Snowflakes

[jlbasse]

I would like to capture some of those big, slow-falling snowflakes but I'm not sure how to compose the shot so that the focus is on the snowflakes in the foreground rather than whatever is in the background.
If anyone is familiar with this kind of shot, please share! I'm still a beginner, but have been reading about manual composition. So, I'll try my best to understand the technical stuff.
Thanks!

[jiminyClickit]

jlbasse, Welcome

With flash:



Without flash:

[jlbasse]

Thanks for those examples, Jiminy.
Have you ever taken any snowflake shots when it's light out? I did get a few shots with some dark siding in the background, but I couldn't get the snowflakes in focus with snow-covered trees in the background. Is that possible, or do you have to have a stronger color contrast in the background to pick them up in the shot?

[bigfrank]

Originally Posted by jlbasse

I would like to capture some of those big, slow-falling snowflakes but I'm not sure how to compose the shot so that the focus is on the snowflakes in the foreground rather than whatever is in the background.
If anyone is familiar with this kind of shot, please share! I'm still a beginner, but have been reading about manual composition. So, I'll try my best to understand the technical stuff.
Thanks!

I am certainly no expert, but I will throw my $0.02 in...

First thing is that the snowflakes will be at different distances from the camera. So I would try Aperture priority mode and set a fairly small aperture. This would give you the best depth of field. Then, since the flakes are moving, I would set the ISO a bit higher, maybe 400 or even 800 so you will be able to get a bit more exposure with the small aperture. Use a tripod if you have one so you don't get camera shake and see how it comes out. If the small aperture forces the camera to have a slow shutter speed, then you may have to bump up the ISO a bit more.

Play around with these settings and see what happens.

On edit, if you don't mind having some of the flakes out of focus, then you could just use Shutter priority and bump the shutter speed up and that will take care of the shot for you.

[jiminyClickit]

jbasse,

When you find the settings that work well with your camera, and a background which has enough darkness to have flakes really contrast against it, I would think experimenting with off-camera flash, several feet off to either side, would allow you flexibility in catching individual flakes, without too much light hitting that background, and freezing motion.

Interested in Macro snowflakes? FocalFrenzy has a good thread here:

http://digital-photography-school.co...6&postcount=60