Frost Orchid
This is one of those 3D images that just appears as chaos in 2D, yet comes alive with incredible depth and volume when viewing in 3D. This is set up as a cross-view image, other view types below!
To “cross-view” a 3D image, you need to cross your eyes. Make sure the image is taking up 25% or less of your field of view, then cross your eyes just enough so that they overlap. The goal is to see three images, and focus in on the middle one. This should pop into clear focus with a level of depth and detail that will make you say wow. :)
If you have a 3D viewer like a VR headset (think Google Cardboard) or a stereoscope, here is a “side-by-side” or “parallel” view that works perfectly with this equipment: donkom.ca/stereo/DKP_3289-parallel.jpg
If you have a pair of those dorky red/blue anaglyph glasses kicking around, you can use them to see this version in 3D: donkom.ca/stereo/DKP_3289-anaglyph.jpg
Have a 3D TV that you never use the 3D features of? Throw this file on a USB drive and view it on your TV, most of them have built-in software to show it to you in 3D automatically: donkom.ca/stereo/DKP_3289-3DTV.mpo
Okay, so here we are, staring at an orchid flower covered in frost. How? By placing this flower above a heated dog bowl, just a centimeter above the water’s surface, on the coldest night so far this winter. You can buy dog bowls that keep the water temperature in the bowl just above the freezing point with a low-power heating element underneath. The water evaporates and cools, ready to form frost on any nearby surface.
The orchid flower can’t survive the cold, but it freezes solid before it can show any signs of its death. Thaw it out and it wilts instantly! They also become incredibly fragile and will shatter if handled too harshly – I destroyed two before I realized how gentle I needed to be.
The heated dog bowl is a novel idea, but I know it heats up the water a little too much. If the temperature could be regulated to keep things just below the freezing point, the kind of frost being generated would be less feather-like and more like clamshells with pristinely defined angles and growth ridges. This is the kind of frost I have been trying to grow for a few years, and haven’t found the proper “recipe” yet. The experimentation continues in this area!
Moving such a fragile object, now covered in frost, was only a partial success. Some of the frost crystals fell off instantly when trying to move the subject into a photographically useful position, something I thing cannot be avoided 100%, but in the future I’ll try clamping it in place with a “Plamp” rather than the more utilitarian “third hand tool”, where the metal base froze to the surrounding ice and snow.
Lessons learned and this image is a stepping stone towards something hopefully even better – but a mini success that I feel is very much worth sharing. :)
If you’d like to know more about the science of snowflakes with an exhaustive and comprehensive tutorial on how to photograph and edit these little gems – applicable to extreme macro photography in general - check out my book Sky Crystals:
Hardcover: www.skycrystals.ca/book/
eBook: www.skycrystals.ca/ebook/
Other things you might be interested in:
2018 Macro Photography Workshop Schedule: www.donkom.ca/workshops/
2018 Ice Crystals Coin from the Royal Canadian Mint featuring my snowflakes: www.mint.ca/store/coins/coin-prod3040427
“The Snowflake” print, taking 2500 hours to create: skycrystals.ca/product/poster-proof/
Photo Geek Weekly, my new podcast: www.photogeekweekly.com/
Frost Orchid
This is one of those 3D images that just appears as chaos in 2D, yet comes alive with incredible depth and volume when viewing in 3D. This is set up as a cross-view image, other view types below!
To “cross-view” a 3D image, you need to cross your eyes. Make sure the image is taking up 25% or less of your field of view, then cross your eyes just enough so that they overlap. The goal is to see three images, and focus in on the middle one. This should pop into clear focus with a level of depth and detail that will make you say wow. :)
If you have a 3D viewer like a VR headset (think Google Cardboard) or a stereoscope, here is a “side-by-side” or “parallel” view that works perfectly with this equipment: donkom.ca/stereo/DKP_3289-parallel.jpg
If you have a pair of those dorky red/blue anaglyph glasses kicking around, you can use them to see this version in 3D: donkom.ca/stereo/DKP_3289-anaglyph.jpg
Have a 3D TV that you never use the 3D features of? Throw this file on a USB drive and view it on your TV, most of them have built-in software to show it to you in 3D automatically: donkom.ca/stereo/DKP_3289-3DTV.mpo
Okay, so here we are, staring at an orchid flower covered in frost. How? By placing this flower above a heated dog bowl, just a centimeter above the water’s surface, on the coldest night so far this winter. You can buy dog bowls that keep the water temperature in the bowl just above the freezing point with a low-power heating element underneath. The water evaporates and cools, ready to form frost on any nearby surface.
The orchid flower can’t survive the cold, but it freezes solid before it can show any signs of its death. Thaw it out and it wilts instantly! They also become incredibly fragile and will shatter if handled too harshly – I destroyed two before I realized how gentle I needed to be.
The heated dog bowl is a novel idea, but I know it heats up the water a little too much. If the temperature could be regulated to keep things just below the freezing point, the kind of frost being generated would be less feather-like and more like clamshells with pristinely defined angles and growth ridges. This is the kind of frost I have been trying to grow for a few years, and haven’t found the proper “recipe” yet. The experimentation continues in this area!
Moving such a fragile object, now covered in frost, was only a partial success. Some of the frost crystals fell off instantly when trying to move the subject into a photographically useful position, something I thing cannot be avoided 100%, but in the future I’ll try clamping it in place with a “Plamp” rather than the more utilitarian “third hand tool”, where the metal base froze to the surrounding ice and snow.
Lessons learned and this image is a stepping stone towards something hopefully even better – but a mini success that I feel is very much worth sharing. :)
If you’d like to know more about the science of snowflakes with an exhaustive and comprehensive tutorial on how to photograph and edit these little gems – applicable to extreme macro photography in general - check out my book Sky Crystals:
Hardcover: www.skycrystals.ca/book/
eBook: www.skycrystals.ca/ebook/
Other things you might be interested in:
2018 Macro Photography Workshop Schedule: www.donkom.ca/workshops/
2018 Ice Crystals Coin from the Royal Canadian Mint featuring my snowflakes: www.mint.ca/store/coins/coin-prod3040427
“The Snowflake” print, taking 2500 hours to create: skycrystals.ca/product/poster-proof/
Photo Geek Weekly, my new podcast: www.photogeekweekly.com/