Fresh February Frost

[Tom Robbins]

Observations and comments on recent frost photographs were very welcome and provided some ideas to ponder. An attempt at another frost photo several days ago got me thinking about a new approach.

http://www.pbase.com/salty_one/image/73869141.jpg

Canon 180mm macro and 5D at minimum focusing distance.

The oof background sort of...blah. This might be a good thing. Perhaps more importantly, the frost itself has very limited color - mostly black and white. Moving the shooting position brought in some blue sky and gold foliage colors, but at that point the window pane and subject weren't parallel with the sensor plane.

I cannot change where the windows are, and I also cannot change the background. But, I can provide an artificial light source to bring in some color. Maybe some of those little Christmas tree lights. Can anyone provide some other ideas?

Thanks,

[Sean DeMerchant]

Observations and comments on recent frost photographs were very welcome and provided some ideas to ponder. An attempt at another frost photo several days ago got me thinking about a new approach.



Canon 180mm macro and 5D at minimum focusing distance.

The oof background sort of...blah. This might be a good thing. Perhaps more importantly, the frost itself has very limited color - mostly black and white. Moving the shooting position brought in some blue sky and gold foliage colors, but at that point the window pane and subject weren't parallel with the sensor plane.

I cannot change where the windows are, and I also cannot change the background.

Hit a thrift store, an estate sale, a clearance at the local store and get your own windows in frames and leave them out in the cold. Then you can shift the window about and play with background colors. Craft the image you envision.

a thought,

Sean

[Sean DeMerchant]

I think the crystals themselves have a beautiful structure. Ignoring the background I am not fond of the look of the image. It is But a nice wide light source would really help with controlling contrast. Soft light with good detail from shadow to highlight would be nice.

This would also be a fun subject to shooting using a polarizing film over the flash (they* sell sheets one can tape to a softbox) and a linear and circular polarizer on the lens (circular closer to the lens) and perhaps get lots of detail.

Backlighting could be a lot of fun too.

enjoy your day,

Sean

* I know who they are too. But I will have to find the catalog.

[Tom Robbins]

Sean, thank you very much.

[Tom Robbins]

Sean, did you ever find the catalog?

[Sean DeMerchant]

Hi Tom,

Their website is http://www.edmundoptics.com/ (international page).

Search the catalog for polarizing film and you will get results like: (Stateside pages)

http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=2102&search=1 $24.30 for a sheet

http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=1912&search=1 $17 for a smaller sheet

Just be aware of color shifts. Albeit, white balancing off a grey card with these over the flash should solve any minor shifts.

enjoy,

Sean

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Just be aware of color shifts. Albeit, white balancing off a grey card with these over the flash should solve any minor shifts.

My experience, although with another brand of pola-film, on the Speedlight 550EX is that the film can bleach instantly into a nasty uneven yellowish color. Successive flashes will bleach the film further. Maybe different brands, or sandwiched between glass, will resist the heat and light intensity better.

Bart

[Tom Robbins]

Hi Sean, Fantastic! Thank you.