With the colder months fast upon us, there’s a whole winter wonderland waiting to be photographed—and you often don’t even need to leave your own area to do it. Photographer Sandra Nykerk spends much of her winter season frequenting the thermal pools of Yellowstone with camera in hand, but if you can’t get to a national park, there are plenty of photographic opportunities you can find locally.

One of the biggest mistakes Nykerk sees overly ambitious photographers make when heading into the land of ice and snow is packing too much equipment. “If it’s really cold, you’re going to be challenged just keeping yourself and your equipment functional,” she says. “You need to be selective in what you’re bringing along. I’d recommend just taking a lens like the Tamron 18-270mm VC and a macro lens—or, if you know you’ll be shooting wildlife, perhaps a longer lens along with the 18-270.”

Before you venture outdoors, the most important thing is to winterize both you and your gear, according to Nykerk. “If you’re not warm, it doesn’t matter whether your equipment is working or not, because you won’t be able to function,” she says. “Some of the images I’ve shot were when it was between zero degrees and 20 below! At those temperatures, your first priority has to be you, since you can get frostbite so quickly.”

Hands and feet are the first order of business. “The hands are really hard because you need to be able to move your fingers to manipulate the controls on the camera,” says Nykerk. “One trick is to wear a lightweight glove under a mitten—when you take the mitten off, you can move your fingers if the glove is lightweight. Or you can find mittens with partial fingers built in, although those expose your fingertips to the cold when you pull off the mitten part. Nothing will drive you indoors faster than not being to use your hands to control the camera or get filters on and off.”

For both your hands and feet, Nykerk recommends the chemical warmers used by outdoor enthusiasts (“I know photographers who buy them by the box”). Wearing a hat or hood to retain body heat is also critical. But if you have a face mask or scarf on, it can be easy for your camera to get fogged from the warmth of your breath. “Try not to breathe on your camera through your scarf if you’ve got it wrapped around your nose and throat,” she says. “Just that little bit of temperature differential can cause condensation on your camera and freeze, and you won’t be able to see.”

The same goes if you need to wear glasses during your winter trek. “This especially happens to me shooting in Yellowstone because I’m walking in and out of the steam, which condenses and freezes on anything cold,” says Nykerk. “This can be hazardous, especially if you’re walking on tricky trails in the middle of the thermal basins. You can buy antifog wipes for your glasses (and your lenses) to help combat this: They don’t work 100 percent of the time, but they certainly help.”

In addition to lip balm, sunglasses, and sunscreen (“you can get sunburned on a bright winter’s day”), Nykerk suggests Yaktrax, a traction accessory that clamp onto your boots like studs on tires. “They have steel coils on the bottom, so they dig into the snow and ice,” she explains. “If you’re doing a lot of walking or hiking on snow-packed trails while you’re photographing, these can be invaluable.”

Now that you’re sufficiently suited up, it’s time to make sure your equipment can go the distance. “First, extreme cold can drain your camera battery in less than 30 minutes,” says Nykerk. “So I always keep another battery in my inside coat pocket with one of those chemical hand warmers. You don’t even need the hand warmers, though; you can just keep two or three batteries in your pocket, and as the battery in the camera gets cold, you just change them out. The other thing I do if I’m out for long periods of time and walking long distances is put the camera inside my coat so that it has a little bit of body warmth.”

Make sure that you take care of certain issues before you head outside. “Anything that’s going to need high manual dexterity you need to do beforehand,” says Nykerk. “For instance, if it’s tricky to put a cable release on your camera and you don’t have a wireless remote, then put that on before you go out and your hands get cold.”

Once you’re outside, make sure you know where all of your items are and that they’re accessible. “Load up your pockets with necessities—you want to know where your lens cloths, tissues and extra memory cards are so you can reach them without having to stop and take off your backpack and gloves,” says Nykerk.

Protecting your camera can be challenging, but fortunately, says Nykerk, many of the newer cameras are weather- and moisture-sealed. “For an extra layer of protection to keep the snow off of my camera, I’ll use everything from a specially designed plastic overcoat for rain and dust, to a shower cap from my hotel room,” she says. “My favorite protection is a plastic grocery bag: One of my friend’s personal favorite pictures of me is in a blizzard with a grocery bag over my camera! If it’s really snowing hard, you can cut a hole in the corner of the bag. Then just put the lens hood on so the hood protects the lens, and the plastic bag so that it protects the rest of the camera.”

Insulating your tripod is advisable for comfort and safety reasons. “Take your tripod to the local hardware store, buy PVC pipe insulation that’s the same size as your tripod legs, and duct-tape it around them,” Nykerk says. “First of all, this cushions the tripod when you’re carrying it over your shoulder. It also protects your hands from the cold. If you’re carrying that metal tripod in your hands, your hands can get cold really fast.”

To create compelling images, Nykerk advises that you, first and foremost, “look for the light.” “Especially with wide expanses of snow, as a creative photographer, your goal is to look for something that takes the image out of the ordinary and into the realm of the extraordinary— and that’s almost always going to be the light. This special light can be because of the time of day, light coming through the trees, late-afternoon shadows, the light of a clearing storm; in Yellowstone, it can be the light reacting with the steam and the thermal areas. A striking image of backlit frost-covered grasses becomes just another image of grass and snow if you remove the late afternoon light.”

Exposing for snow is one of the most difficult and critical exposures you’ll encounter as a photographer, according to Nykerk. “The meter in your camera is designed to make everything 18 percent gray, so if you take a straight meter reading that just measures the light on the snow, it’s going to underexpose the image,” she explains. “So you, as a thinking photographer, have to decide how much you’re going to compensate for that—you’re going to have to give it additional exposure from what the camera meterman is telling you.”

How much you’ll have to compensate will depend on the light—usually anywhere from half a stop to 2-1/2 stops. “If you use a polarizer, it will often be 2-1/2 stops,” says Nykerk. “The polarizer will remove glare reflecting from the snow or from water surfaces. It’s also going to intensify the blue of the sky; sometimes too much so. Be judicious. Using a polarizer, though, will cost you in terms of aperture or shutter speed; it will definitely increase the exposure time.

Nykerk advises relying on your histogram to make sure everything’s spot-on. “You can check out the histogram in the field to determine if you’re in the ballpark of the correct exposure,” she says. “You want to make sure your histogram isn’t centered in the middle of the graph but that it is somewhat to the right so you have some tonal information in the brighter tones of the image. However, if it’s a low-contrast image, you probably don’t want to move it too much. This would also be a really good time to bracket.”

An underexposed shot with color-balancing issues may also show snow with a trademark blue tinge—but that’s a “flaw” you may want to keep in your photo. “With post-processing, you get to decide if you like that blue color,” says Nykerk. “Because we do think of snow as being blue in the cool color tones. In my shot of the backlit grasses, I left the snow somewhat blue on purpose because it was in shadow—but the grasses themselves I made as white as possible because they were in direct light.”

If you’re shooting JPEGs, you’ll have to pay attention to your white balance if you want to avoid color issues such as blue-tinted snow. If you’re shooting in RAW, however, you can adjust the color balance to your liking when you bring it into your processing program. “Without exception, I shoot in RAW format —it allows me the most flexibility in post-processing,” says Nykerk.

The great swaths of white you may find in your backyard or local park can quickly become boring if you don’t set your shots up right. “In terms of composition, the same rules that apply all year also apply in the winter,” says Nykerk. “However, realize that you’re going to be shooting mainly monochromatic scenes, so you can’t rely on color to add drama to the image: Instead, you have to rely on the juxtaposition of the lines and forms of the elements, on the grand scene, and on the light itself.”

If you can inject color into your winter wonderland scenes, it can boost your monochromatic memories. “One of the best ways to do that is to put your kid in a red jacket and send him out into the middle of a snowy backyard or field, or have him climb onto a red sled—anything to put a touch of color in there,” says Nykerk. “It’s a great time to ask your family members to dress in colorful clothes to add drama to your image.”

In the natural world, finding such colors to liven up the drabness of winter can be difficult. But incorporating wildlife into your shots, whether it’s a coyote in a national park or a squirrel hanging out on your snow-covered deck, can add a more animated dimension to what could otherwise be a static landscape. “Wildlife can be very approachable in places like Yellowstone—which is also an issue,” says Nykerk. “They’re extremely stressed in the middle of the winter because their nutrition is so challenged. So as a naturalist, as well as a nature photographer, this is the time of year to be the most ethically responsible you can be and place the welfare of the wildlife first. If you cause them to move, you can cause them to use calories that are incredibly important to their survival. This is where long lenses are especially important.”

Nykerk recommends using your car as a great blind if you’re driving around a local preserve or even a national park. “In the winter in Yellowstone, I can often shoot right out of the car,” she says. “I use a beanbag on the window. Some photographers use window mounts, but I find they’re too restrictive. For me, the beanbag works great with a longer lens. It’s a great way to shoot wildlife without disturbing them.”

Looking for the abstract in local winter landscapes is a great way to create beautiful images without having to venture far. “I’m constantly looking for patterns and rhythms and the way things come together in a graphic representation,” says Nykerk. “I’m often not photographing the subject as much as I’m photographing the light, the lines, and the rhythm of the way they’re arranged.”

Shooting icicles, for example, is one way to capture the icy etherealness of the winter season. “They’re actually easy to do,” says Nykerk. “They’re usually hanging down right at eye level—you can handhold at f/8 or f/11 and shoot them with one of the Tamron VC lenses. A little bit of backlight is terrific—it adds to the translucency. Shooting icicles against a vibrant blue sky makes for a very dramatic composition.”

Nykerk recommends heading to bodies of water to cull some abstract imagery. “If you can, get down to the edge of streams or rivers that are frozen along the edges— the patterns along the edges can be both incredibly seductive and very productive,” she says. “You have all of these lovely lines, especially if you get ice formations or leaves frozen into the ice. However, you have to be careful and use common sense at this time of year: It’s not fun to be wet while you’re out shooting, and it can quickly become dangerous in cold temperatures.”

Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you can’t break out one of your macro lenses as well—and subjects can be found right outside your back door. “This is the time to get out your macro lenses and look for snow crystals, for example,” says Nykerk. “There are all kinds of patterns in the ice: Look for the lines and designs and, again, the light. Sometimes you can even find rainbow reflections and colors in the ice.” If you’re experiencing low and flat light, don’t forget about fill flash or reflectors. Just a small amount of additional light can add a dimension and depth that makes a huge difference. But remember that less is more.

Wildlife in your backyard during the winter can result in a whole new series of image ideas. ”If you have a birdfeeder and get a fresh snow, one of the things you may get are wing prints in the snow,” she explains. “You can shoot those wing patterns, or even bird tracks—they all make beautiful images.”

When you’ve completed your winter pictorial, be cognizant of subjecting your camera to climate shock. “Don’t go from being in a really cold place to a really warm place without protecting your camera—when that warm air hits the camera, you’ll get condensation inside and outside the camera,” Nykerk says. “I put my camera in a Ziploc bag, grocery bag, or even garbage bag before I go into a warm place and let the camera slowly warm up in the hotel room or wherever I’m at. Also remember that if you’re getting in and out of the car, you don’t want to set the camera on the front seat with the heater blowing right on it.”

Once you’re back indoors, you can even continue shooting from the comfort of your living room. “If you’re lucky enough to live in a house that isn’t insulated with double-pane windows, you may be able to shoot gorgeous frost patterns on the windows in your house during really cold temperatures,” she says. “The older the window and the more scratched the glass, the better the patterns will be. If you get a spectacular cold day with a bright blue sky, you can photograph those beautiful frost patterns against the dramatic sky right through your window—and you don’t even have to worry about cold hands or leaving your cup of cocoa behind! ”

For more of Sandra’s images, go to www.sandranykerk.com.