We had a roller coaster of winter weather here in Delaware during the first week of 2014. The examples below show the difference between amateur and professional work and that even with weather extremes, high quality professional exterior photography is available year round.
The snow started falling on Thursday evening and we had about six inches fall overnight. I made the top photo using my pro-sumer Nikon D-40. I am leaning against a light post to minimize the vibration of the relatively long exposure on Program mode. I would consider this typical of amateur night photography. There are no added lights, the color balance is off, the shadows are too deep and the highlights are blown out. Snow shots can look great but they are limited to seasonal uses.
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| Candid style nite view January 3rd |
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| Professional twilight view January 6th |
In one day, it warmed from 25 to about 40 degrees and rained all day, removing all traces of snow. The skies cleared as the temperatures dropped again, allowing us to make this night shot for Nobles Pond in Dover.
We added landscape lighting, greened up the grass and made the final photograph from several exposures to keep shadows and highlights under control.
Our builder and architect customers complete their projects year round regardless of the weather. our job is to make their project look pristine in time for their marketing and award entry needs.