Project 365 - Day 25 - Blue Ice

This week has been very cold in Toronto.  There were a couple of days that the temp dropped below -14 deg Celsius and that is before the wind chill.  Of course those are the days that I ended up going out to shoot.  :-)

I have been working some long hours at work this week, and as such the time for shooting, editing and posting is dwindling.  I realize that this post is late, but the shot itself was made well before the deadline of midnight eastern.

Today's shot is of some blue ice that is hanging off one of the satellite dishes at work.  This ice is not really blue, but it's also not a photoshop trick.  This is the result of firing a speedlight with a blue gel at the icicle.  I am actually shooting through the icicle, and the speedlight is aimed at the camera.  I shortened the shutter speed to get rid of the background - well most of it - as it is uninteresting and muddled.  Who want's to look at the back of a bunch of antennas?  Well, who else besides myself anyway?  :-)

Here's the shot. 

 

See how the blue light catches some of the snowflakes that are falling?  I wanted to bring out the texture of the ice, where the cascading water has come down the icicle.  The water is actually melted snow and ice from the antenna.  In the winter, we melt the snow out of the antenna as it interferes with the signal going to the satellite.  This is the result of a week of cold temps and a couple of snowfalls.  I have seen times when the bottom lip of the antenna looks like it is attached to the ground by an icicle.

Post on this one was white balance adjust to bring the snow closer to white..  There is a security light behind me here, and it's a yellow tinted light, so it cast yellow everywhere.  That was one of the reasons why I chose the blue gel.