A SnowFlake Macro Montage

[bvar22]

These are from last week.
I used a Canon C-750UZ 4MP set on "SuperMacro" and the "Snowflake Catcher"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=280x11906

I am still waiting for The Perfect Snow to produce the Perfect Snowflakes.
We may not get it this year.

[Immad2]

1. Nice, very nice!

[priller]

2. Cool!

Fascinating.

[CC]

3. This is very cool.

Almost looks like glass crystals in a window. Though careful, some of us are getting jealous of your snow flake pictures, but not enough to want snow.

[F.Gordon]

4. Me likey

Question? These seem to have a metallic look to them. Which I like... was this sumtin' you did or are my eyes having a 30 year flashback?
:hippie:

[bvar22]

8. I'm playing with "cross polarized lighting".

Several of the shots were taken using a polarized light source (bottom lit), and a linear polarized filter set at 90 degrees (more or less) between the snowflake and the camera. The top right pic, and the 3rd from the top right side were polarized. I am uncertain of the others because the "experiment" dissolved into a solo Keystone Kops comedy with too many variables to manage at 2AM with a single digit wind chill. The LCD display on my camera didn't show a difference, so I gave up tracking which photos used the cross polarized lighting.

It was only after downloading my camera that I was able to see the difference. I like this effect, but expected it to be more pronounced based on some polarized snowflake pictures I saw on the web.

I am tuning the apparatus to make it more user friendly, but may not have the opportunity to take anymore snowflake pictures this season in St Paul.

I am also experimenting with cross polarized lighting on some other objects that don't melt so quickly under Hi-Intensity lights (beads and crystals), and will post some of them in the next couple of days.

Cheers!

[F.Gordon]

10. Just when I finally figured out how to remove the lens cap

:dunce:

CROSS POLARIZATION: Crossed polarizing filters can be used to reveal information of most transparent materials. Materials that display optical activity and appear light or colored at some orientation within a polarized field are called anisotropic. Through crossed polarizers these anisotropic materials will appear luminous, and usually appear colored, against a black background. The color is controlled by the degree of material befringence and thickness. Other transparent materials will exhibit no optical activity when acted upon by polarized light and remain dark between the polarizers regardless of their orientation within the field. Materials that do not exhibit optical activity in a polarized field and remain dark are termed isotropic. The benefit of placing a transparent material between crossed polarizers is to offer high visual contrast from an otherwise colorless transparent material.

Soooo... if I understand this correctly.... you wash the object with light behind and across... across.... roughly parallel to the surface of the object? How do you keep the "behind" light from blowing the light out in the camera? Or... does the "across" light have to be a certain level higher than the "behind" light so it eats up this light? Heavy stuff.
:crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[alkaline9]

5. Excellent!

These are about as perfect as I could hope to see snowflakes photographed with a 4mp camera! Your snowflake catcher works wonders! I have a feeling if there is another macro photography contest, there will be more than one snowflake entry... we'll just have to make it in the summer (but then I suppose it'll be flower photos? :shrug:)... lol

[bvar22]

6. OOPS!

I re-read the post this afternoon, and noticed a rather large error.
The camera used is an Olympus C-750, NOT a Canon. (I DO have Canon on my mind:))
Thanks for all the kind words. They are appreciated.

[intheflow]

7. Is that a self-portait?

Of your legs in the bumper? LOL!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the snowflake shot! I'm totally asking Santa for a super maro lens next Christmas.

[superconnected]

9. These are beautiful.

I'm glad I checked in on this group today.