Photography

typically i try to shy away from the bokeh-centric pictures but i was walking through the woods this morning after fresh snow and thought the effect may add some mystery when viewed in b&w conversion. i welcome your opinions.

and it doesn't look like central Minneapolis ; )

Since you asked...  I like the use of portrait orientation in this particular photo... it seems that your point of focus is the near tree (camera left), while (being a bit of a traditionalist shooter) I might have focused on the central tree, which is darker and seems to draw the eye in this photograph.  The B&W conversion is good, and the depth of field and out of focus rendering is very acceptable, particularly with the snow and small bushes.

I have disabled the focus-on-half press shutter and programmed the AF-ON button to focus (with a single central focus point).  You get use to that set-up very quickly... center on your selected focus point, press AF-ON, recompose, and press the shutter.

I see you are using a Canon 5D III with 36mm lens (must be a zoom?) at 1/160 second, f4, and ISO100.  My experience is that the 5D series (I use a Mark II) is prone to in-focus fall off... what's in focus is sharp, but it's much less forgiving than a crop sensor (e.g. 30D).  The 5DIII is a very nice camera.  I tend to shoot my 5DII at f5.6 depending on the lens.

The exposure and framing are good...

Not much snow on the ground for this time of year.... lovely photo.

Casey

thank you for feedback -- with regards to central focus i've actually been going out of my way to focus somewhat off-center, departing from tradition i guess there's certainly a pitfall with that when too much blank space is created in the picture and that could be a concern with this one for sure.
you know, i've never tried your trick with ad-on, but i'll certainly consider it, to be purely honest i feel like the 5d has way too many settings for me -- i meter and focus on center but still the viewfinder glows with all 30+ focus points and i don't even know how to turn it off. i remember when i had my first nikon n80 it had maybe 5 focus points and it was really neat because you can pre-focus and then use the joystick button to actually move which focusing sensor you wanted to use, i'm sure it's probably possible wight he 5d but as i said i'm afraid of getting bugged down in all the camera techniques as opposed to just going out and shooting pictures in that sense i appreciate the x100 much more.
btw, the lens is 17-40, probably my most favorite lens for a [d]slr that i've ever had, perfect for walking around and scenery/architecture and even peoples photos (i'm not too much of a zoom-birding shooter). and the picture is taken in WI, about 50mi south of duluth, about 3 inches of snow here, makes for a very pretty scenery.
merry christmas

What ever works for the photographer... is definitely the way to go.  I think I use only a very small per cent of the available settings.  With the 5DIII there are something like 61 focus points and you have six ways to configure the autofocus ; )

The neat trick about using AF-ON / half-press disabled is that you pick your focus target and recompose (keeping the distance fixed).  The 5DIII allows you to set one specific focus point --or-- a group of focus points, or use all 61 points...

The 17-40 is a good range... if I am traveling with one lens, many times it's a 35mm... but I also like the 28mm / 50mm combination.

Funny that the photo was taken in WI... after his retirement, my dad raised sheep south of La Crosse, WI

Scanned from prints that were made in c. 1977...

Casey

It's interesting that, thought your photo is in B&W, but I can almost sense some green or brown shades.

Not one single snowflake here
so I appreciate it for Xmas atmosphere

Best
Damjan

Sorry i can't add much but i do feel like i am standing in your shoes and seeing what you see. Great picture.

Bill

I do feel frozen.