COUNTERPOINT Magazine | Grassroots 101

February 2008
Volume 31/Issue 5

So, What's Your Other Major?
Double majors aren't just for overachievers.
Wellesley In the Winter
Stop scowling at the snow and grab your camera.
Grassroots 101
Young voters are taking a stand to make a difference.
A Match Made in...?
Click and tell with TheMatchup.net.
"It's Okay Pluto, I'm Not a Planet Either"
You can't change the history of the universe without a fight.
Agenda
Events at MIT, Wellesley, and in the Boston area for February.
A Letter to the Editor

Wellesley In the Winter

{by minying tan wc '08}

A path near Observatory Hill

Apart from anything else you could say about it, Wellesley is beautiful ("An Adamless Eden," according to a 1997 book). Sightseers flock to the campus in autumn, but stay away when the temperature drops below 50°F.

They're missing out. The winter brings a dramatic change to the college's landscape, and once-a-year photo opportunities are--quite literally--everywhere. Here are some basic tips for making the most of those photo opps.

Four places to go
- Severance Green. The site of Commencement in summer, and a huge white field in winter. Check out the sledders who swarm to Severance Hill after a fresh dump of snow.
- Lake Waban. Especially stunning after a blizzard.
- Whitin Observatory. You get an elevated view of the arboretum from the top of the hill, and the cream-colored domes of the observatory are interesting against a snowy background.
- Tower Court. The Gothic architecture of Wellesley's oldest residence hall looks extra forbidding in the winter.

Severance Green
Technical issues
- Adjust for snow. Most cameras will automatically underexpose a snow scene, resulting in a dingy picture. The whiteness of snow fools the meter into thinking that a scene is more illuminated than it really is. Use your camera's special snow or sand setting if there is one. Otherwise, try overexposing by a stop or two. To do that, you could change the aperture or shutter settings directly. Another (often quicker) way is to use the "exposure value compensation" function (abbreviated as EV on the controls), which will fix the aperture or shutter settings for you. Overexposing by two stops translates to a +2.0 EV setting.
- Remember that low temperatures shorten battery life. If you're going to be shooting for a while, consider bringing a spare battery for your camera. Put the extra battery in an inner pocket so that it's warmed by your body.
- Guard against moisture. When you go back inside after a long spell outdoors, the sudden temperature change could cause condensation to form on the lens--or worse, inside the body of your camera. Ideally, you should bring your camera indoors inside a padded bag (or failing that, a plastic bag), and wait for the camera to warm up before taking it out.

Lake Waban
Photo composition 101
- Cut the clutter. Think about the elements you want to include in a picture. Simplify--leave out anything that would distract from the main point. Getting closer to your subject frequently helps.
- Try going off-center. You should resist the urge to always put a subject dead front and center. When plotting the position of elements, the rule of thirds can come in useful. Imagine a regular grid of lines--three horizontal and three vertical--dividing up the frame into nine equal blocks. Experiment with placing elements along these lines or at the points where the lines meet. Using this method seems calculating, but it really works.
- Go low or high. Pictures can appear more dynamic when they're not taken from eye-level. Simply shooting from a crouched position, or from a camera raised above your head (pros call this particular move a "Hail Mary"), can make a big difference.

Minying Tan WC '08 (mtan[at]wellesley[dot]edu) spends too much time in Photoshop.

February 2008Volume 31/Issue 5

Wellesley In the Winter

{by minying tan wc '08}

February 2008
Volume 31/Issue 5