5 ideas for outdoor winter macro photography

 

 

Winter is bearing down on many of us. With few exceptions, even if winter is not brutally cold or snowy, it changes your photographic options. For macro photographers, winter can be especially challenging. There are fewer, possibly no, insects or other small critters to photograph, there are fewer flowers, and there's less light during the day. Photographer and macro specialist Micael Widell wants to help with his latest video, 'My 5 Best Ideas for Winter Macro Photography.'

Widell's first suggestion is to photograph 'frosty things.' If you're lucky, you'll be treated to hoar frost. It's when frozen water vapor adheres to something in a crystalline form. As Widell says, when the conditions are right for hoar frost, you can photograph just about anything and it'll make for an interesting subject, especially when you get up close and see all the ice crystals.

Precipitation is a great winter macro subject. Rain and snow can make for really neat macro subjects. If you're lucky, you will get frozen rain, which requires somewhat unusual weather, but looks great. For snowflake photography, you will also need to be a bit fortunate, as snow comes in many forms and not all snowflakes are crystalline. Sometimes snow is just sort of blobby. Widell shows some great snowflake photos. If you want to see even more snowflake photos, check out some of our previous articles:

• Check out these amazing macro photos of snowflakes
• Breathtaking snowflake macros prove it's the photographer that matters, not their gear
• Stay frosty with these beautiful, extreme macro shots of snow crystals

If you'd like to stay up to date with Micael Widell's YouTube videos, be sure to subscribe to his channel. He posts new videos every week. To see his latest macro photos, follow Widell on Instagram.