Will it Ever Stop Snowing?

It has been snowing so long that snow has just replaced grass in my mind and that it would just seem weird if there wasn't snow on the ground. So since its still snowing I thought it would be a good idea to once again take advantage of the situation and shoot something snow related, actually not snow related, but snow itself. More like a snow FLAKE actually. Being the innovated mind I am I decided to rig myself a macro lens using:

-2 old 52mm filters (who needs filters anyway?) -$6

-2 50mm lens (one was 1.4 and the other 1.8) - Pre-owned

Ps. thanks Slade for letting me use your 1.8

-Hot glue gun - Pre-owned

-Tape that can seal light (I used the foil tape from the flash ring blog) - Pre-owned

- Exact-o Knife Pre-owned

So what you do is take the two old filters and break the glass out. Then you line one of the filters with hot glue on the female side and then push the other filters female side onto it and hold it there until the hot glue dries. When it dries make sure that there are no string or hot glue going where ever. Then take your tape and light seal the out side of the two filters witht eh tape wrapping it all the way around. After you do that cut away all the excess and there you go you have a 52 to 52mm macro converter. then you just screw both lens together and then you have a macro lens! For best results have the first lens at it highest f-stop and the other one at like f/8 on the lens its

self, not the camera because that is impossible. This is so you have a depth of field that is somewhat usable, because the DOF is extremely narrow.

I also made a cheap little macro studio made up of:

-A black granite tile - $5.96

-A cardboard box - Free (find one...)

- Two sheets of paper - Free (take from school)

- Tape - Pre-owned

So for this all you do is cut the flaps off one side of the box and then an entire side off of it. Then cut two windows on opposite sides of the box and tape the piece of paper over the windows. Put the box on top of the sheet of granite and there you have a cheap macro studio.

Okay for the actual shot I didn't use the windows on the box instead I used one Sb-600 directly pointing at the snow flake about 2-3 inches away. I sync the flash with a chord and shot at a shutter speed of 2600. (yeah pretty excessive but with the light that close it was much need)

Here are the pictures I cropped all but one which is the one I shot on the hood of my car (at the top of the post). When you use this macro lens the aperture of the second lens actually gets in the way of the shot that why I cropped them.

Here they are