winter 2014 - quebec Outdoor xmas lights with a bit of snow - DIX30 - Brossard QC

Well seen!... Mike

Michael - Thanks.

Lovly lights.

Dear Tony, all these days I'm looking at your images in snow, they're very stunning, I ... I do not know what to say ... I remain enthralled watching them. I have never seen or touched snow, where I live, it never snows. I do not know what it is, but thanks to my freezer I can imagine the feeling.

Depth of field and blur, you get here, are superb. Congratulations. I really love it!. I played the other days to focus on different points (I blurred a butterfly), but I admire your expertise on this subject (*_*)

I really like your works and yes ... Christmas is about to come and here with almost 20ºC at noon:) I'm sending you a little heat.

Warm regards, Laura.

Franz - Thanks - glad you liked it.

Laura - Thanks for your visits and I trust all is well with you and your family. Because I have lived more time in Canada as opposed to the Caribbean, I can assure you that I see far more snow than sand and it can be a challenge to photograph and one has to make adjustments to the exposure since camera meters get fooled by the bright scene.   These lights are in a shopping area and I was trying different things and I did not feel much was working in my favor. Even this one, while colorful I would want to avoid the lights in focus not  blending with the out-of-focus (bokeh)  lights on the left..  I will include another image that gives you a better perspective of the scene and what I was working with. 

Where you live,  I believe that the closest location for snow would be a little travel north to the Alps. You would not only find snow at this time of year but absolutely stunning mountains and lakes.  I have seen images here at photo.net and feel a little envious since I have never been to that part of the world.  

All the best and thanks again,

Laura - I forgot to include the image I promised.

PS Thanks for the heat!

You captured a bit of Christmas 'magic' Tony. I really love the Bokeh on the left. Excellent detail. I have looked at the pic below. I've not tried shots like this, and I imagine they can be challenging as you said. I think you did a great job. Lots of snow from the last few days. We are warmer and melting today. I hope you didn't get pounded too badly. Somehow, despite the ravages of the Nor'Easters, someone always finds some of the beauty once the worst of it has past. Lovely capture Tony.

Tony, you say: "I would want to avoid the lights in focus not blending with the out-of-focus (bokeh) lights on the left", but... lights in focus have a round shape; blurred lights in the background (bohke) have acquired with the blurring a round shape too, so ... how incredible is that everything has been "integrated" into a beautiful diagonal leading our gaze from right to left. Everything in rounded shapes. For me, it is very interesting.

Yes ... I have not taken photos in the snow, but I know I would have to overexpose for getting white (not gray) and if I would focus between different objects, my camera would be crazy, unable to focus, then I could try manually, using the different focus points. I have some snow closer home (around 300km.) in Sierra Nevada (Granada), but I have not feel the mood to travel there.

Thanks for showing the whole scene, it's beautiful. A great Christmas' atmosphere. You're going to laugh but I've much watched "Caillou" on TV... with my son. Everything is snow, and... Canada. I have also made many translations from English into Spanish, for a gynecologist in Montreal, supporter of painless childbirth helped by hipnosis :) these are my experiences with Canada.

Warm regards, Laura.

Hi Tony,

  Magical image with beautiful lights, colors & of the the snow the best part of all.  Take care, Patsy

Gail - thanks - there are mounds of snow outside - amounts that we would expect in Jan or Feb but I have no control over this and I look for the positives like no mosquitoes, no crocodiles and not least of which, there could be photo opportunities.  Thanks for stopping by.

"You're going to laugh but I've much watched "Caillou" on TV... with my son". No reason to laugh since I have done the same thing with my granddaughters.  Thanks for the additional comments.

Re the photo and what I would do in the future: I would re-position myself slightly to the left where the focused lights would be against a solid black background but still keep the bokeh on the left.  It is a pity that I did not think of this at the time I captured the image. 

I find the combination of lights, Christmas and a bit of snow is magical for me also.