abstracts On Ice

For reasons unknown to me, some farmers will water a portion of their field

continuously for days in below-freezing weather. Any tuft of vegetation or

blade of grass will gradually build a thick layer of ice, and these begin to

merge into a cobblestone-like covering over the field. There is no great

beauty or depth here, just something that one doesn't frequently see. Your

comments and suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks.

Without reading your descrition, I would never know what they are in the picture.  Interesting indeed.  Nice capture with the light.  Best Regards,

I was at first fascinated by the abstract nature of the image, Then, upon reading your description, I looked further into the image. Thanks for that wonderful description and interesting photograph.

Nice to see what you can discover if you have an open view. 

Good eye Stephen.  I enjoy looking at the unusual shapes produced by nature...and man.

Interesting.......I wonder why they do that. Does it help certain types of crops or something? I was thinking it looks like egg shells but I never would have guessed what it really was.

I know farmers will sometimes apply ice to crops to keep them at close to freezing when the air temperature is predicted to be considerably colder than freezing -- it's sort of a blanket made of ice, if that makes sense.  However, this was being done to a field that had already been harvested, and I could see no new crops coming up at the time.  In addition, it was being applied to only a portion of a very large field, which puzzles me even more.  If there are no large dogs around, I may stop to ask.  I was also thinking this would have been a good candidate for focus stacking, because I had to shoot at an angle from a distance with medium format, all of which will decrease the DOF.

Stephen,

The range of tones is very nice with some of the ice balls appearing to be translucent. I like this as an abstract but with your explanation it becomes a great documentary image. Nicely seen and photographed.

Jim

I like it. It looks very much like a field of lain eggs from some sort of strange bird.  Nice image, rek.

Very interesting indeed! Focus stacking would really make this work on a new level and it isn't terribly difficult if you have a newer version of Photoshop. I would consider cropping the top of the darker and bluer ice. I'm guessing the farmers need to keep the water flowing to avoid having the underground pipes from freezing and cracking, but just a guess!

Mark, I agree --- the top should be cropped if I want this to be more uniform.  I've already cropped the top and bottom to remove portions that I just could not get in focus; a bit more won't hurt.  I intentionally selected a portion of the field that was completely iced over with relatively uniform "ice eggs."  Other portions of the field had ice that was more clear, but the vegetation showed through and the look was not as uniform.

Also, these were made by above-ground sprinkler pipes.  Even underground pipes can (and are) blown out each fall and cleared of all water that could freeze.  That's standard procedure in town for yards that have underground sprinkling systems.  Maybe they do this for the wellhead itself, a component that could not be blown out and cleared of water. 

I'm no stranger to ice, and I actually know about this technique to protect crops.  However, I had no idea it made this kind of cobblestone effect, which is quite extraordinary.  There is a translucence that almost makes these look like misshapen light bulbs.  It makes a wonderful abstract on it's own, but your documentary info makes this even more compelling.  Thanks!  I love this as is, but I also tried a levels adjustment on it and added a little more contrast.....this made a different effect, which I also liked.

I concur with the recommendation to crop a bit off the top. IMHO there is enough shadow and light on the ice to make it interesting. perhaps you noticed it but the shadowed ice more or less runs in a diagonal position (bottom left to top right) and I also find that appealing. A fine image indeed!