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Even the most ordinary surface, such as a frosty window or car hood, can be remarkable if you stop to look closely. Nature is full of patterns from mountain ranges to microscopic formations — lacy and fractal, crystalline and organic. No two are ever exactly the same, and each can look utterly different just by changing your angle, or adding a pop of flash.

It’s hard to capture the *sparkle*, but here is a sampling of some of my favorite frost snapshots from the past few winters. I hope I can inspire you to try some close-up photography of your own.

Frost “ferns”

Sugary frost-glitter

Frost “brocade”

This angle made me think of Monet’s “Waterlilies”.

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Frost “fairies” (or maybe they’re dragonflies?)

Some autumn gold showing through

Silvery frost filigree

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Here’s something a bit different: a wider-angle view, with the off-white hood and sidepost separated by the tinted back window. It looks like abstract modern art!

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The windshield-wiper’s path created these jagged “claw-marks”.

Another patch of wiper-tracks, from a different angle, are just lovely!

A tangle of gnarly-looking fibers

These little clusters are gilded by the rising sun. The effect reminds me of lichen.

This shot looks more like an agate or geode. The light car panel is banded with tree-branch shadows.

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“Fire & Ice” — a frosty tail-light

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Random, like chipboard

Frost “flocking”

Silver glitter

Glistening blue lace

Tufty flakes standing up along an edge

What “looks” haven’t I shown yet? Oh, from some angles, it’s the frost that looks dark, not the background.

Dense feathery lines, looking gray-on-gray

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Scattered frost tracery made colorful by autumn-leaf reflections

Then for my final image, the purity of white on white