Tag: ice

Intricate brush strokes

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It was one of the coldest days we’ve had in a while but the laundry in the sauna was scheduled for the wash so I bundled up to head out and retrieve it. Am I ever glad I did! As I stepped up on the sauna porch, I noticed the front door window was a laced with significant amount of frost. Immediately, I grabbed my iPhone (of course I had it with me even though the sauna is only a dozen steps from our back door).

And of course, I grabbed the laundry and exchanged it for my DSLR , tripod and another layer of warm clothes.

A dime pressed against the glass gives scale to the delicate lines.

By setting a folding screen with black cloth behind the door and holding another up directly behind the camera, I was able to minimize any distractions in the glass for a crystal clear shot.

The tiny details fill me wonder, gratitude and reverence.

Angel, bell or bauble

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On a recent walk along the creek, a particularly bright sunshine sparkle caught my eye from under some overhanging evergreen branches. From above on the river bank, the icy shape looked like a crystal angel suspended over the flowing water; on closer inspection, perhaps more like a bell.

Snow-laden boughs tossed about by wintry winds dip and sway sometimes breaking the surface of the water. Each bounce brings a thin layer of the dark liquid which freezes almost immediately wrapping a transparent skin on what it touched. Gradually, crystal clear baubles are built up on twigs and branches.

The clarity in the ice is remarkable. What do you see?

Did you notice in the two baubles on the left the background appears upside down and in the two on the right it is right side up!

Whether it’s the sound of angels or bells this Christmas, may you hear the Good News of the promised Messiah and receive His gifts of love, joy and peace.

Small window

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Every now and then, I catch a glimpse of a scene that stops me in my tracks then spurs me to get my gear and capture it!

(The sun sets remarkably fast when you start setting up and snapping.)

Shooting in aperture mode, I set the depth of field to f/22 for the sunbeam effect and got the image below.

1/40 sec, f/22, ISO 400

Since the wind was brisk, I quickly boosted the ISO from 400 to 1000 to increase the shutter speed from 1/40th of a second to 1/160th of a second and managed to get a crisper shot before the sun vanished behind the low clouds.

1/160 sec, f/20, ISO 1000

Here’s the close up comparison with camera settings from Lightroom .So glad there was just enough time to make the quick adjustment. I love the final shot.

March blue moon

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Did you seen the blue moon in January? Did you know there will also be one March 31st?

Although this is not the blue moon nor during the ‘blue hour‘, the very blue scene is the moon rising over an island just off the shore of Lake Superior a little north of Grand Marais, MN. I was fortunate to attend an Outdoor Photography class with Bryan Hansel in early February. Bryan kindly shared some of his incredible knowledge of photography and some of his favourite locations along the north shore. We were thrilled to have a clear night sky for this outing.

I still have much to learn and know better for future shots to lower my ISO in order to have a less grainy image.

I could also upgrade the quality of my equipment…

At the water’s edge

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The other day I braved the bitter cold air and water to stand in the creek for a close up of the hoar frost on the bent branches of bushes along the water’s edge.

It reminded me of the last time I waded into cold winter waters for some icy shots. I shared a number of those shots in this post which explains the frozen lake surface in the image below. It’s from the 2015 shoot I selected the image for our calendar this month.

Alternate resolutions can be found here.

I {heart} hearts

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branches covered in frozen bubbles shaped in a heart

This fall just as the lake was beginning to freeze over, a couple of branches collected frozen bubbles and formed a heart!

Last spring, I almost stepped on to this frosty heart just outside the door to our garage.

heart of frost

And I noticed this heart in a birch tree late last summer.

heart in a birch tree

To me these are little messages of love from my Heavenly Father.

Happy Valentine’s Day.