Snow + Bokeh = Snokeh!

Calder’s Flamingo in Chicago’s Federal Plaza. Photo by Linda Horton

I’ve been waiting for a sufficiently snowy day to try out this fun photography technique, and yesterday I finally had my chance!

A big snowstorm was predicted for Chicago, and I was eager to get out there first thing in the morning.

I packed up my Nikon D800, 28–70mm 2.8 lens, and Flashpoint flash.

My first location was the Art Institute, where I planned on photographing the lion sculptures in front.

The key is to use a flash on camera to illuminate the snowflakes, while using a shallow depth-of-field so the flakes are blurred out as possible, AKA bokeh.

Lion sculpture in front of the Art Institute of Chicago. Photo by Linda Horton

I simply used the flash on TTL, with the camera set at 1/250th at 2.8, ISO 100. My lens was at 40mm here. I processed the RAW files in Lightroom.

On the left is the color version of the above. On the right is a similar image, where the flash did not go off.

Moving on to Millennium Park…

Cloud Gate AKA “The Bean”, in Chicago’s Millennium Park. Photo by Linda Horton