Ice Patterns

As there was a heavy frost last night I thought I would have a go at some more ice crystals using my super macro set-up. However, the ice crystals only look so stunning when they are first forming. By the time there are several layers of crystal you just get a crusty pattern, the familiar rime you see on cars when they are frosted over. As it was a heavy frost most of the car was covered in rime and they were only tiny patches at the edge of the windows where the crystals were apparent. Also I did not have the benefit this time of having some back lighting from the reflectors is the lamps. I tried taking some photos of newly formed crystals on the car paint work but these did not work at all as the cars are have metallic paint and the super-mmacro shots just brought out the grain in the paintwork.

I took a few shots of ice crystals on the edge of windows but then went off for a walk with our Vizsla ,Zoe and the neighbours labrador, Bella. What caught my eye were the frost patterns in the puddles that had iced over. In some cases were really sinuous and curvy so I decided they would make a better blip. I have slightly tweaked the contrast so you can see the patterns more clearly. I hope you like them as much as I did. I was literally shooting straight down and had to mind that I did not catch my feet or the dogs in the photo.