Snowflakes

For the past couple of weeks, I've been heading out to start and scrape my car so it could defrost in time for me to get to my early-morning class. Every morning, I've noticed the ice crystals on the windows, and told myself to get a macro shot. And every morning, I've decided against it because I was too cold and/or tired and/or late.

This morning, there was just a SLIGHT dusting of snow all over my windows and hood. It wasn't the normal frost, but it still looked cool. I turned on my headlights, which reflected off the garage door and back onto the snowflakes. Since I was already going to be late, I figured I might as well bite the bullet. And aside from that, the snowflakes looked great, even with the naked eye. I knew I wouldn't have a chance like this again anytime soon.

I went inside, put on my macro lens, and attached my gorilla pod. Then back outside, I put up the tripod on my hood, got all my exposure settings in order, and was preparing to push the shutter release, when... dead batteries. Mother Nature has a cruel sense of irony. I went back inside, switched out my batteries, and repeated those last steps. When I work with macro and a gorilla pod, I set the timer to wait 8 seconds (to allow for the gorilla pod to stop shaking), and shoot 3 exposures, in case something gets bumped, a gust of wind comes up, etc.

This entire episode took place in 1.3 degrees Fahrenheit. The shutter speed was 8 seconds, since I refused to compromise on ISO. Each shot took another 8 seconds to process. So all in all, about a minute of standing around, waiting for timers and exposures, in the 1.3 degree Utah morning at 6:30.




click to enlarge, or see it on Flickr


Turns out, sometimes it's worth the extra effort (give or take a few frostbitten fingers).