Snowy Waubesa

Settings
This snowy timelapse was taken with a f8 aperture / 200 iso / 1/4" exposure / 12" interval / custom WB in Lightroom / Hoya ND 64x (6 stops) / RAW format / Sigma 10-20mm lens set to 16mm

Technique
Sunday was on my radar all week when I saw we were expecting 4-6 inches.  On top of that my friend offered his backyard which includes the beautiful now frozen Lake Waubesa, thanks Teezus.  Any snow we had received prior to Sunday had melted so I wanted to capture the snow covering the green grass.  As I was setting everything up it became very obvious I was going to have a much harder time than I expected.  When most gets covered in snow everything becomes white and without much contrast it is hard to see anything actually happen such as snow piling up.  In addition I didnt bring the bag I wanted to use to cover my camera from the elements so I needed to shoot from inside the house to keep my camera from getting soaked with snow.  By restricting myself to the indoors I was eliminating the possibility of getting the camera close to the ground or a railing which would have made the accumulation effect much easier to see.  After playing with the ISO settings, various ND filters and shutter speeds I was beginning to feel defeated and essentially picked what I felt was "best" and just let it run.

Have you ever found yourself at a football game, in a bar, or at a friends house when someone says something witty to you?  If you're like me at all I generally reply back with something lame then minutes later the best comeback line pops in my head but I've already missed my opportunity.  That is what this timelapse felt like.  Since I wasn't able to get setup as soon as I had wanted to I missed starting with bare ground.  If I had used my head at all I would have thought to shoveled part of the deck so the timelapse would have had a good starting spot.  Many of these ideas popped into my head after it was too late.  Good thing it is winter and Wisconsin's weather will hopefully provide me with another opportunity to redeem myself.

Thoughts and What's Next?
I'm very disappointed with this timelapse and unfortunately feel that it is my worst thus far.  I far underestimated how little excitement an all white snowy scene would be and feel embarrassed to post it, but it's all part of the journey!  If it weren't for the stray ice fishermen everyone would be mistaking this for a still picture.  Looking at some cinematic timelapses online of snow accumulations I realized my biggest flaw was the focal point of my camera.  When I'm trying to see something as little as 4-6 inches of snow accumulating the further away I get the harder it is to see the growth.  A way to fix this is to get close to a railing or right on the ground where 4-6 inches may take up a larger portion of the screen.

I blame the lack of preparation, rookie mistakes, and bad decisions on Ric Flair, the newly married Hautala's, and the suit pants that I split at the wedding Woooo!  I know, excuses, excuses, excuses.  The truth is I've begun to learn that the issue isn't what I know, it is my inability to assess the scene fast enough before it changes.  I can only hope this will get better with time as I become confident with my decisions and refrain from all of the second guessing.

While I was ringing bells Monday night for the Salvation Army I was inspired to try to capture a timelapse with a Christmas theme!  Capturing the buzz of the mall or Santa with an endless line of kids should provide a much more interesting timelapse.  I'm sorry this week was so boring, and I promise to bring something with energy next Tuesday.  Thanks for reading, I greatly value your loyalty!

Still balding but not bald,
-Kyle