Photographing ice crystals during a diamond dust halo display is more than rekommented. However, it is not very easy task.  You actually have to collect and photograph ice crystals on the spot right away. You must remember that ice crystals melt very easily, so you need to take photos in cold (outdoor or in a location which is cooled down).

What do you need?

1. A good microscope with possibility to photography (or one which can be modified). 
2. A camera to take actual photos. I recomment digital SLR since with it you can see right away if you have right exposure.
3. You will need also so called Petri dishes where you will collect ice crystals. 
4. You need to have hexane in the Petri dish. Ice crystals will fall and sink in hexane. It does not need to be hexane but some liquid which does not mix with water. Pure benzine is good alternative if you have some problems with getting hexane.
5. Some kind of portable illuminator for microscope. Because you have to go after ice crystal clouds you have to have fully portable microscope. Maybe the best solution I have found is a white bright light LED (=light emiting diode) based illuminator which can be light up for days with 3 psc common AA 1.5 V batteries. This works astonishing well and LED is not generating much heat which is a problem with some other light sources. 

When you see a diamond dust display all you have to do is take your gears with you: Take a microscope out so that it have time to cool down. Put a Petri dish on flat surface and bour some hexane (or gasoline) in it. Wait for a short time (from 30s up to 2-5 mins) and record precisely what halos are present. When you think you have enough ice crystals then take Petri dish and put it under the microscope and take photos. Usually in some point ice crystals starts to melt or start to lose their corners. 

Remember that because it is cold, DO NOT BREATH TOWARDS MICROSCOPE or you will get every lens frozen! When you are outdoors it is nearly impossible to get them clear again!

A microscope for ice crystal photography

There is some things you should remember when choosing a microscope for ice crystal photography. It have to tolerate cold temperatures (not too many plastic parts). You should be able to take it with you when looking for ice crystals. You will need portable illuminator for it and it should be modified for microphotography.

As for example here is my microscope which I have modified for outdoor ice crystal photographing.

Here is some sample photos taken with Nikon D70 and the microscope shown above. 

• A photo taken with 3.8 mm objective. Replica, South Pole in 2 Jan 1999 at 04:04 NZST. 

• A  photo taken with 8 mm objective. Close up of the same replica (and crystals) than previous.

A tip: If you have really cold weather it may be a good idea to remove all oil or other stuff from moving parts of your microscope. It is possible that oil may froze and you have to stop photographing because that. 

There may be problems with working plate of the microscope too if it is metal. It may not cool down fast enough. If it is warm it may melt ice crystals before you get your photos. You can avoid that by using some insulation between working plane and the Petri dish.

Ice crystal photography in not so cold weather is really difficult. If temperature is something like from -1°C to -5°C you have to work fast since ice crystals will melt fast.

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© Jarmo Moilanen 2005