Picturing the Big Lake: Photographing Snowflakes

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Dennis O'Hara

The hexagonal structure emerges as the crystals grow, which starts when a microscopic, super-cooled water droplet first freezes onto a tiny particle of dust and then begins to grow by accumulating more water droplets.

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DennisOHara

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Dennis O'Hara

A snow crystal is a single crystal of ice. A snowflake is a more general term and can mean an individual snow crystal, or a few snow crystals stuck together.

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Dennis O'Hara

Snow crystals form when water vapor condenses directly into ice within in the clouds.

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Dennis O'Hara

The hexagonal structure emerges as the crystals grow, which starts when a microscopic, super-cooled water droplet first freezes onto a tiny particle of dust and then begins to grow by accumulating more water droplets.

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Dennis O'Hara

Due to the molecular structure, the ice particle quickly develops into a small hexagonal prism.

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Courtesy Dennis O'Hara

You'll need specialized equipment to photograph snow crystals – a microscope setup that allows you to mount your camera to the device and snap pictures of the crystal as it sits on a frozen slide.

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Courtesy Dennis O'Hara

With all of your equipment set up in the freezing cold, now comes the fun part, capturing and selecting a crystal for viewing. With the snow falling, I use a black music stand and set it up like a table tray at chest height.

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Dennis O'Hara

By backlighting the flake through a small hole on the viewing stage of the microscope, the details of the crystal become more apparent in the translucent light.

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Dennis O'Hara

I’ve found that the best temperature for crystal formations is about 10-15° F with light winds and light snow showers.

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Snow Crystal Photography – The beauty in the little things

Snow is a delight to some and a nuisance to others. Skiers, snowmobilers and sledders look forward to the first snow of the season with high expectations, while others dread the first flakes as premonitions of stuck cars, slippery stairs and backbreaking shoveling. Whatever your view of winter, when you focus closer, you’ll see a hidden beauty in the sparkly white flakes.

I’m going to give you a combination science lesson and a how-to photographing lesson this month about the tiny snow crystals that make up a snowfall. Whether you prefer the fluffy white flakes that dance through the cold morning air or the howling blizzard that traps you in the house for days, a closer look at the little crystals reveal incredible beauty in the works of creation.

The science of snow

A snow crystal is a single crystal of ice. A snowflake is a more general term and can mean an individual snow crystal, or a few snow crystals stuck together.

Snow crystals form when water vapor condenses directly into ice within in the clouds. The hexagonal structure emerges as the crystals grow. The birth of a snow crystal occurs when a microscopic, super-cooled, water droplet first freezes onto a tiny particle of dust and then begins to grow by accumulating more water droplets.

Due to the molecular structure, the ice particle quickly develops into a small hexagonal prism. As the crystal continues to grow, branches begin to sprout from the six corners of the structure. Since the atmospheric conditions are identical across the face of the tiny crystal, the six sides grow at nearly the same rate, forming the familiar structure that we often see on drawings and decorations.

While the snow crystal continues to grow larger, its actual crystalline structure is constantly being modified throughout its growth by the changing temperature and humidity within the each cloud. The final six-sided symmetric crystal is due to the molecular structure of the H₂O water droplet that first started the crystal formation process. Because each snow crystal follows a slightly different path through the clouds, each crystal is unique in its structure – thus, the chances of having two crystals exactly the same is a mathematical impossibility.

Each crystal is intricately crafted by the forces of nature on its short lifespan from the clouds to earth and each has its own particular beauty.

Snow Crystal Photography

As is often the case with photography, you see a particular picture, and you wonder how that was captured, and as a photographer, how can I do that? Several years ago, while browsing through a bookstore shelf, I ran across such an image, a snowflake, so, of course, I set out to try and capture a similar scene. The idea was great, but, as usual, the process was much more difficult and expensive than at first glance. The process of capturing the tiny crystals requires some specialized equipment and time to experiment with the technique.

The effort pays off in the excitement of viewing each new snow crystal through the microscope. Unique in it’s structure, each one never before seen by another person.

The equipment

Photography is generally an expensive hobby, and microphotography is no exception. If you already have a good digital SLR, you can plan on spending about the price of another camera. The good part is that the equipment will last for many years, so you can enjoy photographing snowflakes long after you’ve forgotten what you paid for the hardware.

The specialized equipment is a microscope setup that allows you to mount your camera to the device and snap pictures of the crystal as it sits on a frozen slide. I was fortunate and thankful that a website called snowcrystals.com provided a list of components needed to build the microscope setup. This website is the most informative and comprehensive collection of snow crystal information that is available.

Setup

Once the snowflake microscope is assembled and your camera is mounted, everything is brought out into the cold where the entire process, from capturing the crystal to mounting it on a slide and snapping the picture takes place. This is where you must work fast. In the cold, your fingers get numb and batteries die quite quickly.

Weather

Each passing snow cloud produces its own type of crystal. The types of crystals can even change from the leading edge of a cloud to the tail end. I’ve found that the best temperature for crystal formations is about 10-15° F with light winds and light snow showers.

Taking the picture

With all of your equipment set up in the freezing cold, now comes the fun part, capturing and selecting a crystal for viewing. With the snow falling, I use a black music stand and set it up like a table tray at chest height. While the flakes are landing on the tray, I carefully examine as many as I can in a short time before I have to brush off the platform with a feather duster and start a fresh review.

Once I have spotted a crystal that I think has possibilities for a photograph, I carefully lift the crystal off the tray using a small artist brush. This is where static cling comes in. Once the brush gets close to the crystal, the crystal leaps onto the brush bristles by the force of static, I then carefully transfer the crystal to an already frozen microscope slide for a closer look.

This is where the awesome part comes in, a first close-up look at the crystal reveals the delicate structures that only a magnified view can show. Often the structure may be flawed or broken, but even those are a wonder to behold. By backlighting the flake through a small hole on the viewing stage of the microscope, the details of the crystal become more apparent in the translucent light.

Preparing the image

Once, you have snapped the picture of the crystal, it’s time to retrieve another and another. Usually you can collect several dozen images before your fingers go numb and the camera battery goes dead.

When you return to your warm house to review the pictures, it is a good idea to leave your camera in its bag for a half hour before exposing it to the warm, moist air in the house. This prevents condensation from forming on the delicate photographic equipment.

Once the image is downloaded into your favorite image processor, there is usually more work to be done. Unfortunately the microscope also magnifies every speck of dust and flaw on the slide. There may also be broken pieces from other crystals included in the picture that you don’t want. Carefully take time to clean up the image and prepare this one of a kind piece of artwork that you captured for others to enjoy.

Summary

Prisms, stellar plates, dendrites, needles and triangular crystals are a new vocabulary that you learn once you have caught the snowflake bug. Photographing snowflakes is rewarding in so many ways. Besides a technical challenge, it is a quiet winter activity that takes you outdoors on snowy days to focus on Nature's most magnificent displays. Best of all, each picture you take will be a unique, one of a kind piece of artwork that you yourself captured to share with others.

To view more of my snow crystals visit my snowflake gallery.

For more information and instructions on snow crystal photography visit snowcrystals.com.