Capture Snowflakes With Photography

Capture Snowflakes with Photography

Snowflakes are amazingly beautiful, fleeting creations of nature.

It is actually very easy and fun to capture snowflakes in photographs so that you can see their intricate details and save their beauty to enjoy long after they have melted.

There is that old adage that no two snowflakes are alike. But based on the googolplexes of flakes nature creates I find it hard to believe that no two are alike. Now you can set out to photograph two identical snowflakes and prove the world wrong. There would probably be some type of award for such a proof -- well probably not, but maybe your 15 minutes of fame.

Good Luck!

The key to taking photographs of snowflakes is to have a COLD background for them to land on.

This can be virtually any cold surface that has good contrast, meaning dark surface, compared to a snowflake.

Anything brought outside from inside will need to cool down to outside temperatures so that the snowflakes don't melt on contact. Clothing can even work after having been outside for awhile.

I used black foam core sheet, automobile fenders and mirrors, a snow shovel, dark clothing and you can even see snowflakes that have landed on snow if the conditions and lighting are right.

And, of course you need snow. Good snowflake snow. Sometimes it just 'rains' odd ice 'chunks' or pellets -- no real snowflakes. And sometimes you can have great individual, nicely formed snowflakes. It's just up to mother nature.

Take a cold object and insert into snowfall.... Scan the snowflakes that have been collected and use the macro (closeup) setting on your camera or smartphone to take some photographs.

Often it is necessary to zoom in with the camera in order to get the greatest detail in the image.

Just some examples of the snowflakes that I was lucky enough to take photos of. Most of these photos were taken with an iPhone 12 mini so you don't need any special camera or set up.

Enjoy having fun out in the snow.