photographing winter frost

see also:

• http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-06-23/the-secrets-of-capturing-perfect-winter-frost-photos/9896128

• photographing frost around sunrise can create beautiful imagery but it is not for the faint-hearted afraid of the cold!

• pre-plan your shoot locations if possible
  • do some location scouting with a backlit sunrise in mind to find the best places to set up when it does become frosty
• check to see if frost is forecast
  • this usually requires:
    • a clear night sky with reasonable humidity levels and no clouds or wind
    • inland away from the moderating affects of the coast to allow sub-zero temperatures
• check to see if there actually is a frost:
  • if you have farmer friends nearby, perhaps agree to call them when they wake up at 4am
• ensure you have enough warm gear on and coffee to go:
  • fingerless gloves plus full thin gloves which still allow camera operation
  • 3 or 4 layers of jackets and long sleeve thermal top
  • long john thermal pants under trousers and waterproof pants (consider extra protection of knees if you are going to get down low)
  • perhaps 2 or 3 pairs of socks
  • waterproof boots
  • beanie, scarf
  • torch if you are going to set up well before sunrise
• ensure your sensor is clean
  • if you want to get lovely sun-star effects of sunrise, this requires smaller apertures (preferably with a lens with an odd number of diaphragm blades) which will show up all your sensor dust spots in the blue sky