Snow crystal photography

Following Saturday nite's heavy snow fall, Sunday morning offered plenty of opportunities to photograph the usual snowy day subjects, including neighbor's dogs in the snow, snow covered trees and my wife shoveling the driveway. (My excuse was: "But honey I am taking pictures and you look so cute with the shovel in your hand".)

Then I tried something that I had tried once before a long time ago and failed: taking pictures of snow crystals.

I quickly learned that the crystals, being transparent and colorless, are best spotted along the upper edge of a mound of snow and against a dark background. It would be pretty difficult to see them by looking directly at the surface of the snow.


These 2 shots are the best ones out of several I took with my Olympus E-500 with a Zuiko 35 mm macro lens at or near its highest magnification of 1:1. The camera was handheld at 1/250 s (f10 and f13 at ISO 400); a tripod would have been too cumbersome. These crystals were about 2 mm across and quite fragile and ephemeral. As I was focusing on one crystal thru the viewfinder, I saw its top break and blow away before I could photograph it.

The best crystals are probably present while it's snowing. I suppose one could sit outdoors when it's snowing under a tent-like structure to keep the camera dry and bring snow covered objects under the tent for photography. However, under such conditions there may not be enough light for good photography. Next time it snows I will try again.