I needed a break from staring at my computer, chugging away at work, so I went downstairs (work-from-home day) and saw some really nice light in the backyard. I got 20 kinds of excited, grabbed my camera and 105mm micro lens,  threw on my snowboarding coat and snowpants, gave the wife a kiss, and said that I was off to play in the snow for a bit.

I surveyed my “studio”. There were small leaves embedded in the snow and they were casting really interesting shadows.  Photographing in the snow is difficult due to the brightness. It is hard to keep detail in the really white areas without making the snow look grey. I decided on my plan of attack. Even though my eye was drawn to a few leaves in the middle of the yard, I knew that if I wanted to preserve a pristine, untouched background, that I needed to have some patience and work my way toward them, photographing everything else that I wanted to along the way.

I didn’t hesitate for a second to plop right down on my side and start composing shots. The snow was cold, don’t get me wrong, but that was the angle I wanted. I was looking to be at ground level with my subjects and catch all of their tiny details.

The fun/frustrating thing about macro lenses is the absolutely tiny depth of focus. Even at a small aperture (f/11 and up) you still get a sliver of what is in focus when you’re that close to your subject.  It is also hard to give a proper sense of scale with objects that vary in size. I thought of this and snapped a quick “thumb for scale” on one of my tiniest models.

I worked my way across the yard and found myself laying on my stomach to get the angles that I wanted. I was very happy to catch the long shadows coming off of the tiny subjects.

The individual granules of snow sparkled in the sunlight.

I’m sure that my neighbors have come to terms with the fact that I’m an odd fellow. Just 2 weeks ago, I carried a ladder out into the snow covered back yard, leaned it against a tree, and came back to climb it, camera in hand. I needed to get a higher perspective for the shot I had in mind.  This time it probably went, “There he is again, Missy. He’s just laying in the snow, taking pictures of leaves.”

I’m fine with it. I was sure to give them one of my calendars as a holiday gift. Perhaps that will alleviate some concerns for my mental state.