Today's image was taken just a couple of weeks ago in Constable Burton in Wensleydale. It was a very misty day with plenty of potential of making a nice close up of leaves due to hoar frost that stayed all day.
When passing Constable Burton I always stop to take a look at the waterfall. However, the hoar frost took priority as everywhere around was crystallised making for excellent close-up work. On my return from collecting my camera gear from the car I came across this image I've named 'Ice Blue'. I was just about to place my bag on the nearby bench when I noticed the leaf seen in the image straddled perfectly between two slats that make up part of the bench. As soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to make something of it. I worked out that the best lens to use would be 45mm Nikon micro lens but the biggest problem was working out how to set up my rather long tripod to straddle the bench yet be close enough to create the image I envisaged through my Linhoff viewer. Finally after around half an hour of tussling with the tripod I nearly had the image framed. The problem was that the tripod couldn't quite angle the camera directly above the image. Fortunately, I was able to take advantage of the shift aspect of the lens to bring the image in line.
I have to say that when I got to view the image at 100% back home the detail is extraordinary. A close up of the image reveals pin sharp ice crystals in minute detail. I can't wait to print this image out.