Photophys.com: The Science of Photography

The Carolinas' Nature Photographers Association (cnpa.org) is a great organization.  On January 16 we gathered at Kill Devil Hills, NC, for a weekend of nature photography.  Saturday, Jan. 17, was reported to be the coldest day in five years, and on Sunday the 18th it rained all day.  However, 52 great images were submitted for the weekend photo contest on Sunday night.  We got together on Monday morning to view the images and to hear the judges conclusions.  You can see the images here.

 On Saturday at sunrise I was standing with a group of photographers in a field near Pungo Lake.  We were trying to photography Snow Geese, but they were too far away for my 100-400mm lens.  It was beautiful but cold (12F), and I was looking around for other photo opportunities.  Behind us were weeds and bamboo shoots backlighted and glistening.  I made a number of photographs handheld with my 28-135mm IS lens without really realizing what a wonderland of ice crystals was being displayed.  When I studied the images on my notebook computer that night, I saw the forest of crystals.  One of my images is shown here.  This image won second prize.  It is interesting to note that birds were not the subject of any of the award winning photographs.