Icicle sunbursts

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
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Icicle-1
Icicle-12000×2000 1.9 MB

Icicle-2
Icicle-22000×2000 1.87 MB

While I have a very few landscape images with sunbursts (sunflares, sunstars, pick your name…), one of my favorite activities is to get colored sunbursts in icicles. To get colored sunbursts, you have to find the few, very specific angles at which these can be seen. In this case, the icicle was formed by bright sunlight melting a dusting of snow on the leaves of a magnolia tree in my MD yard. Since the air temperature was below freezing the dripping water formed icicles. The two versions posted here occur because the leaf came to slightly different resting places after being moved by the breeze. That change in angle provides the different colors in the sunburst.

7D2, 180 mm macro L, 1/100 s, f/16, iso 400, tripod

You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
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Very cool, Mark. I really like both, but have a slight preference for the second one. I like the larger “sun” a bit more.

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Very cool images, Mark. Interesting how such a small change in angle produced the color change.

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Mark, I’m sure I would have really missed this excellent sunburst. Both are wonderful images and I do not find a preference here. A perfect execution on photographing this neat phenomenon…:+1:

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These are both Awesome Mark! Can’t decide which one I prefer (like it matters…) Perhaps the first one - quite unique I think having the green in the flare? Beautifully captured and great entry in the WC!

Lon