Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Macro Photography : Snowflake-a-Day #1 by donkom
This snowflake is a combination of 52 separate images, each representing a small slice of focus across the crystal. Photographed on an angle to reveal depth and surface detail, there is no way to get the entire crystal in focus in a single frame. Multiple images are taken at different focus points, with the process to combine them all together called “focus stacking”. This technique is used for many small subjects as the physics of light doesn’t work in the photographer’s favour.
The light is angled very precisely (using a ring flash) so that the surface of the crystal reflects a glare directly back into the lens, giving the effect of a shining snowflake. If the angle is off by five degrees the surface will not have its shimmer, so some experimentation is required to find the best perspective. This angle has to be found quickly, otherwise the snowflake will move, blow away, melt, or get smothered by other falling snow. For this reason, each of my snowflakes are photographed without a tripod – entirely handheld.
The background behind the snowflake is a homemade black mitten. Sounds low-tech, but it’s the perfect way to isolate a single crystal from a busy background. The snowflake gets lifted away from the background by a few woolen fibers of the mitten and the background becomes much softer. This also prevents the surface from transferring much heat – the mitten acts as an insulator to prevent the snowflake from melting.
Curious for more snowflake photography tips? I published a 304-page hardcover book titled Sky Crystals that describes all of the science and photography of snowflake in exhaustive detail. The entire photographic workflow is described in step-by-step instructions. Winter is here, get out shooting some snowflakes! Here’s a link to the book: skycrystals.ca/
This stellar snowflake has an interesting history, and it can be easily seen in the center. The central hexagon on this snowflake is actually growing above the crystal, taking the top branch with it. You can easily see that the top branch is growing above its neighbouring branches because some of the side-branches overlap without interacting.
This means the snowflake began its life as a column. Column-type snowflakes grow at warmer temperatures, but the exact physics explaining the change between column and plate-type crystals is still unclear. The growth conditions changed and this column began to grow plates out of each end. This type of snowflake would be called a “capped column”, but it didn’t stop growing there. As water vapour continued to attract itself to the crystal structure, the plates grew outward. The top and bottom plates competed for this water vapour, and when one corner of a plate grew slightly faster, it starved the same corner on the opposite plate.
This fight for water vapour happened on all six corners, and the bottom plate won five of the battles. The top plate won only a single victory – the top-pointing branch. The top branch also has a slightly different characteristic – smaller and simpler side-branches with greater regularity. Growing on a different plane from the other branches has created slightly different growth conditions. Very small changes in growth conditions can quickly translate to noticeable shifts in growth characteristics, and this snowflake is a perfect example of that.
Snowflakes are scientific wonders. If you want to know more “snowflake physics”, you should also consider picking up Sky Crystals: skycrystals.ca/ – roughly one third of the book is dedicated to the science of snowflakes.
There’s a tiny universe in every snowflake. Quadrillions of these crystals fall every winter, but how much of their beauty is actually admired? This Snowflake-a-Day project aims to change that, and to make winter a little more tolerable for those of us suffering through freezing temperatures and nasty weather. It begins! :)
Macro Photography : Snowflake-a-Day #1 by donkom
This snowflake is a combination of 52 separate images, each representing a small slice of focus across the crystal. Photographed on an angle to reveal depth and surface detail, there is no way to get the entire crystal in focus in a single frame. Multiple images are taken at different focus points, with the process to combine them all together called “focus stacking”. This technique is used for many small subjects as the physics of light doesn’t work in the photographer’s favour.
The light is angled very precisely (using a ring flash) so that the surface of the crystal reflects a glare directly back into the lens, giving the effect of a shining snowflake. If the angle is off by five degrees the surface will not have its shimmer, so some experimentation is required to find the best perspective. This angle has to be found quickly, otherwise the snowflake will move, blow away, melt, or get smothered by other falling snow. For this reason, each of my snowflakes are photographed without a tripod – entirely handheld.
The background behind the snowflake is a homemade black mitten. Sounds low-tech, but it’s the perfect way to isolate a single crystal from a busy background. The snowflake gets lifted away from the background by a few woolen fibers of the mitten and the background becomes much softer. This also prevents the surface from transferring much heat – the mitten acts as an insulator to prevent the snowflake from melting.
Curious for more snowflake photography tips? I published a 304-page hardcover book titled Sky Crystals that describes all of the science and photography of snowflake in exhaustive detail. The entire photographic workflow is described in step-by-step instructions. Winter is here, get out shooting some snowflakes! Here’s a link to the book: skycrystals.ca/
This stellar snowflake has an interesting history, and it can be easily seen in the center. The central hexagon on this snowflake is actually growing above the crystal, taking the top branch with it. You can easily see that the top branch is growing above its neighbouring branches because some of the side-branches overlap without interacting.
This means the snowflake began its life as a column. Column-type snowflakes grow at warmer temperatures, but the exact physics explaining the change between column and plate-type crystals is still unclear. The growth conditions changed and this column began to grow plates out of each end. This type of snowflake would be called a “capped column”, but it didn’t stop growing there. As water vapour continued to attract itself to the crystal structure, the plates grew outward. The top and bottom plates competed for this water vapour, and when one corner of a plate grew slightly faster, it starved the same corner on the opposite plate.
This fight for water vapour happened on all six corners, and the bottom plate won five of the battles. The top plate won only a single victory – the top-pointing branch. The top branch also has a slightly different characteristic – smaller and simpler side-branches with greater regularity. Growing on a different plane from the other branches has created slightly different growth conditions. Very small changes in growth conditions can quickly translate to noticeable shifts in growth characteristics, and this snowflake is a perfect example of that.
Snowflakes are scientific wonders. If you want to know more “snowflake physics”, you should also consider picking up Sky Crystals: skycrystals.ca/ – roughly one third of the book is dedicated to the science of snowflakes.
There’s a tiny universe in every snowflake. Quadrillions of these crystals fall every winter, but how much of their beauty is actually admired? This Snowflake-a-Day project aims to change that, and to make winter a little more tolerable for those of us suffering through freezing temperatures and nasty weather. It begins! :)
