Photographing Falling bits of Nature

[guitar_j]

I was wondering if anyone has any tips on capturing pictures of small

objects falling such as snow flakes or leaves?

 

I've got an idea for a series of photos I'd love to do but I am a bit

unsure of technique. I was thinking of manual focus with a macro

lens, then just moving myself closer/futher from the subject to

focus, using a high speed film, the photos will be in daylight so I

don't think flash would be necessary.

 

thanks

-Josh

[joey]

It depends on how fast the stuff is falling, and what focal length you are using. For snowflakes with a 50mm lens, you are going to need a minimum of 1/500th, but ideally 1/1000th or faster. With leaves, you might be able to get away with something slower. If you are using a macro lens, then you are definitely going to need some serious shutter speed to freeze these falling objects (panning might help here). Backlighting will help emphasize the shape and texture of the snowflakes/leaves, which is something to keep in mind.

 

Flash will freeze the action, but it will not give even illumination. Snowflakes 2 feet away will be significantly brighter than snowflakes 10 feet away. But if you're only photographing objects a few feet away (i.e., with a macro lens), then flash is definitely a good option (either off-camera or on a bracket).

[frank uhlig]

Dear J and J,

 

the first thing to decide is what the picture should look like. ?? Streaks of leaves and snow, probably longer ones of those falling objects near the lens and almost sharp ones further away. OR snowflakes and leaves fixed in air, frozen in their motion; Or anything in between.

 

To decide between these, is a matter of shutter speed, with the "fixed in midair" pictures definitely needing flash at small distances i.e., high angular velocities, and the "moving ones" needing a tripod and some experimentation with shutter spedd for the observed rate of fall. Film is not that expensive, so give it a few shots, take notes and take care of the snow flakes becoming liquid and entering your lens and camera, too!

[xato]

I waited patiently under aspen trees for lots of leaves to fall and probably got 40-50 in each photo. But I used too high of a shutter speed and it looked just like a bad job of photoshopping with the dupe tool to paste leaves into the sky. So I guess a slower speed is in order.

[guitar_j]

Thanks for the responses, I'm also practicing with bubbles and bees... both like to change direction alot.. I don't know what i'm going to use for flash... I might have to invest in a good macro flash.. I do most of my work in macro.. but I typically only use natural light.. however I would like some of these photos to be in late evening as the sun sets casting a nice warm orange over the horizon and I'm still unaware of a good lighting technique to make it look natural but freeze the objects in their motion.. and it is very likely I will do the snowflakes at night... (rarely snows here in the day) but I sorta want the uneven lighting... I don't know.. I'll have to do some experiementing... film is cheap... too bad good developing isn't :-/