Change of Perspective

March 4 - It snowed on Thursday and the snow flakes were spectacular! They were so large you could see the detail without the help of magnification. We were skiing so I missed them.

I tried to take photos with my new ring-lighting on Friday. For the most part they were a rimey, broken mess.

In the photo above you can see lots of broken or misformed snowflakes. Even those in the middle, that are better formed, are covered in rime (frozen fog droplets).

I kept looking at flakes all day and was about to give up when I found this group of four snowflakes that had frozen together.

The flash that I used reflected off the surface to produce a surface that looks like mercury or a mirror. To get this effect, I needed to be a few degrees from perpendicular from the surface.

Then I changed positions and tried again. This time I was at a greater angle from the flat surface.

The angle lets the light bounce off the flat surfaces but reflects, off the edges, back to the camera. In both images you can see the outer parts are covered in the rime I had been seeing all day. In case you missed it, yes the two photos above are two different angles of the same snow flake.

Shot on: Nikon D800 with Nikkor AF-S-micro, f/20, 1/10 sec, 105 mm, 68 mm extension

Date: March 3, 2023