You went where?!!! But it's snowing!

One of our favorite places to visit is the Gettysburg National Military Park in south central Pa. It offers immense possibilities for photography and the opportunity to learn more about the famous battleground. I have been to GNMP about a dozen times and every time it offers me more. I have always wanted to visit in the winter and this past weekend was the chance. Sheryll has done genealogical research and has learned that she had three relatives that were actually involved in the battle. (Another blog to follow soon on this subject). As soon as we were done digging out of 16" of snow, we loaded the car and headed west. Gettysburg, three hours away, had about 6" of snow so we were headed to milder climates.
The weather was going to be a risk because more fronts were due to be moving through. Every time you go out you hope for the right sunrise or the perfect sunset ( and we have had some beauties there) or the sun to break through the clouds at the right time. For instance. Saturday morning had all the makings of that a terrific sunrise. Ok, if you forego the 21 degree temperature it had all the makings of one. The sun rose and soon a large orange ball began to appear over the horizon. I had planned to get a shadow of a statue on the side of a barn right at the main part of the 3rd day of the battle. As the sun was rising, I began to get a nice glow on the side of the barn but it was apparent that the sun was not in the right position in the sky to align it on the barn but I was getting good reflections of the trees behind it. I just needed about 5 more minutes and they would have been perfectly lined up and would have been a very good composition. Alas, 'twas not to be. As time went on so did the clouds and just as fast as Emeril could say "Bam!", the sun went behind a solid line of clouds. No more shadows. Just flat light. And that was about the conditions we had the duration of the trip. If it wasn't flat light, it was snow.
Something to keep in mind when out shooting in the snow is exposure compensation. All the reflected light off the snow fools the light meter into thinking the scene is brighter than it is and you end up with grey snow. As strange as it seems, you need to add more light so you need to add a plus when compensating. When using older film cameras it was not unusual to add 1 1/2 stops or more but newer digitals seem to work best with +.3 or +.7, depending on whether you are in half or third stops in your menu. Paying close attention to your LCD will show you what is working best. This is one time the histogram is not too much help as the spike will be very high on the right side and flat on the left. Bracketing also helps and with the lower price of chips today, there is no reason not to. Sometimes I think I may not be as careful with a shot today as I was in the past because digital has made it so easy to take more to get the one you need or want. That may not be a bad thing. Last weekend in film speak would have been the equivalent of 25 rolls of film and about $525. I would have done things differently.
The first picture is taken from Wheatfield Rd. towards Little Roundtop. This was the southern most end of the Union line and the high ground overlooking Devils Den. It was the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting on the battleground in the three days (also where two other of Sherylls' relatives fought).
The other picture shows one of the cannon and the amount of snow on the ground. Seems more like Valley Forge than Gettysburg but that's another era and another location.
I hope you enjoy them and our visit to Gettysburg. The next blogs will be on the visitors center and the park and another visiting Sherylls' relatives parts in the battle. Good stuff. And remember, just because the weather isn't the best there are still plenty of images waiting to be had, so remember......
Always go to the light,
Steve