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Winter is usually considered the doldrums for nature and wildlife photographers right here in Michigan. Regardless of the unusually heat climate this yr, alternatives for outside images have been fairly restricted, typically leading to gloomy two-hour lengthy outings within the wild yielding little various photos of withered brown leaves, and perhaps a squirrel or two.
Fortuitously, if the climate circumstances are good, it’s doable to seize fascinating images of ice crystals. Not the tiny, feathery hoar-frost crystals one generally finds rising on blades of grass, however bigger crystals that generally type on the floor of immobile ponds.
Ice is taken into account a mineral inside the hexagonal crystal household, which incorporates two crystal techniques: hexagonal and trigonal. The prismatic, six-sided crystals of clear quartz generally seen in rock and mineral retailers are hexagonal system minerals. (Trigonal system minerals are much less frequent; nevertheless, you will notice some pictures of it momentarily – a three-sided pyramid of ice.)
Not like frost crystals that are likely to develop upward and outward from an anchor level (dendritic crystals), the crystals fashioned on pond water develop laterally throughout the water’s floor. These constructions are finest seen when the ice could be very skinny, round 2-3 millimeters thick. As soon as the ice will get thicker, the floor loses definition and turns into featureless, similar to the ice cubes in your freezer.
I took the next images of superbly unique and ephemeral ice crystal constructions over two consecutive days at an area pond.
Let’s begin with some pictures of trigonal ice crystals showing as pyramids. Capturing obliquely throughout the ice floor into the sunshine, and helped by the low 25° solar angle presently of yr, I used to be in a position to intensify the three-dimensional facets of the ice constructions. The overcast sky turned the ice into silvery, monochromatic sheets which separated the tiny pyramids from the background.
The complexity in these pyramidal constructions is spectacular. Keep in mind the pyramid apices are just a few millimeters in top.
The brilliant white circles are bubbles of methane fuel trapped beneath the ice; the sunshine brown-yellow tones are underwater leaves and reeds.
Within the picture above, we see an exquisitely fashioned pyramid on the suitable, with an incipient pyramid on the left. The chevrons trigger splendidly advanced interactions of sunshine and shadow.
Here’s a crop of the massive pyramid – notice the fuel bubble trapped on the pyramid’s apex:
Later, a quick interval of blue sky introduced some coloration, including placing distinction to the pyramid shapes.
Crystals with a hexagonal type had been rarer than the pyramids you see above. In fact, I didn’t anticipate to see any “quartz crystal-like” prismatic types; as a substitute, what appeared on the lake had been basically “hexagonal plates.”
The big hexagonal plate within the higher middle of this photograph is the very best instance I got here throughout. Bounded by 4 pyramids, it exhibits a depressed middle. I ponder what it will have regarded like had it continued crystallizing till all six sides met? This can be a fascinating construction, and fairly massive – in all probability six by six inches. Cropping into totally different sections of this image might yield an extra 4 or 5 separate images.
It’s exhausting to inform whether or not the 2 following photos present trigonal constructions, or incipient or modified hexagonal constructions. Nonetheless, they make for very photogenic compositions.
A couple of extra trigonal constructions…
The subsequent two photos present the impact of adjusting my capturing place – leading to two utterly totally different compositions!
Lastly, to shut this lengthy treatise, listed below are a number of summary compositions.
Observations on tools and approach:
I used a Panasonic G9 with the Lumix 100-300mm II f/4.0-5.6 lens and a Panasonic G95 with the Lumix 45-175mm f/4.0-5.6 lens; hand-held; twin IBIS on.
The G9 was in Handbook mode, center-weighted metering, auto ISO (most at 6400), f/7.1 or f/8.0, shutter velocity 1/800-1/1250. ISO ranged from 200-3200.
The G95 was in Aperture Precedence mode, multi-segment metering, auto ISO (most at 6400), f/8.0, and shutter velocity at 1/400 (minimal setting linked to the ISO restrict). ISO ranged from 200-1000.
Capturing obliquely throughout the pond floor at most 300mm telephoto and with topics at 20-30 yards distance, the depth of discipline was shallow, even at f/8.0. I positioned the AF field on the mid-point of the topic and trusted that the depth of discipline generated can be enough to cowl the primary space of curiosity.
Pictures had been cropped, frivolously adjusted for tone and distinction with Radiant Picture. Then noise elimination and minor sharpening had been utilized with Topaz Sharpen AI.
Out of doors images throughout the lengthy winter months at all times presents a problem to lovers looking for inspiration. I hope that my ice crystal images will assist others find unconventional topics to banish the dreary doldrums till spring arrives!
About Carl F. Brink
A profession in gemology, geology, and metallurgical engineering enabled Carl to develop his images expertise documenting numerous geological exposures and outcrops. He excelled at macro and photomicrography of rock and mineral specimens.
His image-making efforts through the years in his photographic area of interest had been rewarded by choice for industry-related publications; he has numerous journal cowl pictures to his credit score.
Presently residing in Michigan, he now concentrates his images on the character and wildlife alternatives so ample within the state. You’ll be able to contact him right here.
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