Cold temperatures make for fanciful ice formations in Fargo Brook. It’s interesting to ponder the process that creates these lovely little ice bells that are suspended from a rock and hover just above the water’s surface.
Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 61mm, ISO 400, f/8, 1/640″ exposure.
While exploring the top of “Chipmunk Hill” the other day, we came across a couple of still frozen vernal pools. This moss covered rock looks like the iris of an eye carved in the ice.
Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 34mm, ISO 800, f/14, 1/500″ exposure.
With the sun on the water, the right shutter speed accentuates the ripple distortions across the pebbles on the stream bed. A thin skim of ice provides something solid for the eye to rest on. I’ve found that between 1/200″ and 1/300″ exposure nails the effect.
Panasonic GX8, Olympus 60mm macro lens, ISO 400, f/8, 1/200″ exposure.
Robin & I took a short hike up Cobb Brook yesterday afternoon. I was confident that we’d find some interesting ice formations among the stream’s numerous falls and cascades. We were not disappointed. The hilight was finding these ice discs or ice pans floating in the pool beneath one of the larger falls. These discs form as ice accumulates in slow moving eddy currents. The discs ranged in size here from around 16″ to over 3 feet.
Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 14mm, ISO 800, f/8, 1/25″ exposure.
Bundling up and marching off into the snow when it’s below zero has its rewards. These tiny and delicate hexagonal plate ice crystals formed along the bank of Fargo Brook where stream undercutting has exposed bare soils to the frigid air. When damp warmth filtering out of the ground meets the air the crystals form. These crystals were only a few millimeters wide so getting in close with a macro lens was necessary.
Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm macro lens, ISO 800, f/16, 1/160″ exposure.
Sub-zero temperatures do have their advantages…
Nikon D600, Sigma 105mm macro lens, ISO 320, f/9, 1/640″ exposure.
This abstract photo is actually a paw print. I’m guessing a coyote judging by the size and the placement of the prints across the ice. The animal was running across the thin ice surface of a local beaver pond and its feet were breaking through the slushy ice in places. Cold overnight temperatured had allowed for a thin skim of fresh ice to form in the print.
Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 40mm, ISO 800, f/13, 1/160″ exposure.
Early ice and reflected sky in one of the beaver ponds along Taft Road.
There’s quite a growing complex of beaver ponds along Taft Road now. Cold temperatures have started to close the open water, and the beavers are working overtime (if there is such a thing in beaverland…) to gather enough food to make it though the winter in their lodges bound by ice.
Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 46mm, ISO 800, f/9, 1/500″ exposure.
A few years ago, I stumbled across what I’ve dubbed the “cellophane effect” when shooting moving water. I found myself exploring it again a bit the other day as I took some photos along Fargo Brook.
The key to achieving the effect is a fairly slow shutter speed (~1/25″) and shooting with the sun in front of you so that the light is bouncing directly off the water towards the lens. The light traces fine squiggly lines across the moving water.
Panasonic GX8, Lumix 14-140mm lens @ 140mm, ISO 100, various apertures, 1/25″ exposure.
John Hadden Photography 