I have a dilemma.

I don't like the cold but I love taking winter photos.

But you know, I'm ok being a lazy photographer in the winter.

Not all the time (I do go outside!) but when it's too cold, I 100% embrace and condone this:

taking photos through windows.

Now, this is not what I would recommend if your goal is to take the sharpest, clearest, highest quality photo.

But when the goal is just to have fun, be creative and to experiment, shot-through-window photos are great!

Here's how to become the best laziest winter photographer ever.

5 Tips For Successful Shot-Through-Window Photos

1. Take photos during the brightest part of the day. The brighter it is, the less work it is for your camera to expose an image. The darker it is outside, the longer it takes for the camera to absorb the light, resulting in blurry photos (especially if your car is moving).

You can still take night photos through your car window, but wait until the car is stopped and you can rest your camera on a solid surface. Otherwise, you get too much movement blur (typical of night photos). Here's what movement blur looks like:

2. Careful to not zoom in too much if the subject is close. When zoomed in 2x or 4x or 8x, the viewing area of your frame becomes smaller and more constrained. If the car is moving fast, your subject will only be inside your viewing frame for a short period of time. It's easy to miss the shot.

Example here of a missed shot:

I was trying to catch photos of snowmobilers on the side of the highway. I zoomed in too much and missed part of this shot - just when it would have been at the perfect moment of this pop wheelie!

Instead do this:

Stay zoomed out to give your camera a better chance of catching the action within the frame.

3. Colour correct for tinted car windows. Glass can be tinted a certain colour, and it can affect your photo. I noticed that my car window has a yellow-green hue to it. Especially when I take photos of snow, the colours come out off. To correct this, I use the Temperature and Tint sliders in Lightroom Mobile to correct the hue. I add a bit more blue and a lot more magenta to fix it.

4. Play with the frost on your window. Winter is cold, but it also comes with some gorgeous details you can use in photos. One of my favourites is frost on a window.

Instead of focusing on the subject beyond the window, focus on the frost on the window and use the blurry background (such as twinkling lights) to create an abstract photo.

5. Don't overthink it. The beautiful thing about iPhone photography is this:

it's easy

it's quick

it's always on you.

It's not about taking the perfect shot, it's about taking lots of photos all the time with the purpose of experimenting, becoming more creative and discovering new ways of capturing photos.

This is how you become a better photographer.

There's no way I'd always bring my big, heavy Nikon camera every time I was sitting as a passenger in our car going places.

But my iPhone's always on me. So I get many opportunities to have mini "photo shoots".

And sometimes the simplest moments can turn into the most beautiful photos.

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Hi I'm Gabrielle. I run a full time photography business in Winnipeg, specializing in portrait and commercial photography. This newsletter started with my passion for helping everyday people realize their full photography potential. With a bit of technical and creative help, you too can take better photos with the phone camera you already have.

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Gabrielle Touchette Photography

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