Ben Woodworth was filming ice-climbing athletes in the Utah backcountry when he noticed enormous, beautiful snowflakes falling on his backpack. The contrast of the white flakes against the bag's black material immediately caught his eye.
At the time he was using a multi-thousand-dollar camera but it didn't have the right lens. So instead he pulled out his iPhone 5 and a $5 macro attachment he ordered online.
"When I go on these kinds of trips, opportunities seem to present themselves, so I always carry one of those little adapter lenses," says Woodworth, a professional videographer.
The flakes that were falling are called stellar dendrites and they're known for being big and intricate. If they're not destroyed by the wind on the way down from the sky, they often form one of the most sought-after kinds of snow on the planet. That's because their fine structure leaves a lot of room for air, creating the kind of fluffy powder skiers love.
"Everyone gets psyched when you're riding the lift and you see perfectly formed stellar dendrite," says Woodworth, 29, who works for Black Diamond Equipment, a well-known outdoor gear company.
Woodworth says it's hard to focus with a macro lens so he locked focus and exposure by holding the focus spot on the screen for several seconds. He then moved the camera back and forth until he had the focus dialed in. Because the macro lens amplifies any movement, he chose to prop the phone up on the backpack instead of hand-holding it.
It was all over in a couple minutes because he had to keep shooting the athletes. But on the ride home he edited the photos in Snapseed, adding a little contrast and sharpness. Just more proof that Utah, as the license plate says, has the "greatest snow on earth."
