“How do you photograph snowflakes?’ I hear that a lot. It’s not as complicated as you may think, I think.
First, not every snowstorm produces nice flakes to photograph. The temperature and other conditions have to be just right or else the flakes won’t have their nice symmetrical shape . For me a temperature around 10 t0 15 degrees Fahrenheit works well. At that temperature the flakes don’t melt too fast and I don’t freeze too fast and have to quit.
It takes quite a while to get the camera gear assembled and ready to roll. I use a household power adapter to power my camera. My flashes are battery powered so I end up changing batteries frequently. All of my equipment has to go outside to cool down for about 30 minute before I can start photographing.
I don’t sift through snow banks for good flakes, I collect them as they fall on a black piece of paper. When I see a good one I’ll use a feather to gently push or lift it onto a piece of glass. The glass and flake are then place below the camera which is oriented like a microscope.
My gear consists of an slr camera, flashes, macro focusing rail, cable release,and high magnification macro lenses. If you decide to try this I would highly recommend a camera with live view for very precise focusing.
The snowstorms that I’ve experienced this year have not produced good flakes. I’m anxious for a good storm since I just bought a rather rare old macro lens that I hope will produce good results. To date this is my favorite snowflake photo.
Dan
