My macro pictures - Snow Crystals

1of1snowflake · Feb 15, 2018

I have always been enamored with snowflakes. From an early age, when I was 8, I loved snow. I grew up on the Oregon coast where snow was rare. Then in 1989 we received a massive snowstorm that dropped 20 inches of snow in North Bend. The town was frozen in that there were no plows - we had to wait for plows to come from the mountains to dig us all out.

Form then on, my obsession with snow began. It wasn't until 2006 that I really became interested in the individual snow crystal. One day while checking on my koi pond, I came across a loan snow crystal that was on the black rod iron fence that surrounded the pond. I was fascinated, and took a quick picture with my Sony DSC-828.

Every once in a while I would take a picture with that camera or another, but I wasn't getting the detail I wanted. I was able to get some background into the shots which was fun, as we had some nice soft evergreen shrubs I could take pictures of snow on,

I realized that this wouldn't quite do, as I wanted to see the interior structure better. So I purchased an olloclip for my iphone in 2012, and began to take better pictures. Here's an example of what I was taking with an olloclip and my Iphone:

1of1snowflake · Feb 15, 2018

As I upgraded Iphones, I would upgrade my Olloclips. I ended up getting some pretty great results over time. I could print out 4x4 pictures with them looking pretty great, but definitely no larger than that. Also, the resolution seemed to be lacking still, but I was happy for a few years. Here are some more examples of last year's olloclip photos.

1of1snowflake · Feb 15, 2018

2 years ago, I became entranced by a Russian photographer's snow crystal pictures. He was an internet sensation as his pictures were so crisp and clear. I was sure that he was taking them with some $20,000 camera setup. I began saving his pictures every time I saw them to my phone. His work was just incredible.

Unbelievable Close-Up Photos Of Snowflakes Reveal A Side Of Winter You've Never Seen | HuffPost

Last summer I decided to really research how to take good pictures. I found that Alexey had a website where he specifically told how he took these pictures. He took them with a cheap Canon A650 powershot from the mid 2000s, a 12 MP camera that just had a nice lens and he had learned how to make the most of it. He mounted it to a wooden board and then mounted an old Russian lens backwards in front of it. This created a macro lens ability and this is how he took these pictures.

I happened to have the same Russian lens from a group of lenses my dad had given me, so....I decided to try it out. I found the same camera he had and constructed my own setup. It did work, but it was summer so all I could do was take pictures of ants and paper and various other things. The thing was, I could already tell that the setup would make for splendid pictures but I wasn't convinced they could print nicely at over 4" size due to the size of the file once the snowflake was cropped.

1of1snowflake · Feb 15, 2018

A friend at work provided me with a Panasonic ZS100 and I constructed a setup that I thought would work.

I wanted to take the pictures on glass rather than on fabric as I liked the way those looked better. Alexey does both, but I wanted to focus on the glass look. So this is my initial setup. We received a small snowfall in December, and I was able to capture my first snowflake with it.

I was mindblown (even though now I am not a fan of the picture). I couldn't believe the detail I was able to capture! In the three months since this picture, I have decided on different lighting which has really helped capture the look I am going for.

SquarePeg · Feb 15, 2018

Interesting evolution and some great pics that illustrate the every snowflake is different truth. One note though, if the photos in that 3rd post Do not belong to you, you need to remove them. You can post a link to someone else’s work but you cannot post somebody else’s work in this form. Thank you for your cooperation.

1of1snowflake · Feb 15, 2018

SquarePeg said:
Interesting evolution and some great pics that illustrate the every snowflake is different truth. One note though, if the photos in that 3rd post Do not belong to you, you need to remove them. You can post a link to someone else’s work but you cannot post somebody else’s work in this form. Thank you for your cooperation.

fixed the post! Thanks for letting me know!

1of1snowflake · Feb 15, 2018

alright, so since fixing my lighting problem, here are some of the pictures I have been getting. We have had a horrible winter with little snow here in central Illinois, so my opportunities have been minimal. This was the first go-round, a week after my first picture. The snow almost appears metallic due to the lighting. A co-worker thought it looked like melted lead or mercury...

I then was able to get a blueish-purple background to show up with this one....again, I had so few opportunities early on, I was just excited to get something....