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Photographer Uses Cheap Home-Made Camera Rig To Take Stunning Close-Ups Snowflakes

ThinkBachs

Mythical Poster
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9/2/09
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As fascinating as macro photography is, most of us think we can’t do it because it requires specialized equipment. Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov, however, is an inspiration to aspiring amateur photographers everywhere – he created a home-made rig capable of capturing stunning close-up pictures of snowflakes out of old camera parts, boards, screws and tape. His pictures give us an enchanting close-up view of snowflakes that we could never hope for without specialized equipment.

The wonderful thing about snowflakes is that no two are alike. Their extraordinary diversity diversity stems from the many small changes in temperature and humidity that they experience while freezing on their way down to the ground. Their six-sided symmetry occurs because the crystalline structure of ice is also hexagonal. All of these many factors come together to create beautiful shapes that are almost always unique.
Kljatov’s rig creates the sort of photos that might otherwise require lenses or other equipment worth hundreds or thousands of dollars. And the pictures he creates with this rig look absolutely amazing. For more information about how he did it, check out his blog post.

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Kljatov uses a Canon Powershot A650 and a reversed 44M-5 Helios lens from an old Russian Zenit camera. For more information about the equipment used and the rig keeping it all together, check out his blog post. UPDATE: Kljatov also drew a simple schematic of his homemade rig, so if you’re serious about trying it out, you can find more information here.

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d4m.test

Guest
Stunning photos!

I'd like to formally request that TDs use this for their QC pictures from now on.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 

WingNut

Brig Warden
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Amazing...nature at it's finest...thanks Think...!
 

Mr. Pap

Section Moderator
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wooow! very very impressive!!! the photos are just amazing! nice finding TB!
 

ThinkBachs

Mythical Poster
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9/2/09
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HOLY SHIT

and that is not Photoshopped, right?


No idea, but I was blown away when I saw these photos. It's impossible for me to pick a favorite- not to mention that these are just a few of the infinite pattern possibilities. I often think that I need to step back to appreciate the beauty of something, in this case, taking a closer look does the trick. Still hasn't convinced me to appreciate shoveling it though.... :p
 

P4GTR

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magnificent. It's unbelievable that these tiny little masterpieces fall out of the sky by the trillion/zillion whatever infinite number. So much detail, they look alien like.
 

R2D4

Admin
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15/4/07
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Wow, I knew no two snow flakes are the same but these look like they were made by artists and engineers not mother nature. ;)
 

thedoover

Snow Monkey Ambassador
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15/6/10
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Picture 4 - Imperial Logo. Darth Snowbunny.

Seriously though, I wish I had understood advanced math better in HS and College. All of those shapes come down to some strange math and just a smidgen of chaos.