Colorized Snowflakes

by Rick Doble
From a past exhibit: snowflakes with added color
based on the landmark work by W. A. Bentley
who was a pioneer of photomicrography and who
invented a method for photographing frozen ice crystals in 1885.
Widely used by teachers and reported in the media -- see citations at the end of this presentation.

Permission To Use These

Snowflake Pictures
These colorized snowflakes are copyrighted:
Copyright Rick Doble 2000

Permission is granted to educators, teachers, schools and non-profit

organizations to use these images as long as Rick Doble is credited.
These images can be extracted from this PowerPoint presentation in a variety
of ways. PowerPoint allows each page to be exported in a number of file
formats. Find the EXPORT command and then save in the desired file format.
In addition Windows allows a simple way to screen grab an image. Press the
ALT + PrtSc(PrintScreen) top right to grab a window -- and then go into a
graphics editing program where you PASTE the screen grab -- at which point
the picture can be cropped, enhanced and then saved. There are also a
variety of screen grab apps that are part of graphics programs or available
separately -- many of these are free.

No Snowflakes Are Alike

Bentley discovered that no 2 snowflakes are alike.
This is particularly odd because virtually all hydrogen
atoms are the same and virtually all oxygen atoms are
the same -- i.e., the atoms that make up water.
Yet the frozen crystals they create in the form of snow
or ice crystals are different, even though the crystals
contain a basic similar (hexagonal) structure.
"...it's unlikely that any two complex snow crystals,
out of all those made over the entire history of the
planet, have ever looked completely alike."
http://www.its.caltech.edu/

Around 1997, I developed a method for

substituting color in the black and white
photographs of Bentley because I thought it
could show the structure in a different way.
Years earlier I had learned from a scientist
that staining could bring out aspects of a
organism or crystal that could not be seen
otherwise.
The following pages
show my experiments with color and the
snowflake or ice crystal structure.

About My Work With Snowflakes

I made these snowflake images beginning
around 1997 before digital cameras became
widely available. As a photographer I wanted to
work with photographic images and also to
experiment. These public domain photographs
of Bentley were perfect since they reflected my
interest in patterns in nature (my first
photography book) and also my interest in
microscopic imagery -- having worked with a
microscope as a young boy.

About My Methods
My own method for adding color to these black and
white photos was to scan them and then separate
each image into 16 shades of gray. Then I
substituted a color for each shade of gray using the
palette ability of GIF files. This was a technique I
had perfected with the photographs of Muybridge
10 years earlier using a Radio Shack computer in
the 1980s.
When I started out, I substituted a dark color for a
dark shade of gray and a light color for a light
shade of gray. Later I became more adventurous
and played with the colors in a way that would
bring out the structure even more.

Teachers Comment On These Snowflake Pictures: Page 1

Used for lesson plans:
"As I was researching Wilson Bentley and snow to create lesson plans for Kindergarten
through 3rd grade who are participating in the Winter Wonderland project, I ran into a site
by Rick Doble. As part of his work, Rick has exhibits of snowflake images which he digitally
altered from Wilson Bentleys snowflake pictures. This became the jumping off point for the
projects I did with my 4th & 7th Grade classes."
http://vsedgwick.edublogs.org/tag/wilson-bentley/
Snowflake pictures put up at a Belgian school site:
Dear Rick,
I'm going to do my very best to translate what I wrote on our website.
By chance I found in the - indeed excellent - weekly "Clickx" an article about the website
of a certain Rick Doble. This "digital artist" occupied himself with editing (I have the
impression this is a poor translation for our word "bewerken", sorry; maybe "elaborating"
can do?) with color the photographs of the snowflakeman. The writer of this article putted
that those images were indeed very beautiful, but asked himself (we quote:) "Allright, but
what can you do with such a work of art?" Dear JDP, on this page you get an answer for
your question. The magnificent photographs of Rick Doble are a perfect illustration for the
text that I present my pupils. Internet: what it's all good for!
Guy VAN HEDDEGEM
teacher sixth grade
at the Sint-Michielsschool, Belguim
http://users.skynet.be/sky84605/sneeuwkristallen.html

Teachers Comment On These Snowflake Pictures: Page 2

Instructional material for children:
Maine Association of School Libraries
One computer artist has taken some of Bentley's landmark snowflake photographs
and transformed them into stunning animations that are like crystalline light shows.
His name is Rick Doble, and his work may be experienced at
http://www.RickDoble.net/newsnowWork with your art teacher and your computer
teacher to learn something about Doble's artistic approach. Prepare a presentation
for a specific audience that incorporates these moving images.....the presentation
could be about art enhancement, about computer art, about Bentley's and Doble's
artistic goals, as an introduction to a scientific presentation on snow crystals, or other
approved topic.
About the 3rd Annual Snowflake Exhibit by Rick Doble:
Maine Association of School Libraries
Activity For Children:
Do you like Mr. Doble's snowflakes? Do you like them more or less than the ones
done by Mr. Bentley? If you could choose one picture of Mr. Doles to save for
yourself, which one would it be? Tell why. Save the picture to your disk to share later
with friends or the class. Look at your choice of favorite snowflake pictures by
Bentley. Compare it to some of the ones Mr. Doble has enhanced. Which do you like
best?

Media Mentions: Page 1

.

WCBS, New York NEWSRADIO 88

http://www.wcbs880.com/
Major Announcement: Internet Minute
We're dreaming of a White Christmas, and while Nature may or may not cooperate
with our dream this year - we can see snowflakes as we never have on the net.
Rick Doble is an Internet Artist - An E-Artist, so to speak. Have you ever tried to
look at snow-flakes. It isn't easy, because they melt so quickly. Each little crystal is
believed to be unique - the molecules of moistures freezing with particular beauty
every time around its host mote of airborne dust. There are still photos, and
animations of snowflakes in Rick's online exhibit. It's a nice little thing to check
out, to get you into the spirit of snow this season.

Media Mentions: Page 2

No longer online.
NETSURER DIGEST Volume 06, Issue 21
Thursday, June 15, 2000
Digital Totem Poles and Other Stuff
Rick Doble is a digital artist who has invested his work with a great deal of thought.
His digital totem pole exhibit is a series of 10 high-quality abstractions. The images
and patterns are derived from the manmade and natural world. Rick lists the major
artists and artifacts that influenced his work. This is serious stuff, and very moving.
The site has several other online galleries of Rick's digital art, all worth visiting.
Don't skip the Third Annual Snowflake Exhibit. You can also browse Rick's written
philosophical musings on digital art and the nature of art in the 21st century. If you
think of art as more than just pretty pictures, this is truly a stand-out site.
SOUTH AMERICA
About URL:1st Annual Snowflake Exhibit
Dear Mr. Doble,
thank you so much for your wonderful site. It is already on my bookmarks, and I
sent it to our Computer Section and to the people that do the homepage (site) of
our newspaper, O ESTADO DE S.PAULO.
About URL:1st Annual Snowflake Exhibit
Your page is very beautiful and moving. Thank you for the opportunity to watch
such a colorfuland interesting display. Thank You again, Blas Julio
El Siglo Digital

Libraries And Science Mentions

SNOW CRYSTALS

An exhibit of photomicrographs
by Wilson A. Bentley
Presented by the Schwerdtfeger Library
Space Science and Engineering Center, UW-Madison
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/library/
Link to Doble's snowflake exhibit:
http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/library/bentley.htm

Earth/matriX
Science in Ancient Artwork and Science Today
http://www.earthmatrix.com/
"A Critical Commentary on Chaos Theory and Fractal Geometry"
By Charles William Johnson.
Link to Doble's snowflake site:
http://www.earthmatrix.com/links.html

The Physics of Snow Crystals

By Kenneth G. Libbrecht,
Caltech University
No longer online