Another attempt at “Snowflake on Red.”

The last time I tried to capture a snowflake with my new Google Pixel 6 Pro camera, I was in a hurry, and the snowflake I captured wasn’t exactly point-perfect. But it was a start.

Yesterday morning, it’s 15 degrees outside, and as I’m heading to my car, I see it’s got a mixture of snowflakes and frost covering its red patina. You know what? Let’s try to find another snowflake, this time on my car, and this time with a steadier hand. And hopefully, a better formed snowflake would be nice.

And after a few minutes of searching … I found one.

Here it is.

Am I liking this photo better than my previous snowflake shot? Yes and no.

Seriously. I like this … and I don’t like this.

Here’s the problem. The more you try to zoom in on this picture – and in this case, my phone went to a 7x zoom to get a properly focused snowflake – the final image was still blocky and grainy. It lacks that sweet definition that makes it less of a snowflake and more of a Swarovski. It’s there, for sure … but this photo’s nowhere near eligible for Competition Season.

But I have an idea. I know now that if I can spot a perfect snowflake on my car, or on any other metal object that I leave outside overnight … there’s a chance I can make this totally work.

But not with the Google Pixel 6 Pro.

I’m going to need my Nikon Df camera, my super-powered macro lenses, and a tripod. In order to get a super-sharp snowflake, it’s going to require macro photography, focus stacking, and lots of patience.

In other words, the photo today was better than the photo from last month.

But that means the next photo will be better than this one. Trust me on this.