I live in New England. I love the winter. The cold, snappy temperatures. The bright sun that doesn’t touch the icy conditions. The tears that stream from my eyes as I walk into the wind on my way to work. All these things I truly enjoy. They remind me that I am very much alive and feeling the world around me.
Today was the coldest day of the winter so far. It started at a nasty 8°F (wind chill about -10°F) and peaked at a toasty 11° (wind chill at 2°). On these days you might find me playing with low temperatures, water and my camera in my backyard. Today I decided to play with water on glass.
What fun! I found some plate glass from an old frame, cleaned it up, and filled up my water bottle. Outside in the glare of the winter sun I coated the glass with water and let Mother Nature do the rest. She did great. Patterns of thin fans grew on the glass, moving from the edges to the center. I waited for the last of the water to crystalize, and I got to work.
I experimented with the glass and camera, holding it at different angles to the sun. I worked with varying depths of field from the glass to the background, and I found that f-stops of f/4.5 and f/5.6 were the best because they brought out the shapes and colors of the background without any detail.
I also discovered that other liquids make different patterns. I found an old can of flat Mountain Dew in the workshop, and, figuring “Why not,” I grabbed it on the way outside. I poured the Mountain Dew onto the portion of the glass I hadn’t already used. What a difference! Instead of the long feathery ice crystals, the cold temperatures made short, straight crystals. Nice!
I added some contrast, vibrancy, saturation and clarity to each of the images, and a touch of vignetting as well.
Next time it gets this cold outside I’ll have to find another way to play in the deep freeze.