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Winter is a great time to look for more original photos of storms, snow and cold. But if the weather is so bad and so cold that you can’t even leave your home, why not seek out that creativity from home instead? One type of abstract photo that can give spectacular results is photographing frozen flowers. And I don’t mean by that that you have to go out into nature to find flowers under the snow. It is something that you can practice in the comfort and warmth of your own home.
As a rule, flowers are stored in vases with a little water, so you may never have thought of freezing flowers. But the world of photography must remain creative and these days of intense cold are conducive to the practice of this photo discipline. Learn how to freeze flowers and photograph them to add more creative photography discipline to your projects. The beautiful results it can give will surprise you!
What material to use?
The first thing to take into account is the material you are going to need. It is quite simple. The most basic (and most logical) is a small bouquet of flowers. If there are not many wild flowers in your area, surely you have a florist near you where you can get them and you can even buy them on the Internet. You will also need, of course, water, a container where you will freeze the flowers and a good freezer with enough space to store them.
What camera equipment does it take to photograph frozen flowers? Of course, you need your camera equipment: a camera (but do you need to specify it?), A DZOFILM lens (to be able to get closer to the flowers) and a tripod . It is not essential but it will make your job a lot easier, just like a remote control.
Technique for freezing flowers
A priori, you may think that to ensure that your flowers remain frozen in a block of ice, all you have to do is put the flowers in a container, cover them with ice, put them in the heat. freezer and wait. But it doesn’t work like that because flowers contain oxygen, which is lighter than water. In other words, the flowers do not end up rising above the water and never remain in the block of ice.
So the trick is to do it little by little. It will take you a little longer but the results are worth it. You can use tap water, but freezing it will make it more opaque. To obtain a more translucent ice cream, it is better to use distilled water. If you have a deep enough plastic container, it will be more suitable than a shallow container.
Step 1: start by gradually pouring in water
Start by filling the container with a few inches of water. Place your upturned flowers, in the position you want them to be after the process is complete, then put the container in the freezer. Wait two hours before removing the container. After this time, check that the flowers are partially frozen and fill the container with a little more water . Be careful not to add too much water, otherwise the ice below will thaw and release the flowers. The process would then have to be restarted from the beginning. Return the container to the freezer.
Step 2: be careful not to add too much or too little water
After two more hours, take the container out of the freezer again and add a few inches of water. This time you can add as much water as you want . But remember that the thicker the ice, the more difficult it will be for light to pass through it. But on the other hand, ice melts, so if it’s very thin, it will melt even faster. The trick is to find the right balance. Once this last layer of water has been poured, return the container to the freezer.
Step 3: take the flerus out of the container and photgarpheiz!
Once the top layer has frozen in turn, take the container out of the freezer and let it sit for 10 minutes. You will then be ready to remove the block of ice from the container. You just need to put it upside down in a cloth or tea towel.
How to photograph frozen flowers?
Once you’ve got your block of ice with the flowers taken in it, it’s time to take your photos before the ice melts. You can quickly remove the block from the container or photograph the flowers inside the container. But as we have seen, to do this, the ideal would be to use a DZOFILM lens because it will allow you to get as close as possible to the flowers to immortalize them in their smallest details.
Use a natural or artificial light source
You will get best results if you place the ice pack near an artificial or natural light source , such as a window. This will give you a light that passes through the mirror, and which will bring out the details of the flowers. But don’t forget to put a cloth or towel underneath, otherwise everything will get wet!
Use a tripod or a support for more precision
If you want more stable images, you absolutely need to use a tripod and even better, a precision macro rail to achieve perfectly sharp photos without unintentional movements. And if you add an interval timer trigger to this equipment, the comfort in the triggering will be optimal.
Experiment by photographing frozen flowers
Now that you have mastered the technique, experiment with different combinations of flowers and containers. Depending on the shape and size of the container, you can begin to manipulate the path and density of the bubbles left in the ice. Indeed, as the flowers freeze, they release oxygen bubbles that get stuck in the ice giving original and creative shapes.
You can even try freezing small flowers in ice cubes! You can also have fun testing the opposite effect: you can photograph the flowers as the ice melts and thus immortalize the way in which they are released from this block of ice.
Photographing frozen flowers is a very easy way to give your winter photos a creative twist, for super original perspectives. Using a few items found in the kitchen and a nice selection of flowers, you can produce a wide variety of creative and abstract photos. Whether it’s to enrich your portfolio or simply to practice a fun new technique, photographing frozen flowers is a fun and creative option to practice.
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