Mammoth in ice. ISO 100 - 180 mm - f/14 - 1/4 sec.
The winter of 2021/2022 is not over yet, but unfortunately we have not had many winter conditions yet. A few days with hoarfrost were fantastic and I was able to make some beautiful images of birches in my local patch “Het Wierdenseveld”. Due to the few nights with frost to -8 degrees below zero, it was possible to photograph abstract structures in ice. For this subject it is important that it had rained before the nights of frost and that shallow puddles were formed. After a few nights of frost the puddles were completely frozen which means that there is virtually no water left and that the ice gets the nice white color with some dark lines and bubbles.
Behind the scenes
To capture this subject I went to a few well-known sand roads but there were no puddles left or the ice was broken. So plan B and I went to a field to search for some puddles and I was lucky. As you can see on the image on the left, I had found a nice plot of maize land with some deep tracks made by the agricultural machinery during the harvest. It is always a good idea to ask permission from the landowner before you start shooting.
Before I start shooting, I look at all the puddles for beautiful structures in the ice. I prefer to photograph bubbles in combination with dark lines in the white ice. When it has not yet frozen for a long time, it is important to walk carefully because the chance of wet feet is present which I can tell you from experience as well as getting your clothes and equipment covered in mud.
When I have found a subject I set up my tripod over the subject and focus manually using live view and I use also a cable release. The exposure of these images is an important part and also somewhat difficult because the image contains very dark and very light spots. My advise expose for the lightest part and check your histogram which is a helpful tool. In addition to the bubbles and lines in the ice, frozen leaves are also a popular subject to portray, I call these subjects “ice fossils”.
Ice fossil. ISO 100 - 200 mm - f/16 - 1/4 sec.