Weather is a vital part of many concept photos, which photographers can’t create on demand, of course. We can wait patiently for the weather to fit our photo concept, or we can just roll with what we have available and “Photoshop it”. One of the tutorials in this book explains how to add falling snow to a finished image when the real weather does not accommodate. To edit today’s featured photo, I specifically used the information described in the book’s Project #49, entitled “Forecast Changeable Weather”.
I located a suitable picture in my archives, captured many years ago, to experiment with. It’s a picture of a beautiful little girl with snowflakes flying from her hand, in an outdoor winter context. While it was a cold day when the photo was made, there was no actual snow falling. We only had a package of fake snow bits to throw around, which hardly provided the full effect of a winter wonderland I had hoped for. Also, the natural daylight rendered the skin tones slighly warm, not with the cool haze of a real blustery winter day. By using this tutorial and adding a few of my own special touches, including cooling the color balance overall and desaturating a distracting patch of green grass, I reworked this photo to a result I am much more pleased with.
“Before” and “After”, making it snow with Photoshop editing. To license this photo for commercial or editorial use, contact Angie Knost Photography for more information.
I would like to add that I read a lot of photography books, and while I find many of them interesting, there are a handful that I would call inspiring, and 52 Weekend Digital Photo Projects is one! This book is full of ideas that will aid the creative expression of an experienced photographer, and it also gives good explanations of each concept that will not cause a budding photographer to feel lost. I recommend that all my photographer friends try out this book for a fresh perspective that can lead to some new creative approaches to your projects.