Blacksand Snowscapes

Dec 30, 2025 | Landscapes | 0 comments

iPhone 13 | 5.1mm | 1/168s | f/1.6 | ISO 40

“Blacksand Snowscapes” refers to striking natural scenes, especially in Iceland and Yellowstone, featuring dark volcanic sand contrasting with white snow.

While out for a sunset walking near my home in Didsbury, Alberta, I came across this area that was “Blacksand Snowscapes” with top soil dirt mixed with snow that was created by strong winds and cold temperatures.

I only had my iPhone 13 with me so I composed a few images and thought I need to come back with my DSLR camera tomorrow, since the light that day was fading quickly.

iPhone 13 | 1.54mm | 1/99s | f/2.4 | ISO 64

iPhone 13 | 5.1mm | 1/216s | f/1.6 | ISO 40

Sadly, the iPhone photos offered the best looking conditions, as the temperature had been -20C and was just warmed up to +5C. The temperature remain above zero and by the time I got there the next day, the scene had melted and lost the detail of the patterns.

A bit sadden that the structure of the dirt and snow was not as defined as the day before, but the landscape still held a sense of awe. So I paused and looked at the landscape. Well to start off, might as well take a similar photo of the favour from yesterday.

Nikon D810 | 70mm | 1/50s | f/8 | ISO 64

Nikon D810 | 14mm | 1/125s | f/11 | ISO 320

I noticed the shrubs and berries really contrasted the black dirt and snow, so the next few compositions are the play with that. (click images to enlarge)

[1.] 70mm | 1/50s | f/8 | ISO 250
[2.] 70mm | 1/60s | f/11 | ISO 250
[3.] 200mm | 1/100s | f/11 | ISO 320
[4.] 70mm | 1/15s | f/8 | ISO 64
[5.] 19mm | 1/125s | f/11 | ISO 320
[6.] 24mm | 1/80s | f/11 | ISO 320

This area looked like black lava flow that had flowed and came to a stop.

Nikon D810 | 70mm | 1/30s | f/8 | ISO 64

I then focused in on the flows and the patterns and noticed that the miniature landscape looked like large grandeur landscapes. Since depth of field is small with these, I had to use multiple photos and then did focus stacking to make the image sharp from front to back.

Nikon D810 | 150mm | 1/30s | f/9 | ISO 64 | Focus Stacked

Nikon D810 | 170mm | 1/20s | f/9 | ISO 64 | Focus Stacked

Nikon D810 | 70mm | 1/15s | f/11 | ISO 64 | Focus Stacked

Next series are focusing on the patterns and the play between dark and light. Click image to enlarge and see the details.

Noticing the line patterns, I decided to try a slow shutter with a sideway motivement during taking the photo to blur everything. Pushing the processing created this unique image. And with that last one out of character, I’ll end this posting.

Also the last post of 2025, so Happy New Year! Let’s hope for more photography outings next year. This past year kinda fell flat midway through. Of the photos I did get, there are a few nice ones that I really like. So was a good year.