Ice Ribbon

Yesterday morning I was at the Pea Ridge Military park in Northern Arkansas and saw what I thought were pieces of shredded plastic on a hillside along the road. Upon checking I found ice formations that looked like ribbons. They were very delicate and melted very quickly. This one was about 5" at the widest part and about 3-4"s tall. A search of the web showed that they are called "Ice Ribbons" or "Ice Flowers".

50D 1/400, f7.1, ISO 200, 70-200 @ 200.

Thanks for looking.

The name I've commonly heard them called is "ice flowers". And you've got a nice one here - probably minutes away from dissolving! Delicate, but beautiful!

Playing with that new toy eh? Nice capture!

interesting formation, I don't think I've ever seen one--how are you liking the 50D?

The scene along the hillside looked like something out of a Steven King movie will all the Ribbons or Flowers looking beautiful in the shade and quickly dissolving as soon as the sun hit them. I had never seen this before, so I stopped at the Ranger Station and asked about them. The "Lady Ranger" gave me some type of made-up story about the swirling wind and the morning dew when the temp dropped. Nice try - but I didn't buy it...

Glenn & Rob - So far these are the only shots with the new toy. The lighting was flat, the wind was cold, and we were on our way somewhere so I didn't have a whole lot of time to play. But - that said - I love the camera. My one question to you Rob - since you also have one - Do you have a problem with the shutter button being overly sensitive ? I seem to snap off two shots when I use the same amount of pressure I used for only one on my 20D. Glenn was having the same problem with the camera when he was playing with it Saturday evening. Is there a way to adjust the sensitivity ? Or do I just have a heavy touch ?

Hey Merle. Nice lighting on this subject.. good job. I saw some of these ice flowers yesterday near the Mulberry river. I believe these are caused by liquid in the stems of plants expanding as it freezes. I remember the first time I saw them years ago I had a similar impression - that they were plastic.

Merle, you have a really nice speciman there! The first time I saw this was on the Eleven Point River in Missouri, way back in the 70's. Like you did, I thought at first there was trash all over the ground.

Oh that's cool Merle, what a find!

I don't think it is much more sensitive than my 30D. However, it does seem to shoot faster, so it doesn't take much to fire a burst of 2 or 3 images. Try it in slow burst mode instead of fast burst; it feels like the camera is barely shooting.

Hey Rob - - DUH !!!!!! All I had to do is set it to the single shot mode. I hate it when I try to make things more comlicated than they are...

I've seen Tim E. post shots of stuff similar to this and have always wanted to see this in person. No luck so far but then again you have to get out when their "growing" to see them. That may be the problem!

Quite impressive litter you have there Merle. Thanks for sharing!

Nice find Merle, much like Wayne, I have yet to see one of these ice flowers in person.

Those graceful little frost flowers are really beautiful when you get down close to see them. There have been a couple of mornings this fall when there have been hundreds of them formed in small areas all over the place. Unfortunately, I've always been on my way to work, and couldn't get down on the ground to shoot them without getting pretty dirty. Guess I need to start carrying an old blanket to lay on...