. I find it works best if I select an area slightly SMALLER than the actual area to be highlighted, then use a wide feather to blur and blend the highlight out to the edge – hence the ‘Select Inverse’ before and after ‘Feather’
Enjoy experimenting!
The file format isn’t recognized on my cpu (ATN). Do I need to convert it to upload it in lightroom or photoshop?
It’s a Photoshop only thing (Actions don’t run in Lightroom). Hit Google and search for “how to install an action in to Photoshop XX” Replacing the XX with your version of Photoshop 😉
Thank you for inspiring me to make a perfect Christmas card this year
I recreated this yesterday. It worked great! Thank you!
Thanks for the great tutorials. my take:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/schultz_001/46888560054/in/album-72157709258321458/