Snowflake photography

[jimindenver]

I shoot all kinds of photography but macro is my specialty. Last year I saw a book on snowflakes and just had to give it a shot.

Someday I hope to take to the road and shoot flakes from all over. Some of the best in the world fall in the U.P. of my home state Michigan.

 

[rvwandering]

They're beautiful! How many snowflakes did you have to catch to get such perfect ones? I like whatever you did to get the northern lights effect in the background.

 

[jimindenver]

I shot hundreds but I was also developing the techniques and settings. It takes a while when you can only handle shooting for 30 minutes before the sub zero weather gets to be too much. I stayed out too long one time and my shoes froze to the deck.

I use back lite stained glass to shoot the flakes on. These are all on the same piece of iridescent glass that changes appearance as the lighting does. What looks like dust is actually what is in the glass to give it that appearance and takes hours of cloning to remove from each shot.

 

[cyndi]

Beautiful!

And I hate snow, so that's saying a lot.

 

[Luisafernandes]

Very nice! And no two are alike, ever, I know, I checked [emoji56][emoji106]

 

[Gypsysoul]

This is awesome!

 

[GypsySilver]

That is so beautiful!!! It would be cool to do a photo book of flakes from different places

 

[highdesertranger]

I am truly impressed those pics are awesome. mother nature is so amazing. highdesertranger

 

[bigsallysmom]

You are very talented.

 

[jimindenver]

Thank you all, you are very generous.

You can go to you tube and see snowflake shots from those that have done it longer and with better gear. Their work really puts mine to shame.

 

[gypsychic]

Thank you so very much for sharing. I've excitedly shown these to everybody I can think of because they are just so beautiful and marvelous. It's not very often you can see individual snowflakes like that. Or maybe it is and I just wasn't aware of it. I am just so delighted you brought it to my attention.

I know someone who does digital photography (not the same as you) but I have seen them do the editing it takes to make a photo look clean. It seems that it takes so much longer than the actual shots. Also, with digital you can take so many shots so quickly, it seems like it's a lot of time and takes an eye to pick out the 'just right' shot when they are so very close to each other in composition. Thanks for taking the time to make these beautiful photographs.

GypsyChic

 

[jimindenver]

Thank you

 

[light trip]

Great job jimindenver. I was a professional photographer, chief photographer for a publishing company. I've done plenty of macro photography, on everything from 35mm to large format 4x5. Unless you've done it; I don't think most realize how frustrating it can be. I've had people ruin photos just by walking by my setup on the same floor.

Very nice!

 

[jimindenver]

Thank you light trip. That means lot coming from someone that was in the biz. I do work from time to time on request but it sucks the life out the hobby aspect. The same was true for entering contest,and selling prints. In the end I just want to shoot. I did host the Weekly close up on the Oly forum of DPreview for 5 years but that became tedious as often there is little for me to shoot. I do understand getting the shot ruined. I had to start setting a mirror up delay so that I could get away from the camera. I was shivering so bad that even on concrete it was shaking the camera.

Guy, thank you too. I have seen Bentlys work, impressive especially for when it was done. When I did my how too on DP review, another did one using a reversed lens set up. he did pretty good too. A few weeks ago someone put a macro attachment on their smart phone and sent a bunch of snowflake images to the news here, they went gaga over them. So you don't have to have the latest and greatest gear, just the desire to do it. I actually prefer seeing the unique solutions because anyone with cash can just buy gear.

Speaking of gear, after doing it for so long you can imagine I have a few pieces. I've used close up filters, extension tubes, bellows, macro lenses, regular lenses and even one dedicated super macro. That's a rare Olympus 20mm f 2 that can do 16x life. What a lens and what a pain to use, it really has no equal though. I also create my own flash solutions as I find what is available to be too bulky.

This is one of my bug photos. I shoot free hand or with a tripod and they are always alive. I had to get within a inch of this gal.

I also developed a technique for shooting flying insects.

Thanks for looking

---

I meant to say I shoot free hand or use a mono pod. Tripods are to restrictive to shoot moving insects with.

 

[GotSmart]

Very nice! And no two are alike, ever, I know, I checked [emoji56][emoji106]

All of them? :huh::huh:

My favorite view of snow. A picture.

 

[highdesertranger]

again very cool. highdesertranger

 

[light trip]

The first bug photo is as good as any pro-shooter. Many photographers like to use long lenses to shoot insects so not to scare them off, so even more impressive you are so close. You must be a very patient person and photographer.

Yes, working as a photographer is still work. I always wanted to be a photographer, so although it was work, it was work I liked to do. Many, many people wanted to go on some of my shoots but had no idea what they would be getting themselves in for if they could go. Just to shoot the Dallas Cowboys was a 10 to 12 hour day. It may sound like fun, but when you're among the last leave (Texas stadium – back then) and wondering if you have something on you memory card good enough to compete with the other shooters, you start to sweat bullets. Then your publication calls because your up against deadline. Yup, it's work, but good work.

However, if any of you would to try your hand at publication – there's a book for that. It's called the Photographers Market Guide. This book is hundreds of pages of people and companies that want to buy photography. The book provides contact names, publications (magazines, greeting card companies, trade publications an so on), even phone number, prices and what Rights they want. I can also tell you firsthand that some will also want to steal your photography, but that's just part of it. The only way your photography won't be stolen is to never show it to anyone. I got two magazine covers out of this book when I was getting started. That really helped when I started looking for a shooter job.

Here's a link to the book on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/2014-Photographers-Market-Burzlaff-Bostic/dp/1440329427

This is work too,,, a lot of work. For a little money.

The bug really is very good, you can make any pro-shooter jealous.

 

[jimindenver]

Thank you both. I'm blushing.

Light
Thank you for the link. I'm considering doing something with the NEW snowflake photos I shoot this year. I already know most of the stuff I have on line has been ummm used in one way or another. I use to be able to track them and they showed up all over the web. Most of them were used in various photography forums and I know they are farmed for images. The wildlife, floral and landscapes were just to participate. Hosting the macro thread I felt I should set an example and push my gear and myself as far as possible. I also only used Olympus gear so that anyone the looked at my work could buy the same lens and do it themselves. (otherwise I would love to have a canon mp-e65) I also taught my techniques including how to shoot the flakes, there were even a few field trips.

Getting close is the challenge that makes it worth while. My motto is up close and personal, my moniker is the bug whisperer. I also believe that proximity is a factor of detail. so just like a bird shot up close with a short lens better than the long lens, I got a lot more detail using a 35mm macro than a 150mm even though they both offered 1-1. Long lenses are nice for the flyers though.

I'm glad you got to do what you enjoyed for work. I have come close and then I'll take on a wedding or have to deal with a screaming kid as I'm shooting and think "this is what you want to do" lol

Thank you again for the kindness.

 

[light trip]

Wow, just your short post makes me want to respond to so much.

Finding your photography on the web
We used to use the website tineye.com that could locate the same photo out on the web. We would upload our photo, then it would search the web for the same photo. It was very useful when your photo was picked up by the wire services, such as AP (Associated Press). We knew when the AP picked up a photo because it would be posted on the service and you would be paid for the Rights. But you never knew who or what publications where using your photo from AP. We would use the photo finding website to see where your photo was running. We would also use google alerts to see if your “credit” ran somewhere.

I've been published allover the world, including the Washington Post, Miami Herald, New York Times, Science Christian Monitor, an Francisco Canonical, even ABC News. I wouldn't know about half of them if it wasn't for tineye and google alerts

If any of you use tineye and find someone is using your photography I encourage you to contact the source to see if they would like to pay you for the use of your photo and purchase Rights from you.


Olympus
Olympus makes great cameras. We had to buy our own gear, accept for some very expensive pool lenses (300mm f2.8) So I shot with Nikon. But that backpack with two bodies, lenses and two speedlights came in at 60 to 80 pounds. The camera I used for personal use and hiking was four thirds. Olympus E300 and two lenses along with a Lumix LX1 with a Leica lens. Much smaller and easier to carry.

Weddings
At the risk of turning your hobby into a job, could I be so bold to suggest you are already an accomplished macro photographer, so why shoot weddings? I'm done as a photographer, I'm 100 percent disabled and sold or gave away all my pro gear. But I'd like to share an idea I had regarding macro photography.

Macro business
If your in one place (living) you could start an on-line mail order macro photography business. Companies and people could mail you their products (insured if needed) and you shoot them. Send them some small, low resolution proofs to see if the like it. Get paid and mail the products back.

If your boondocking, you could start an “on location” macro photography business. By showing up at the office, warehouse or manufacturing plant you could save clients a lot of money and time that would normally go to a studio,,, if they can even find a photographer in their city that can shoot macro. Let your clients dictate your travel plans,,, and pay you for it. They need rush service or for you to go out of your way?,,, prices just doubled.

DIY macro lighting
Everyone has a cmera now days, lighting is what will set you apart from the crowd. The photos below are macro photography I did using a DIY lighting setup I came up with. I used some audio fiber optic cable I purchased at a big box home improvement store. I cut it into three equal lengths. Took a speedlight (flash) and a speedlight hood and glued a piece of black plastic over the front. Then drilled three holes and inserted the three fiber optic cables. Finally I used locking zip ties on the front and back side of the optic cables so they would stay in place. Be sure not to get any glue on the bottom the flash hood so you can take it off and use your speedlight normally. Now you have three lights (cables) you can use for macro photography. If you want to see where your lights are shinning put a flashlight in the hood, it will also light up the optics cables, then replace the flash when your ready to shoot.

The setup below is on location shooting a Bic Razor, reverse mount Nikkor 50mm f1.8. The other two, a dandelion and an IBM Select typewriter head reverse mount Nikkor 24mm f2.8, where shot in my home. But all used the same fiber optic lighting setup I put together. Photos have been scrubbed clean of all meta data using xnview.


Please excuse any typos and grammar – brain injury. Thanks … sorry for being so long.

 

[jimindenver]

Light

Thank you for your post and generosity. My head has been swimming all night. I have been looking for something as I slowly wind down our 30 year old company.

The thought that someone would send me something in the mail for me to shoot and pay me to feed my macro addiction simply sounds too good to be true. Get paid to travel and shoot, even better. There is more than enough room in the trailer for a dedicated macro studio.

I've always felt guilty that I was not taking portrait classes or buying a better wedding rig. I guess I'd better read up on product shooting.

I will be spending some time on tineye. Big thank you there.

I like the fiber optic set up. I'm known for the Foam ring flash. Basically a FL 20 fired into a small foam ring at the tip of the lens. It's the only thing that can provide frontal illumination with the 35mm's short working distance. I was in talks with Oly to convert the concept to fiber optic driven by the pop up flash but eventually they went with a LED on a stalk for the m4/3's line up. (yes that is how close I get to bugs to shoot)

I do like the even lighting of your set up.

A E 300 really? I still have a E 300, and a 330, a E 3 and E 5. I started with Oly back in the 80's with a OM-G and will put it's OM 50mm f 1.8 on the 300 for some old school manual shooting. Very relaxing. My lenses range from 7mm to 1000mm, they are a blast. I try to keep my travel pack down to 25 lbs.

Again, thank you so much.

So for a bit of fun. These are test shots, not brilliant but fun.

This is a Spinx moth. Notice the size of the eye.

I saved it for winter shooting but it dried up and fell apart so I shot just the eye. Notice the size of the lenses in the eye.

Then I got bored and decided to shoot the lenses. I don't have a proper stand so I did the best I could at this magnification.

These are the scales on its wing.

Hope I'm not boring you all. Thanks for looking.