These are diffraction 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 than I can show in these JPEGs.
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