As a photographer with a curiosity for how things work, macro photography has always interested me. Flowers, insects, water droplets all reveal inner workings of the world around me. Snowflakes are the best possible example of this: beautiful ice crystals that form in the sky, with directly observable physics to explain how and why they grow into the beautifully unique shapes. That’s part of the reason why I created this collection of detailed macro snowflake images.
My photography often takes me to the extremes of perception – from star trails to infrared images. However, the tiny scale at which snowflakes exist offers its own unique challenges. In order to create these images that showcase reflective surfaces and interesting colours, snowflakes need to be photographed on an angle. This means that I can only get a tiny slice of focus at a time, and usually need to combine between 30-50 images of the same snowflake at different points of focus to get the entire crystal sharp.
I’m not a scientist, but these enigmatic snowflakes offer me a glimpse at the underlying mechanics of our world. I’m sure they’ll bring out the childhood curiosity in everyone. There’s a book, too.
To see the rest of Don Komarechka’s amazing 190-image snowflake gallery, click here.
Source: skycrystals.ca
Starburst Snowflake
Image by: donkom
Crazy Colours
Image by: donkom
Double Decker
Image by: donkom
Snowflakes are almost always three-dimensional, and this image showcases that depth. the center of the crystal is growing on top of the rest!
Gigantic Symmetry
Image by: donkom
Oddities in the ice
Image by: donkom
Tiny Crystals
Image by: donkom
Snowflake Quartet
Image by: donkom
These four crystals were attached, and show signs of colliding in mid-air at one point and continuing to grow together from there. Many of these crystals are very three-dimensional.
Dense Ice
Image by: donkom
Certain conditions in the clouds can create very dense crystal structures. These resulting snowflakes are beautiful, strong and somewhat symmetrical. They’re a rare find however!