How to take snow melt shots
As I mentioned yesterday, we received a rare snow shower here outside of Seattle this weekend. Driving back at night an seeing the snow on the trees, I was excited. Perhaps if the temperatures dropped that night and I woke up early I could get more shots of the snow melting? It’s funny how photography makes you think in a different manner than before. Sure enough, my wish was granted and I woke up early in the morning to get some drop shots. While taking the shots, I thought it may be helpful to give the tips that I have learned so far photographing these drops.
These type of drop shots are not easy to take, but with the right equipment and a lot of patience you can get the hang of it. Besides the obvious requirement of snow and sunshine (to melt the snow), you need a macro lens and some lighting equipment. I currently use the MP-E 65 for all of my macro shots, but I shoot these shots at 1x. Therefore you can use any macro lens with at least 1x magnification to get these type of shots – so a 180L or 100mm will work just as well. The most important element, however, is to have good lighting. Generally you will not be able to get these types of shots with ambient light, as you will need to increase your shutter speed and use a relatively high f-stop. I currently use the MT-24EX, which works very well here. However I do have to diffuse the flash heads and I usually set it at slightly lower output so as to not blow out the drops too much. You may also be able to use an off camera 580EX to do this – though as I understand some remote triggers have problems when working at short distances.
The first step is to find an ideal piece of snow that is letting off drops. This usually occurs off of a bush or shrub and that is where I usually look. In my yard, I have the best luck getting dew drops off the huge Japanese maples we have in our front yard. Particularly important in finding a good location is finding somewhere that you can stay still for long period at a time. This means that you need to either sit on the ground or on a chair. It is very important to be relaxed because you’re going to be there for awhile. For the shoot that included the shot above, I stayed there for two and a half hours and took around 250 frames. Of these 250 frames, I kept 26 of them.
Finding the ideal piece of snow is a challenge, as it should have the following properties.
- Fluidity – the best location is one where drops are occurring from the same point frequently. This is how I took my first falling drop shot – I was lucky enough to find a place where drops were occurring every second or two. However on this day I was not so lucky.
- Predictability – I’m sure someone familiar with fluid dynamics could explain this more precisely, but you need to have some idea when the drop will fall. For instance, the following structure, though pretty, makes for a poor spot to wait for drops to fall. The problem with an icicle like this is a drop could fall at any moment without warning.
3. Background – In order for the shot to be interesting you must pay attention to what is behind the drop when it falls. I poor background will ruin the shot. Take this shot for instance. Though I successfully caught the drop falling, the background makes it very difficult to see the drop, making the photo much less interesting.
As I mentioned before, lighting is extremely important with these types of shots. I use the twin headed MT-24EX, which works quite well, but I still have problems with the flash heads blowing out parts of the drop. In the future, I think I may try bouncing the light off of something rather than hitting the drop directly with the diffused heads of the MT-24EX. For instance, the shot at the top of this post suffers from a blown out section, though it is possible I may be able to fix it in Photoshop. The following shot, in my opinion, suffers much less.
Of course, the main issue in this shot is the drop is a bit out of focus, unlike the first shot where the focus is good. Still, it is a good idea to check the results of your lighting on the failed shots and make adjustments. You will again have to make adjustments when you change your angle.
In terms of getting the shutter exactly right when the drop falls, this is a case of practice makes perfect. The first time I tried this, I took 200 frames and caught two drops falling. This time I took 250 frames and caught 13 drops falling. The golden rule, though is if you see the drop falling you are already too late. The trick is to anticipate just when the drop is falling and hit the shutter right then. Here is an example of a shot where I got it a tiny bit too early.
Then again, here’s a shot where I got it a touch too late.
The main trick though, is to focus on the same exact spot. As you learn how the drops form on this particular piece of ice, you will get much better at predicting when a drop will fall. In terms of technical ways to improve this, you can try taking multiple shots at the moment when the drop is falling. I had some success doing this, but it’s hard to say whether I was more successful doing that or more successful taking single shots relying on prediction. Note that in order for this to work you need a flash with a very quick recycle time. To speed up the recycle time of the MT-24EX I use the CP-E3 battery pack.
The other element, of course, is a lot of patience and aversion to cold. The next time I try this I will likely get a pair of thin gloves as my hands were freezing from touching the metal L bracket attached to the camera. As you sit still for several hours, it can get quite chilly. Still, in the end I think the shots are worth it.
One new thing I tried with these shots is putting a tulip behind the drop to get a more interesting reflection. Nelya doesn’t like these shots very much, though I find them nice. I would be curious about your opinions – do you like the shots with the tulip or my original shot better?
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Tags: advice, dew drop, falling, macro, photography
I like the first and second photo in this series, even if there is no drop in the second one. On the other hand, have you tried to put the tulip closer in order to get more magnification in the drop?
I would have to think that the snow melts faster there than it does here! Love these photos and this was very interesting!