HOW TO:

The Snowflake photos were all taken with a Canon 5D Mark III and the Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x specialized macro lens. I used an empty 20oz pop bottle (round, bad idea) that I left outside so it would get just as cold as the outside temperature (which was around 0-15degrees). Also it is best to do it when it is actually snowing because once they land on other snowflakes they will fuse together. For my backgrounds, (there is one photo below that shows some red construction paper) I experimented with red, green and blue construction paper. Once the 20oz bottle was cold enough I would shake all of the snow off it and just wait for a nice looking snowflake to land on it (be patient, you will be able to see it with the nake eye, just pay attention) and then put it on top of the colored construction paper. I would work just inside a garage so I had hard level ground that I could setup my tripod but would still be cold enough that the snowflake wouldn't melt. And it was damn cold! The lighting I used was from either one or two led flash lights that can focus the light into a small area. In most cases I just shined the flash light on the background rather than the actual snowflake and have it illuminate from below. Looking back, I was using a round pop bottle which was extremely frustrating at times because it kept tilting and any type of wind gust would make it move (but hey this was my first time doing this, this is going to happen). Use something with more stability, like that Fiji water bottle which is square - no rolling around! Or find something that works even better than that. Most shots were taken around f8-f16, iso 200, 1sec - 10 depending on what background I was using. Also lock your mirror up when shooting, any kind of camera shake (especially the mirror popping up and down) will affect the clarity of the image. Use a shutter release and/or a 2 sec timed delay so they camera is as steady as it can be. Good Luck!

Tags: snowflakes, ice