If I’m paying attention to the weather, there are usually at least a few days in late fall or early winter where the following weather conditions happen:
- there isn’t any snow on the ground yet,
- the air is “warm” (above freezing) during the day but not dry, and
- the air temperature gets really cold (single digits) at night
If you are lucky enough to find yourself with these conditions, AND it’s early enough in winter to find a body of water that hasn’t frozen yet, you should put on your warm snow clothes and head outside and maybe you will find this:
This is the second year in a row where I’ve done this and found these really cool ice crystals that form on bird feathers and other small bits of leaf debris. The crystalline structures usually take on the form of a small white pine tree. If you get out before the sun is up too high, you can catch the light just right and see the crystalline structure of the ice. It’s totally worth laying on your stomach at the water’s edge getting sand and goose/duck poo on you…
The first year I came upon these by accident and only had my 25 – 105 lens on my camera. The images came out ok, but not as good as I would have liked. This year I had my 100mm macro on my camera and the images were much sharper. I tried to use my tripod but the best position is to lay on the ground with your camera sitting right on the sand (ugh! Not really thinking about that bad decision in the moment) and laying on your stomach with your head at about the same height so you can see if the sun is highlighting the crystals. Once the sun comes up too much (maybe 2 hours after sunrise) you just end up with white and not structured crystalline shapes you can see.
WARNING: In the moment, I wasn’t thinking about the sand that was getting all over my gloves and my camera. I was just enjoying shooting pictures. The pain came later – I spent about an hour carefully cleaning my camera and lens off after it warmed up at home. Next time I try something like this I’ll put a small bit of plastic or my camera’s rain jacket under the camera to better protect it.
Image information: Canon 5D Mark III, 100 mm macro lens, manual exposure, 1/100 sec, f/14, ISO 400,
Maria says
Great shot – crystals and sand are so sharp – unique perspective
Donna says
You are just so freakin’ talented! Why didn’t I get this gene?? 🙂 love this!