Day 335: Expirimental Photo

This photo came about rather unexpectedly. The result I found interesting and pleasing from an aesthetic viewpoint. I have often thought I would like to get a macro photography set up for photographing individual snow flakes. Not exactly an easy task. Snow flakes are tiny and melt quickly. Anyhow, I was outdoors at the wood pile, the Sun was shining and it was cold. Probably no more than 5 degrees. It had been snowing. When it snows in such low temperatures the individual flakes hold their shapes and pile up in light, fluffy mounds. The conditions were right so I was able to see individual flakes of snow. That set me to thinking about how to photograph them. I certainly do not have a macro lens that is up to the task.

One of the old techniques for macro photography was the use of a reversing ring. This device is a lens mounting ring that is threaded on one side so you can screw it onto the front of the lens, the same way a lens filter is attached. This allows you to mount the lens backwards onto the camera. It becomes a macro lens. Todays digital cameras would lose much of their functionality with such a ring. Well, I don't have a reversing ring. What I do have is an old 28mm Minolta lens that I often look through backwards to view minute objects. I hold it up to my eye like a loupe. Anyhow, I just wondered if it would work by simply holding the front of that lens against the front of the lens on my Nikon D300. I did this simply out of curiosity, not as any serious endeavor. Trying to hold it with one hand and then move in & out to try & focus on a snow flake was just about impossible.  So just for kicks I thought I could focus on some bubbles in an old pane of glass in the back shed of my home. Peering about I saw this tiny fly or mosquito (not sure what it is) stuck on the other side of the glass. I was in no mood, nor had the time to go to the trouble of maiking the camera stationary, or somehow fix the two lenses tiogether, so I simply hand held it, very sloppily and unsteadily, snapped a few frames. This one was the most reasonably sharp of them.  I like the final result.

This photo came about like many of them do for me. I was doing one thing, the Sun and snow caught my eye and set me thinking. Then, just out of curiosity to see if it would work I tried to shoot snow flakes and ended up wit this insect pressed against the glass. The lesson here is to always experiment, try different things. One leads to another and who knows where you end up.