How to take good-looking photos of snowflakes?

You can't find two identical snowflakes. They are unique and beautiful. This is a great challenge for photographers. This paper introduces the skills of snowflake photography, so that you can easily master snowflake photography!

1. What equipment do you need to shoot snowflakes?

Snowflake photography is macro photography, so you need to adjust the settings and choose the equipment accordingly. To shoot snowflakes, you need a device that can capture images with magnification higher than 1: 1. 1: 1

This ratio means that the size of your object on the camera sensor is the same as that in real life, which allows you to take amazing photos of very small objects.

2. What settings do you need for snowflake photos?

If your camera has manual mode, it is recommended that you use manual mode, which can completely control your exposure. There are no fixed setting parameters, so we must try to set and adjust each other.

3. Why shoot in RAW format?

Shooting RAW here is very important, because it can keep more details, and you can crop the image or adjust the white balance at will without losing the details and image quality.

4. How to set the aperture?

Because snowflakes are very small, a shallow depth of field is needed to separate them from the background. Set the aperture to f/5.6 and f/ 1 1.

Suddenly you don't have to use the lens with the largest aperture. If you want to focus the whole subject, an excessive aperture will blur a part.

5. How to set ISO?

Macro photography should keep ISO as low as possible. In this way, noise and particles that may lead to quality loss can be avoided. Start with the smallest ISO value, such as ISO 100 or

200。 Because snowflakes don't move like animals, you can keep ISO at a low level and choose a longer shutter speed. This depends largely on the lighting conditions, so you should always check the appearance of the image. If you find the image is too dark, please adjust the ISO.

6. How to set the shutter speed?

Shutter speed depends on available light, aperture and ISO. A tripod can help you, and if you have a slow shutter operation, you can also eliminate camera shake.

7. Why should snowflake photography focus manually?

Macro photographers usually use manual focusing because it is difficult for cameras to focus on such tiny objects. In addition, the macro filter will interfere with autofocus, making it more difficult to focus. So stick to manual focusing, focus on what you want, move the camera to find the perfect point, and try to make most crystals look sharp.

8. Why do you want to try focus superposition?

When you want a shallow depth of field and your whole snowflake is clearly in focus, you can try focusing superposition. This method combines several photos with the same theme but different focus. You need a tripod to take all the images from exactly the same angle. This may be difficult because snowflakes tend to melt quickly, but if the situation is right, you can try it. In addition, Photoshop can be used to help photographers in this process.

9. How to set the lighting?

Of course, when shooting snowflakes outdoors, you can use natural light to operate. In sunny weather, sometimes nothing is needed except the existing ambient light. But if you feel that the light is not enough, or you want to change the light, you can use a ring flash. The circular flash illuminates all parts of the snowflake evenly, making it crystal clear. In addition, if the ring is located in front of the camera lens, it will not block the snowflake.

10, how to choose the background?

The background can be anywhere where it snows, and the dark background is the best, because they are in good contrast with snowflakes and become more obvious. Photographers use their gloves, scarves or coats to catch ice crystals falling on them. Be sure to choose something that is not too hot. If the snowflake melts into water droplets at once, you obviously can't photograph it. You can shoot snowflakes through the window (if it is on the glass), so you can have different scenes as the background. When the ground is not completely covered with snow, it can also be used as a dark background. If the crystal in the focus is more prominent, the snow scene is still great.

1 1. What should I consider when shooting snowflakes?

Because snowflakes will melt or freeze together quickly, it is best to shoot during snowfall. The newly fallen snow crystal is the most beautiful when it is intact. Not only do you have to prepare the technical aspects of snowflake images, you will work at low temperature, wear appropriate clothes and keep warm. Another thing to remember is that at low temperature, the battery will run out faster, so don't take only one. When you take pictures near snowflakes, your body temperature and breathing can melt snowflakes, so pay attention to your breathing style and try not to inhale hot air into snowflakes to prevent them from melting.