How To Capture Winter Content (And Not Freeze)

Winter can prove difficult even when your job doesn’t involve regularly getting up from your desk, heading outside, and exploring until inspiration strikes. For most of us, such expedition isn’t an issue, but for your social media content creators, it’s basically everything. During the winter months (especially in less hospitable climes), one’s ability to create social media content can be restricted, to say the least. There are, however, a few effective alternatives to freezing one’s cheeks off that will still result in top-notch content sure to stop your audiences in their feeds. 

Windows & Light 

When what lies beyond your office is too cold, dry, grey or otherwise terrible to venture out into, your largest window may just be your saving grace. Utilizing the naturally diffused light coming in through a window in your office, with or without the supplement of some modest studio lighting, can kick your photography up several degrees from what you’d get under the eerie glow of fluorescent bulbs. Designating a space for your content producers near a large window is a great start to capturing beautiful social media content with very low risk of hypothermia or frostbite.

Vinyl Backdrops 

Now that your warm, cozy, indoor studio is set up, you’ll need to do something to make it not look like a spare desk in an office pushed up against a window overlooking a parking lot. How on earth could you pull of such an illusory feat? Two words: vinyl backdrops. Available in virtually every imaginable surface, texture, color, or style, these backdrops are an inexpensive and portable way to transform your studio into almost anywhere. Shoot on a sunny picnic table in January, a sunbaked cobble stone path in February, and a warmly lit granite countertop, all in the comfort of your office studio.

Head Home 

Just as every social media content creator worth his or her salt knows, you’ve got to get up out of your desk to make the good stuff. And sometimes, you’ve got to get up and out of your office altogether. When that’s not possible, however, due to inclement weather, never forget that home can be a pre-decorated, natural set just waiting to be utilized. While it may not be right for every brand or individual piece of content, home can be a very useful resource when the rest of the outdoor world is inaccessible.

Employ Stock 

When all else fails, turning to stock photography or stock video footage should not be considered a defeat. Not all stock is created equal, and while some is absolutely heinous, some is actually quite viable. It all comes down to knowing where and how to look. Adobe Stock is hit or miss, but that means that, in its very nature, it sometimes hits. Having a refined eye for the more natural, less hyper-produced images, and not merely jumping on the first image that vaguely depicts what you’re after, is key to finding the proverbial needle in the haystack. Other stock photography sites like Unsplash offer a different style or caliber of photography that might be exactly what you need. Stock photography and video footage can be useful on their own, but can also be manipulated or embellished to produce unique content that will stun your audience (in a good way). Whether it’s collage, cinemagraph, or any number of other possible techniques, you can harvest great content from humble beginnings.

So, in short, the cold winter months are no excuse for slacking on your social media content creation. As we’ve just demonstrated, there are a number of ways to continue creating brilliant content that don’t require artic grade outerwear. It’s all a matter of what’s called for, of course, but now that you know there’s no stopping you, get out (or, rather, stay in) and create!