Any tips or tricks you can give me for using a macro lens to take pictures of snowflakes? I haven't seen any discussions on here. What background do you use? I tried felt but there is quite a bit of texture.
I just got my macro and I find it very difficult to get the whole subject in focus and very clear.
Me too jenn. Just got one myself and its a bit if a learning curve. What I found so far is manual focus it best, if you have good light raise the f stop up to get larger focus area, tripod helps and remote shutter also. Think this should work on snow flakes
@nyresolution It helps to have space between the object and background with macro. This will allow the inherent shallow DOF of macro lens to be used with better results.
This will not help you but we had one snowfall this year and I froze my tail off trying to get this to work - FAIL
Actually only a partial fail, I sort of got one to work and all that did was encourage me to head back in the freezing cold for another round. I got some fuzzy ones I think I really needed the tripod. I'll try again if it ever snows.
I learnt on a macro course recently that the f-stop is the most common mistake taking macro photos with a macro lens. the smallest fstop number i now use with my macro lens is 9 and more often than not I use 11 or 13. you may then have to add a light source such as an off camera flash but you will get much better results.
@brav yes it is quite a learning curve! I was getting quite frustrated using the tripod as I was finding that the snowflakes were melting lol and trying to refocus. I will give it another shot! LIterally :) Thanks
I just have a Canon point and shoot, and I took snowflake pictures a few weeks ago. I wasn't sure that I would be able to get the individual ones with such detail, but it worked really well.
Here is the best one I took:
For the background, I just put out a piece of black construction paper. I let it sit out in the snow for a while so that it would be cold and the flakes wouldn't melt. I also used a knit hat. That didn't work as well, but it could have just been chance.
I found that it was best to only get a fairly small layer of flakes on the paper; if there was a thick layer, it was impossible to find individual flakes to photograph.
Here is a link to my shot (link ), so that you can see all the other information you may need (since I don't know what a lot of it means lol!)
@emjay8 Thanks for that Mel. I just got my extension tubes today so I will use that tip when trying them out. Was not feeling inspired to use them the minute they arrived (so not like me). Fingers crossed tomorrow will be a better day....if I dont go over the border and into New York state instead :)
Thanks everyone. I tried a few times today but I need a better fabric I think. @lyno what did you use for the snowflakes? I also don't have lightroom or photoshop to soften up the background. Turns out I don't think the snowflakes were defined enough by the time I got things mostly figured out. Lol. So I will try again another day...one that the baby sleeps a little longer so I'm not so rushed. @emjay8 That's a really great tip as well! Thank you!
@aponi Don't give up! I had epic fails today. I may post it anyways so I can see an improvement next time...and that I have no other photo from today lol.
@nyresolution I used my Canon 100mm macro lens on a tripod, manual with the black velvet spread out on the picnic table on our deck. It gets REALLY cold, but I love doing these shots!
@lyno Thanks Lyn. That is helpful! I wasn't well prepared for this today as I had the kids home and I was trying to work around naps....next time! I will post my "fails" because even if they aren't perfect...I learned a few things!!
@nyresolution i have tried all winter with very little success. I do understand from other people's photos that is needs to be really cold out, 20 degrees so the flakes keep their shapes. and if you have the black cloth already outside it is the same temp as the air outside, keeps them from melting so quick.
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And more info here: http://365project.org/search/discussions?q=snowflakes
Actually only a partial fail, I sort of got one to work and all that did was encourage me to head back in the freezing cold for another round. I got some fuzzy ones I think I really needed the tripod. I'll try again if it ever snows.
Here is the best one I took:
For the background, I just put out a piece of black construction paper. I let it sit out in the snow for a while so that it would be cold and the flakes wouldn't melt. I also used a knit hat. That didn't work as well, but it could have just been chance.
I found that it was best to only get a fairly small layer of flakes on the paper; if there was a thick layer, it was impossible to find individual flakes to photograph.
Here is a link to my shot (link ), so that you can see all the other information you may need (since I don't know what a lot of it means lol!)
http://365project.org/nyresolution/365/2013-02-20