Snowflakes!

Well, today the weather report was for snow to begin around 11:00 a.m., but it didn't happen! I took my camera and black velvet to school ready to get some pictures to no avail! However, when I got home, my luck changed. A few clouds decided to let go of some individual snowflakes, exactly what I wanted. I could see them sparkling like diamonds in the air as they blew by. The temperature had dropped dramatically and the wind was blowing pretty hard, not the best conditions for snowflake photography! I found if I held the velvet up where the sunlight hit, it absorbed too much heat and would melt the flakes. Finally, I put it in the shade on a metal chair and caught some flakes. I could prop myself up on the chair back to focus the camera. Here are a couple of the flakes that I
photographed. I guess the practice is starting to pay off! These are the best photos I've yet taken of snowflakes. I took these photos with a 105mm macro lens on my Nikon D80.












These are dendrite snowflakes, they are very different than the hollow columns I took photos of yesterday. This type of snowflake forms when the temperature in the clouds is 3 - 10 degrees F. I hope it will snow at least one more time this winter so I'll have another chance to take more photos!