Incredible Examples of Snowflake Photography

Dec. 16, 2009  |  Compilation  |  80 comments

Although the web is a great place to look for quick inspiration for a project, nothing can beat going on a long walk in nature.

The summer brings us sunny days, fields full of crops and plenty of insects and wildlife, whereas the winter brings us rain, icy roads and snow.

When Christmas comes around we often find people looking at plastic tree decorations saying “snowflakes don’t look like that!”. That, of course, is where they are all wrong.

With a decent camera and zoom or macro lens, things we wouldn’t normally pay too much attention to become a complete world in themselves, making them a magnificent source of inspiration for artists and designers all over the world.

Below we have collected some incredible close-up/macro shots of snowflakes to really get the arty-side of you in full flow this Christmas season.


Compiled exclusively for WDD by Callum Chapman, a freelance designer from Cambridge, UK. He is the creative mind behind Circlebox Creative and Circlebox Blog, and can often be found writing for design related blogs.

What did you think of these photos? Please share your opinion below…


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COMMENTS
  • http://www.doublejdesign.co.uk/ Jack

    Truely incredible. Amazing!

  • http://www.inveve.com creative_blondes

    Can’t even believe how the ice can naturally take such a complex looking form.

  • http://www.imarscreative.com Kim

    Beautiful!

  • http://www.flutterbutterdesigns.com/blog Denise

    Wow! These are just totally amazing! If you’d said “pick a favorite” I wouldn’t be able to. But I do have to say the first one would give the rest a run for their money!

  • Raul Simionas

    How perfectly shaped are the snowflakes. It’s ridiculous to believe that all this amazing nature comes from the evolution, it’s obviously the hand of a higher Power.

    • hotmac

      Every snowflake? Oh my god, this woman tries hard! ;-) (A little science knowledge would supersede such comments.)

  • http://www.pixelcrea.com Graphiste freelance

    Wonderfull, I take my canon and go out :)

  • Lazy_007

    * * * * *
    * Amazing snowflake! * *
    * * * * * *
    * * * *

  • http://www.literaryspring.com Rebecca

    Some of those are stunning.

  • http://www.aledesign.it aledesign.it

    Incredible post!! Emotional!! So nice!! Thanks!!!

  • http://www.jennyleighb.com Jenny
  • http://kallaydoscope.info Kallay

    Wow, those are unbelievable. Gorgeous!

  • http://www.goldweb.es esteban

    amazing the pictures xd! congratulations for the post! i always read it. bye

  • Shaunyk

    Thanks for such a fantastic post. Wow.

    I’m sure I’m not the only one wanting to know the answer to this: How on earth do you go about getting such amazing shots?

    • Raul Simionas

      Are the shots amazing, or the snowflakes??? I think it’s a misunderstanding.

      • Shaunyk

        To me it’s the shots that are amazing. Billions of similar snowflakes fall every single day but it’s not often they are captured for the like of us to admire in this way.

  • http://sexidesign.com Melody

    I finally realize the design from my paper snowflake cut outs in elementary were right! haha..these are so sick!

  • http://thegoldenflux.com/ Andrea Pelizzardi

    Some of them are unbelievable.
    Really cool :)

  • JotaSolano

    I don’t think a regular macro lens allows to take those pictures… u’ill need a special 5:1 macro lens or something like that, needless to say, very expensive lenses lol… and quite a lot of patience and experience.

  • http://gulati.info Austin

    You should have thrown an image of a paper snowflake in the end. :)

    Great photos, though.

  • http://www.hamsashawls.com/ Sylvia

    The most beautiful collection of snowflake photography I have ever seen! Thank You for posting these wonderful images ~

  • http://blog.brochuresprintingonline.com/ Girlie | Brochures Printing Online

    Lovely! Nature always has a way to amaze people. I’m thinking of using one of these as my desktop wallpaper.

  • http://www.2expertsdesign.com 2expertsDesign

    Agree. It’s really hard to find high quality photos. Thanks for you effort!

  • http://www.orphicpixel.com Mars

    wow, amazing photos you got here…

  • http://blog.aceinfowayindia.com Ajay

    Awesome post! Thanks.

  • http://bigbuddymedia.com Big Buddy

    Awesome view of one small part of God’s creation! Thanks for posting!

    • hotmac

      What’s all this fuss about? Is this site becoming a platform for creationists?

  • http://bobybarra.com Bob Ybarra

    Incredible how something so basic as ice crystals formed from water attached to dust in cold temperature can be so beautiful. Now consider how its form allows it to attach to others like it to form a blanket that will melt slowly so to nurish the earth.

  • http://www.moinid.com Creative ideas

    Great inspiration for xmas time

  • http://www.empfehlenswert-wien.at wien

    Amazing, nice post

  • http://kollywoodmoviereview.blogspot.com/ venksh

    Wow awesome picx of snowflakes…

  • http://circleboxblog.com Callum Chapman

    I’m glad you all liked my post! They really incredible tiny little pieces of nature!

    More like this from me to come f’sure! :)

  • http://www.online-blogger.net Indrek

    Simply amazing photos!

  • http://www.giselejaquenod.com.ar/blog Gis

    Amazing :O

  • http://www.smashingshare.com Waheed Akhtar

    Beauuutiful…excellent photography and collection. Thanks Callum

  • http://www.creativeindividual.co.uk Laura

    These are just incredible. Its mind boggling how they have perfect rotational symmetry! How does that happen? And of course, I am very jealous of the photography skills of ALL the showcased artists! =D Thanks so so much WDD and to those who shared their work. And Merry Christmas everyone!

  • http://www.sgdoeschwitz.de BigM75

    nice photos

  • http://www.twitter.com/ronigomes Roni Gomes

    Amazing … Perfect photos!!

  • http://www.crearedesign.co.uk James

    Wow, some incredible photos.

    Nature truly is the greatest designer, some of those shapes are so perfect it’s almost unbelievable.

    These guys must have some expensive macro lenses, I’d love to give this a try.

  • http://www.mynewyorkcityphotos.com Katie

    Wow, that is the only time I have ever scrolled through and looked at every single photo on the list!

    • http://circleboxblog.com Callum Chapman

      I’m glad you enjoyed it so much, there was a lot to take in and look at! :) I looked at each photo for about 5 minutes when I was compiling the list, I was fascinated! :D

  • M.R.

    Beautiful pix. Have always been amazed at the formation of a snow flake. Thanks for posting.

  • http://www.lorenzemlicka.com Loren

    Hello,

    Thank you for featuring my photo “Birth of a Snowflake” (third one down – ice crystal forming inside a frozen water drop). A truly remarkable collection of photos for sure.

    In case anyone is wondering, this photo was taken with the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens.

    Thanks Again!

    • http://circleboxblog.com Callum Chapman

      No problem Loren, is a magnificent photo :) I gotta get myself one of those lenses!

  • http://web4half.com EmmA SmIth

    Great Shot…Few Wonders of our earth..

    I totally love it….

    Truely incredible

    W/ lots of love and Kiss.

    Emma.

  • D Talor

    Wow! Isn’t nature a wonderful masterpiece?

  • http://www.classesandcareers.com/ Teacher Teacher

    Amazing how something I dislike when it all falls on my car and driveway is so appealing when individualized. Some great photos here. I found the one that looks like it fell a bit before it completely formed to be the most intriguing. (The one labeled Flickr 2145993104 – 6th from the bottom in this post.) The others seem perfectly symmetrical, so this one stands out from the rest.

  • http://armine.name Armine

    wow :*

  • Nic bonnet0uk

    Please be aware these are not his photos, one was taken by me and has been linked to from my flickr account, as have the rest.

    • http://circleboxblog.com Callum Chapman

      That’s why the post is called what it’s called, it’s a showcase of photographers work, not my work! I have an interest in Photography and appreciate it but I wouldn’t know where to start :)

  • http://www.flickr.com/photos/rshephorse/sets/72157611507808966/ RShepHorse

    If you’d like to use my shot [multicolored one] for anything, just ask.
    Can see the rest of my snowflake macro shots here:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/rshephorse/sets/72157611507808966/

    I’m taking my shots with a cheap e-series nikon lens on bellows [to hold the lens far away from the camera]. It takes a lot of patience. The hardest part is getting everything set correctly before the darn thing melts! This usually means working when and where it’s way below freezing.

    • Nic bonnet0uk

      I saw and read about yours when I put mine up earlier this year, they’re stunning.

  • Nic bonnet0uk

    I took mine with a standard 18-55 kit lens on backwards using a reverse ring.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/bonnet0uk/sets/72157622898379671/

  • http://www.bwired.com.au Steve Martin

    Wow! Amazing Photographs…. I really wonder at nature seeing these images…. Awesome… Thanks for sharing….

  • http://www.chotrul.com/design/design-showcase.html Chotrul Web Design

    Wonderful. Really nice to see on the day that Essex, UK was utterly blanketed in snow.

    Nature is truly the greatest designer!

  • http://www.ronaud.com Ronaud Pereira

    Incredible! Nice photos!!!

  • http://www.webnwordwiz.com Rene

    I’ve always been fascinated with “real” snowflakes. These photos are outstanding.

  • http://hendrabozzie.wordpress.com/ hendra

    amazing…,

  • http://richbugger.wordpress.com Richie

    Stunning…. just love it

  • Iliyan Petrov

    “Although the web is a great place to look for quick inspiration for a project, nothing can beat going on a long walk in nature.”

    The first parapraph said it all.

  • Heather

    So very cool… thanks!

  • http://www.watervoices.com William Waterway Marks

    Yes – makes you wonder where the invisible artist is

  • http://www.psprint.com/ Ashely Adams : Online Printing

    Snow. The perfect association for December. What a wonderful way to end the year. Also, a great homage to Nature’s own art. Can anybody beat it?

  • http://www.afino.ru afino

    Unbelievable! Nature is nice!

  • Fred

    If you’d like to see how I take my snowflake images and a lot more examples please check out my set on Flickr.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/fwwidall/sets/72157603415282264/

    • Nic bonnet0uk

      I remember reading this about a year ago, beautiful images, I wish we had more snow to be able to try this.

  • http://www.shariblog.com Amit

    its incredible..vry beautiful..seems like a capture from macro lens..the drop looks so mystic..great one..

  • Fearium

    Here is one of my snowflake photos ^^

    http://fearium.deviantart.com/art/Snowflake-2-147489367

  • http://newskyweb.xpg.com.br Loren

    Preeeeetty! How they got this? Incredible!

  • http://juliefurbush.com Julie Furbush

    So cool…amazing they come down in that shape. Possible to make paper snowflakes that cool too: http://www.juliefurbush.com/blog/?p=193

  • http://www.webtechwise.com/ Omer

    truly amazing collection! thanks for sharing

  • http://www.ansgear.com Bill

    Really great to look at the details of each one. You never know how amazing it is when it is falling and freezing you.

  • http://www.benstokesmarketing.co.uk Ben Stokes

    Nice images – amazing how crisp they are . . . . keep up the good work

  • http://www.wearingrainbows.com/mens-waistcoats-ties-c-2659.html Billy

    It’s incredible how intricate some of them are, and great photography capturing them

  • http://www.downeastwebdesign.com web design new york

    Amazing designs!!! can we use it for our clients?

    • Nic

      No you can’t. You leave yourself open to prosecution if you do I will if I find someone using my work without my permission.

  • doramoldovan

    great photos

  • http://photos.jmleclercq.com jmleclercq

    Great work !!

  • Ahmad

    OH YES !!!
    Nice …

  • http://fotogrossomodo.blogspot.com/ Claudia

    Very cool serie, …well done!