Always Elegant

In our current season, we often have days that are sufficiently overcast to diffuse the Sun’s light to the point that there are no strong shadows or glare from any direction.  When the world appears lit without preference for direction, even ordinary sights can be abstracted into novelties.

In my video production class I used to teach about 3-point lighting.  The key light provided the strongest illumination.  The back light separated the subject from the background.  The fill light reduced the contrast in the shadows created by the other lights.  On such days as we have had, lately, it looks as though the whole outdoors is illuminated with immense equal-strength softbox lights.  Without the usual continuous change in the directions of sunlight and shadow, the days have a timeless quality and magic hour lighting can be enjoyed without haste.

Another interesting visual effect seen on such days is that colors are muted.  The hoarfrost covers the trees and any objects with enough texture for ice crystals to adhere to their surfaces.  Surface colors are desaturated by the frost layer.  The snow cover acts as a reflector of the light from the sky, which makes the day brighter than it would be, otherwise.  In such conditions, the green and brown of the spruce trees turns to near-black and the off-white of the birch bark blends with the white of the snow.

Today’s image shows some of the chokecherries remaining on the tree in my yard.  My attention was captured by the observsation that some of them bristle with spikes of hoarfrost and others have little caps of snow.  Unfortunately, capturing translucent white frost and snow on dark chokecherries against a gray, black, and white background was a considerable challenge for my camera.  If it had been warmer than -24F, I might have lingered longer to experiment with different settings, but the cold air was draining the batteries and my motivation.

Nestor Almendros, the cinematographer, once said “Black and white is like a tuxedo: always elegant.”  I agree.  Through their restrained use of color, the chokecherries look quite elegant in their frosty drapings.