Silver foil

1644 * 1233

Another snowflake from previous winter. Medium size crystal, 3 or 4 millimeters in diameter. Glass background with backlight, additional lens Helios 44M-5, 8 RAWs averaged, january 2014, Moscow.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Winter is coming

2197 * 1648

Another fernlike dendrite crystal from previous winter. This snowflake was not too large for its type, around 5 millimeters in diameter. Glass background with backlight, additional lens Helios 44M-5, january 2014, Moscow. 8 RAWs averaged.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Daybreak

(5410 * 5410)

Another collage from two previous collages:

Print available at: 500px.com, pixels.com, deviantart.com.

Desktop wallpaper version in wallpapers section:

Alcor

(1600 * 1200)

This is small snowflake, around 2 mm in diameter. 7 serial shots averaged to boost signal-to-noise ratio. Background: dark woolen fabric, natural light (clouded sky), external optics Helios 44M-5, march 2013, Moscow.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Bright crystals 2012-2014

Another collage, similar to previous one, with bright crystals (captured in backlight at glass surface).

This is big picture: 11000 x 11000 pixels, 36mb jpeg file. Some browsers won't open full size because of high memory requirements. In this case it can be downloaded via button at lower right corner of photo at flickr page.

Print available at: 500px.com, pixels.com, deviantart.com.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Collage with dark crystals:

Desktop wallpaper with these collages in wallpapers section:

Dark crystals 2012-2014

Simple collage with snowflakes on dark background. All individual photos keep their original resolution, and, because i capture snowflakes from nearly same distance from lens, differences in size of crystals close to real.

This is big picture: 10000 x 10000 pixels, 54mb jpeg file. Some browsers won't open full size because of high memory requirements. In this case it can be downloaded via button at lower right corner of photo at flickr page.

I used one of these nice free canvas textures.

Print available at: 500px.com, pixels.com, deviantart.com.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Collage with bright crystals:

Desktop wallpaper with these collages in wallpapers section:

Molten glass

(1363 x 1022)

Yet another hexagonal plate from january 2013. This crystal was big for it's type, slightly larger than 1 mm. I like it's details (especially that curved "four-leaf clover" pattern) and how crystal volumetric surface distorts background behind it.

12 serial shots averaged to boost signal-to-noise ratio. Background: dark woolen fabric, natural light (clouded sky), external optics Helios 44M-5, Moscow.

This example shows averaging technique benefits:

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Radiant green

(1236 x 927)

This is tiny snowflake, around 1 mm. In center of the crystal can be seen subtle green color, caused by thin film interference effect. 8 serial shots averaged to boost signal-to-noise ratio. Background: dark woolen fabric, natural light (clouded sky), external optics Helios 44M-5, march 2013, Moscow.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Alioth

(2228 x 1671)

Medium size snowflake, around 4 mm. 9 serial shots averaged to boost signal-to-noise ratio. Background: dark woolen fabric, natural light (clouded sky), external optics Helios 44M-5, march 2013, Moscow.

This snowflake as desktop wallpaper in wallpapers section:

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Pretty fly

(1780 x 1780)

My first insect "studio stack". This is large fly of some common species.

Gear: "snowflake" macro setup, containing Canon Powershot A650 and reversely mounted Helios 44M-5 as magnifier (here its description and photos) + small desktop tripod (Continent F7).

Light: ambient daylight in room + direct sunlight from left side through sheet of white paper. Background: light blue book cover.

Source images: serie of 64 photos (16 groups with different focus, and each group contained 4 identical images for averaging). After RAW processing, i averaged images in groups and then do focus stacking.

Eye details without resizing:

Twelve months

(1765 * 1324)

Another 12-sided snowflake. This crystal was bigger, around 5 millimeters in diameter, and slightly harder to process (complicated shape and many ice debris in close proximity). Previous 12-sided snowflake: Wheel of time.

Glass background with backlight, additional lens Helios 44M-5, january 2014, Moscow. 8 RAWs averaged.

Alternate colors:

(1765 * 1324)

This snowflake as desktop wallpaper in wallpapers section:

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Beneath a steel sky

(1200 * 900)

This is small snowflake, around 1 mm in diameter or slightly bigger. I borrowed title from interesting old game.

Glass background with backlight, additional lens Helios 44M-5, january 2014, Moscow. 10 RAWs averaged.

Alternate colors:

(1200 * 900)

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Collection of hexagonal plate crystals

Simple hexagonal plates is one of my favourite snowflake types. These small crystals are usually no more than 1.5 millimeters in diameter, and most of them are not larger than 1 millimeter. But, despite its small size and very simple form, they have their own beauty, hidden in the patterns and internal structure.

These photos are the best examples for the last two years. I'll add new crystals as it is processed.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Cryogenia

(1200 * 900)

I think, this is best snowflake of "hexagonal plate" type i captured this winter. However, it was hard to process, because i got only 4 identical shots for averaging, and in close proximity to crystal was piles of ice debris - this complicates cleaning of background. This crystal was around 1,5 mm in diameter, quite large for it's type.

Glass background with multi-colour backlight, additional lens Helios 44M-5, january 2014, Moscow.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Alternate color version:

(1200 * 900)

Rainbow flower

(1024 * 768)

This is tiny snowflake, around 1 millimeter in diameter. Colours caused by thin film optical interference effect (similar to effect on surface of soap bubbles). This winter i especially hunting for rainbow snowflakes, shooting tiny hexagonal and sectored plates like this one at horizontal glass sheet, pointing macro setup at angle with small desktop tripod. After hour of trial and error, i catched some crystals with this effect. Rest of shots (quickly processed from JPEG's) i posted here:

What colour of snow is your favorite?

This picture was made by averaging stack of 13 RAWs for better details and colors of such small object.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Version without blue color toning and vignetting:

And this is source picture after averaging 13 RAW shots, without any color/contrast changes, sharpening and noise removing (2048 * 1536):

Flying castle

Medium size snowflake, 3 or 4 millimeters in diameter. Glass background with backlight, additional lens Helios 44M-5, 8 RAWs averaged, january 2014, Moscow. Looks better in original resolution: 1600 * 1200.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Alternate colors:

(1600 * 1200)

This snowflake as desktop wallpapers in wallpapers section:

Shiny metal

Another snowflake of my favourite type, simple hexagonal plates. This one was around 1 mm in diameter.

(1024 * 768)

Interesting, this "scratch" across the crystal seems to be part of it's pattern, and pattern elements at opposite sides of this scratch, though looks similar, have differences in size and shape.

Glass background with multi-colour backlight, additional lens Helios 44M-5, january 2014, Moscow. 8 RAWs averaged.

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Snowflake before and after processing (please click to view in 1:1 scale on flickr):

Silver plume

Medium size snowflake, around 3 millimeters in diameter. Glass background with backlight, additional lens Helios 44M-5, 8 RAWs averaged, january 2014, Moscow.

(1866 * 1400)

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.

Mirror's edge

(1596 x 1596)

This is simple photo manipulation, just for fun: two color variants of same snowflake blended in "difference" mode, and contrast curve applied to make picture brighten. Although this is false colors, their distribution across the picture based on real colors of source image. Original images:

Title borrowed from game Mirror's Edge (i really like it's visual style).

More snowflakes in album snowflakes and snow crystals.
Also i wrote small article about my shooting technique.