These are diffractions patterns of reflected light bouncing through thin sheets of ice over flowing water.

Feature Image Details

• EOS R5 Mirrorless Camera
• Canon 24-105MM F4 L Lens at 91 MM
• F16 – 1/4 second, a blend of 5 images, focused stacked

Required Conditions

• Its cold enough to freeze but no snow covering everything.
• Strong reflected light
• Bright sun but no direct light on the ice
• The patterns are hard to see with the naked eye but a camera picks them up
• You need to be very close to the subject so depth of field is very small.
• You are generally shooting at hard angles which necessitates focusing on various spots and blending the images together.
• A tripod is needed

I have a collection of these images from the past two winters. Here are some of my favorites.

There is a lot more detail in the images that shows in these JPEGs, especially tiny bubbles and ridges in the above image.

Equipment

Those interested in my equipment and recommendations can find it here: Mish’s Equipment List.

Coming up next, more ice images.

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Mike “Mish” Shedlock