In the late nineteenth century , Wilson A. Bentleycaptured the first known photo of snowbird . Not only did his life ’s study popularize the idea that no two Plectrophenax nivalis are on the button the same , but it also demonstrated just how stunning each intricate pattern really was .
Snowflakephotographyhas progress over the last century or so , and Nathan Myhrvold just brought it to a new level with what he believe are the mellow - resolution snowflake snapshots ever taken . Afterleavinghis job as Microsoft ’s chief engineering officer in 1999 , Myhrvold foundedModernist Cuisine , a food innovation company that encompasses a cooking lab , several intellectual nourishment photography books , and a like fine art picture gallery . AsSmithsonian Magazinereports , he ’s also pass the last 15 old age nurturing an interest group in harness snowflake photos .
Two years ago , he started developing his own specialised camera to do it . To keep the snowflakes from melting before he could snap any picture , Myhrvold fit out his machine with a thermoelectrical cooling system andLED brightness — cooler than other lights — that flash about 1000 times quicker than even camera lights . He ’d get a batch of snow bunting on a black foam plank and then use a midget paintbrush to push the good flake onto a slide made of synthetic sapphire ( which acquit less estrus thanglass ) .
The type ofsnowhad to be utter , too : cold than what falls in the Pacific Northwest and dryer than anything the humid East Coast can usually offer . “ Somewhere between -15 ° F and -20 ° F is the flake - shooting odoriferous smear , ” Myhrvold toldSmithsonian . He notice that sweet blot in Ontario , Canada .
Myhrvold ’s arcanum to creating his unambiguously eminent - answer images is computer software that overlay 100 shots of each snowflake , forming crisp and more scintillatingpictures . Wilson Bentley would surely be filled with wonder and pride .
[ h / tSmithsonian Magazine ]
