After posting my snowflake shots from yesterday, it has come to my attention that many people were curious as to how I was able to capture them. I thought I would help out anyone who is interested in giving it a go with a few tips. I would also love to see your snowflake pictures as I am new to this as well.
I used an AF-S micro Nikon ~ Nikkor 60mm 1:2.G ED lense on my Nikon D3100 and set it to the macro setting. For the collage, it just took a lot of time on my belly in the yard with a black nylon Columbia ski coat for the flakes to land on. Make sure you allow the coat to come to the ambient temp. so the flakes do not melt when they land on it. I found nylon to work best as it has a smooth surface with little or no fuzz. This allowed me to just blow the flakes off of the coat when ever I wanted a clean canvas of new flakes to work with. I think the biggest tip is it has to be COLD, that way the flakes hold their shape that is formed at high elevation and retain their shape even when they land. When I first started it was 14 degrees out several hours later it was only up to 20 degrees. There was also NO wind. I think all the stars were aligned and all the conditions were jsut right. Once I was done laying in the yard on my belly, (which is how I got all the shots for the SNOWFLAKE COLLAGE), I just made a quick trip around my yard to some tall grasses and pine trees and that is how I got lucky enough to find PERFECTION & A SOFT PLACE TO LAND. I wish all of you who are contemplating capturing snowflakes the best of luck in your efforts and please tag me with your outcome.
PERFECTION
A SOFT PLACE TO LAND
SNOWFLAKE COLLAGE
SNOWFLAKE HEAVEN
This is how my coat would look inbetween me blowing it off for the next shot.
@scrivna can you tell my why on this collage the date is saying Jan 1 2013 for creation? I took all 9 pics on 1/12/2013 and also created and posted on 1/12/2013. Is this a glitch in picmonkey?
@chackmann Thanks so much, Cricket. Can't wait to see what you capture. I think The fact that each snowflake is unique is so cool and can't wait to see all the other shapes and sizes that will be posted here!
@shirljess I made a collage in Picmonkey today and the date was also showing as Jan 1 2013. I changed it to todays date (the actual date I shot them).
Its snowing outside tonight so I'll be crawling around outside in the morning looking for flakes!
@juliehill This may be a dumb question, but how do you do that in the exif info???? i took the pics, created the collage and posted all on Jan 12 2013, butin the exif file it says my collage was created on Jan. 1 2013. I think picmonkey automatically set that exif info, but is there a way to change that?
I almost took pics of our pellet snow the other day. Maybe next time.LOL I sure would LIKE to get some pretty flakes. Yours are amazing! Have you ever heard of Snowflake Bentley? Aiden really liked a book about him when she was little.
Well Snowflake Bentley was a real person!LOL I don't remember the kids book that we got from the library about him. Google his name. I think he would have loved this website!LOL
@m9f9l Amazing what one learns on this crazy site.. I never had heard of him. Thx so much for telling me...for anyone else interested in learning about Snowflake Bentley here is a link.. very interesting!
@kiwichick
I went back out this afternoon as we are having the same conditions here.. one more tip to add and it looks like you did it, but i did discover that shooting directly over top instead of at an angle worked best.
Can't wait for some snow to give it a try. Love your snowflake photo's, like Carrie said, especially the first one, it's so beautiful. And thank you for sharing the info, I was wondering how people got those gorgeous shots!
@shirljess THes are so awesome! I know it is a word that has been overworked on this site but I can't think of a better one to describe how amazing these shots are!
One from this year and one from last. Reverse macro (flip your lens around backwards). I can't help wonder how awesome these would be if I had a macro lens!!
Oh....found another one! I was looking through the 'snowflake' tags trying to find this....and there's some awesome ones out there that people need to be showing off!
thanks for the fab topic. I thought I would have to wait a while to try this but woke up this morning to a fine dusting so nipped out quick (with coat over dressing gown - good job the neighbours couldn't see!!!!) before it turned to rain
I couldn't isolate one snowflake but quite like the stack of them here
We have no snow and forecast does not call for any..:( I was in the mountains New Years weekend and it snowed the whole time but my SD card was home in my hard drive. can you hear me crying??
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Its snowing outside tonight so I'll be crawling around outside in the morning looking for flakes!
I went back out this afternoon as we are having the same conditions here.. one more tip to add and it looks like you did it, but i did discover that shooting directly over top instead of at an angle worked best.
Here is mine but it pales in comparison to all of yours :)
I couldn't isolate one snowflake but quite like the stack of them here
My very first attempt!
here's today's selection