Snowflake wallpaper: Sunflower

Unusual snow crystal Sunflower now available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

Wallpaper available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800x600 pixels (SVGA) to 3840x2160 (Ultra HD 4K).

Sunflower

Snowflake photo: Sunflower (1600 x 1200)

Prints available at Artist website (mirrors at Pixels and FineArtAmerica), RedBubble.com.
Licenses for commercial use - at Shutterstock.com, 500px.com.

This is very interesting snowflake: with big and flat central hexagon (almost without any features), relief outer rim and arms with many ridges - quite unusual combination. This is medium size snow crystal, just 3 millimeters from tip to tip; but that large and empty center was easily noticeable even with naked eye, and it instantly attract my attention. This snowflake remind me sunflower: with short, broad icy "petals" and inner "lines of seeds".

8 identical RAW photos, taken as quick series, was averaged to boost signal-to-noise ratio of this picture. Snowflake was captured on glass background with LED back light, with additional lens Helios 44M-5, in Moscow, Russia.

And this is version in alternate colors:

Snowflake photo: Sunflower golden (1600 x 1200)

Prints available at Artist website (mirrors at Pixels and FineArtAmerica), RedBubble.com.
Licenses for commercial use - at Shutterstock.com, 500px.com.

And here is computer generated pencil drawing of this snowflake, done in wonderful free program FotoSketcher:

Snowflake pencil drawing: Sunflower (1280 x 960)

Also, this crystal available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

I already processed two more snowflakes from same amazing snowfall of January 3, 2016: Winter fortress and Serenity:

And here is another snowflake from previous winter: Dusty mirror - it slightly remind me new one: this crystal also have big and flat central hexagon, where only visible feature is pattern of tiny dots, relief outer rim and short arms with nice details:

If you want to see more snowflakes, you can browse through all snowflake pictures.
Here you'll find snowflake photo wallpapers in numerous resolutions and screen proportions, up to Ultra HD 4K.
And here is article about snowflake macro photography.

Snowflake wallpaper: Steering wheel

Unusual snowflake Steering wheel now available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

Wallpaper available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800x600 pixels (SVGA) to 3840x2160 (Ultra HD 4K).

Snowflake wallpaper: Cloud number nine

Winter is coming, as House Stark motto says, and i've created ultra HD wallpaper from picture of very big fernlike dendrite snowflake "Cloud number nine":

This monstrous crystal available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800x600 pixels (SVGA) to 5120x2880 (Ultra HD 5K).

New snowflake wallpaper: the core

Beautiful transparent snowflake The core now available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

Wallpaper available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800 x 600 pixels (SVGA) to 3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD 4K).

Reworked snowflake wallpaper: Alioth

Unusual snowflake Alioth now available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

This is reworked version of wallpaper i've already made. Now it have slightly better colors, contrast and vignetting, and no chromatic aberrations.

Wallpaper available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800x600 pixels (SVGA) to 3840x2160 (Ultra HD 4K).

New snowflake wallpaper: starlight

Stellar dendrite crystal Starlight now available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

This is one of my favorite snowflake photos. I processed this crystal in 2013, but then i made a mistake and was not saved uncropped version. This prevents me to make wallpaper version, until i re-processed that photo.

Wallpaper available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800x600 pixels (SVGA) to 3840x2160 (Ultra HD 4K).

New snowflake wallpaper: leaves of ice

Big and beautiful fernlike dendrite snowflake Leaves of ice now available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

Wallpaper available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800 x 600 pixels (SVGA) to 3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD 4K).

Leaves of ice

Snowflake photo: Leaves of ice (2560 x 1920)

Prints available at Artist website (mirrors at Pixels and FineArtAmerica), RedBubble.com.
Licenses for commercial use - at Shutterstock.com, 500px.com.

I'll try to process more snowflake photos from previous winters till the next season. There is lots of nice crystals waiting processing!

This is quite big fernlike dendrite snowflake, around 6 millimeters from tip to tip. This crystal have good symmetry and interesting wavy "leaves", which reminds me shape of oak tree leaves.

6 serial RAW photos, taken as quick sequence, was averaged to boost signal-to-noise ratio of this picture. Background: dark grey woolen fabric, diffused light of grey cloudy sky, external optics Helios 44, January 2014, Moscow.

This snowflake available as ultra HD wallpaper:

If you want to see more snowflakes, you can surf all snowflake photos.
And here is article about snowflake macro photography.

New snowflake wallpaper: forget-me-not

Small and beautiful snowflake Forget-me-not now available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

Available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800 x 600 pixels (SVGA) to 3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD 4K).

New snowflake wallpaper: gardener's dream

One of my favorite snowflakes, Gardener's dream, now available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

Wallpaper available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800x600 pixels (SVGA) to 3840x2160 (Ultra HD 4K).

Forget-me-not

Snowflake photo: Forget-me-not (1200 x 900)

Prints of this snow flower available at Artist website (mirrors at Pixels and FineArtAmerica), RedBubble.com.
Licenses for commercial use - at Shutterstock.com, 500px.com.

This snowflake definitely one of most beautiful specimens from all my catch of January 2015 (and one of my personal favorites). This is very small snow crystal, slightly bigger than 1 millimeter, but it contains unusually complex and dense inner pattern for such tiny size. It reminds me small flower Forget-me-not. In Russia, we call this flower незабудка (niezabudka), which means the same: forget me not.

Processing of this jewel was quite easy. I captured it at large sheet of glass, using LED back lighting and additional lens Helios 44M-5, attached in front of my camera for bigger magnification. 8 identical RAW photos was averaged for much lower noise and better details.

You might also like this tiny snowflake with simple shape, but complex pattern: Flower within a flower. That snowflake was also captured in January, three weeks before:

Here you'll find realistic vector version of this snowflake and simplified version in two colors (in EPS / SVG formats and high resolution rasterized PNGs). Of course, vectorization process simplifies snowflake details and reduces number of colors, but still, i like how it turns out, and ability to stretch it to any size without further loss of details is really great!

Also, this snowflake available as ultra HD wallpaper:

If you want to see more snowflakes, you can browse through all snowflake pictures.
And here is article about snowflake macro photography.

New wallpaper: bluebells 2 (lightpainting)

Still life picture Bluebells, created in light painting technique, available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

Wallpaper available in screen proportions 4:3, 5:4, 16:10 and 16:9, resolutions from 800 x 600 pixels (SVGA) to 3840 x 2160 (Ultra HD 4K).

Gardener's dream

Snowflake photo: Gardener's dream (2212 x 1659)

Prints available at Artist website (mirrors at Pixels and FineArtAmerica), RedBubble.com.
Licenses for commercial use - at Shutterstock.com, Marketplace.500px.com.

This snowflake is one of my all-time favorites. This is large stellar dendrite snow crystal (around 5 millimeters from tip to tip), slightly melted and partially covered with small bubbles of rime. It looks unusual, with it's massive tree-like branches and big central hexagon, divided by six sectors. This crystal remind me tiny planet of The Little Prince, which is teared apart by roots of six overgrown baobabs.

I was lucky with lighting of this crystal, and even drops of rime (usually i do not like them) looks not too bad on these "baobab branches". This weird crystal was captured December 2014 in Moscow, Russia, on glass surface with LED back light, using additional lens Helios 44M-5. 11 identical RAW photos, taken as fast series, was averaged to boost signal/noise ratio of final image. After averaging step, i've done my usual post-processing work with the crystal.

Also, i processed this snowflake in different colors:

Snowflake photo: Gardener's dream, alternate colors (2212 x 1659)

Prints available at Artist website (mirrors at Pixels and FineArtAmerica), RedBubble.com.
Licenses for commercial use - at Shutterstock.com, Marketplace.500px.com.

Here you'll find realistic vector version of this snowflake and simplified version in two colors (in EPS / SVG formats and high resolution rasterized PNGs). Although automatic vectorization process simplifies snowflake structure and reduces number of colors, but still, i like how it looks, and ability to stretch this snowflake to any size without further loss of details is really great!

This interesting crystal also available as ultra HD wallpaper:

Snowfalls of that day, December 26, 2014, bring us good amount of interesting crystals. I've already processed two more snowflakes: Winter technologies and High voltage and have many other good specimens to work with!

If you want to see more snowflakes, you can browse through all snowflake pictures.
Here is article about snowflake macro photography.

Steering wheel

Snowflake photo: Steering wheel (1880 x 1410)

Prints available at: Artist website (mirrors at Pixels.com and FineArtAmerica.com), RedBubble.com.
Licenses for commercial use - at Shutterstock.com, Marketplace.500px.com.

This is medium size (3 millimeters in diameter or slightly more) and quite unusual snowflake, with its long, straight arms without any branches and ring of very thin and clean icy "petals" around center. I have not remember any similar crystal from 8 winters of snowflake photography.

7 serial shots was averaged to boost signal-to-noise ratio. Background: dark woolen fabric, natural light (cloudy sky), external optics Helios 44M-5, January 2015, Moscow.

This snowflake also available as Ultra HD wallpaper:

If you want to see more snowflakes, you can browse through all snowflake pictures.
And here is article about snowflake macro photography.

Icy jewel

Snowflake photo: Icy jewel (2048 x 1536)

Prints of this snow crystal available at: Artist website (mirrors at Pixels and FineArtAmerica), RedBubble.com.
Licenses for commercial use - at Shutterstock.com, 500px.com.

This snowflake is relatively big (around 4 millimeters from tip to tip), with simple shape, but complex inner pattern (especially at arms). If you look closely at this crystal, you may notice that it slightly resembles triangular snowflakes (some examples: Enigma, Almost triangle and Four directions): like these snow crystals, it have hexagonal symmetry, but with interleaving shorter/longer sides of central hexagon. In this case, however, triangular structure is hardly noticeable.

Also, you can find small and simple plate crystal at surface of bigger one, and this tiny companion also have triangular structure, with three shorter and three longer sides. This is strange and beautiful couple, in my opinion.

8 identical photos averaged to boost signal-to-noise ratio. Background: dark woolen fabric, natural light (cloudy sky), external optics Helios 44M-5, December 2014, Moscow, Russia.

This jewel available as ultra HD wallpaper:

One year ago i've captured similar snowflake: The core, smaller crystal with almost perfect hexagonal symmetry and simple, though interesting, volume surface:

If you want to see more snowflakes, you can browse through all snowflake pictures.
And here is article about snowflake macro photography.