- bubble? - babycravat
- Are those other flowers I see? - durza10
- nice detail! - Nifertari
- Amazing Quality - Jenna-Carver
- Fantastic - - Carrie_DT2
- Stay out of my bubble! - blackfire164
- My Bubble! - Tom Rydquist
- im down here!!! great picture - therealencore
- Like a beautifully made glass paperweight! - Rainy Woods
- Nevar!!!1!!1!11!!!11 - nano404
- This bubble is reserved. - __Manu__
- Tiny! - lgal3824
- pooooooop - Chazy Megey
- Lonely clear drop :) - Celiria
- i love this picture - emilymaesecord
- youre right, lovely - therealencore
- my spot. amazing detail. LOVE IT - giggly_squeak
- I'm all alone over here...:/ - Jessica S. Smith
- Love the bokeh. The colors are nicely mirrored in the droplets. - ektachromelove
- The bubble is MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!! - ewoodham
- i want this water droplet! - gladysada
- my place! - monkey_mia
- woooooooow
It's fantastic !! - To0To0 - love it F A V =D - المصور مشاري
- beautiful! - cdnjaimee
- Beautiful! - ptitpitch_11 (Anaïs)
- crazy awesome! - Photo Kid2012 (^_^)
drops of spring
I’ve been getting more e-mails and comments recently asking it these water drop photos are “real” or photo-shopped, and how do I take them. They are of course real, and out there all the time -- just so small they are hard to see. The physics of it all, is that when water forms a drop, it no longer reflects back what is in front of it, but acts as a lens and refracts what is behind it. If you still don’t think water drop shots are real, just go out after a rain and hold a brightly colored piece of paper behind some drops and you will see the drops take on the color.
The basic trick for taking interesting water drop photographs is to find big drops after a rain on a humid day with no wind AND with pretty things things behind them, and get the dang shot in focus with a nice composition. ;> As I’ve been trying to improve my drop shots from novelties to artistic photographs, I’ve noticed the key is not just shooting a pretty drop, but creating a well composed background with good color and rule of thirds and proper bokeh to show off the drop. This requires making little shifts in perspective as you gaze through the viewfinder to find interesting contrast, and playing with several aperture settings to get the right depth of field and bokeh.
In most cases I like to go out to my garden after a rain and look around at whatever is blooming and discover natural teeny-tiny views of it through nearby drops. You just can’t control where drops will form, (even with a mister bottle they will roll off an interesting area but cling to something boring) so for me it’s usually more productive (and more fun) to simply explore the views and angles of natural drops around bright flowers.
In this photo, I found some very interesting drop formations, but they were not close enough to anything colorful to make photo-worthy refractions. So I posed this shot by picking some small flowers and setting them behind the drops. I included spiderwort for the dark blue and yellow, climbing roses for the red, buttercups for yellow and some little pink border flower for the ….well, the pink.
Anyway all this color made a great water drop, but the background was way too distracting so I had to move the mini-bouquet to the side. This caused focus challenges in the unforgiving macro world, but did create a more appropriate background with just a little color-interest on the sides to better compliment the drops. Sometimes having perfect focus of the object refracted in the drop is desired, but sometimes its much better to have a more abstract or dreamy less focused colors. Thank goodness for the digital filmless world, as there is so little that separates an ordinary water drop shot from a fascinating one that I try dozens and dozens of different settings and many angles hoping for the right focus, depth of field, shutter, contrast, bokeh, composition, and so on. Hmmm, maybe it *would* be easier to just photoshop little flowers at different angles in all the little drops… ;> Take care all, and good drop hunting!
Comments and faves
jody9, Jeremy-G, amuse, :vicki:, and 1800 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Westfield, Ma (73 months ago | reply)
cool capture
Jeremy-G (73 months ago | reply)
wow!!! simply stunning!
rvsv - Rodolfo (73 months ago | reply)
Absolutely amazing!
lovepuppy1 [deleted] (73 months ago | reply)
amazing!
Mandana (on and off) (73 months ago | reply)
beautiful capture!!!!
:vicki: (73 months ago | reply)
your hard work has paid off! These are some amazing water drop images!! You have inspired me to get out there and get some more macro water drops!
**Anik Messier** (73 months ago | reply)
What a nice shot!!
baby7 (73 months ago | reply)
super work nice capture!!
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janusz l (73 months ago | reply)
Thank you Steve for sharing the technique of your amazing pictures.
Sometimes we take it all so seriously – photography for most of us is just a hobby, hobby should be about relaxing and having fun and letting others use part of your knowledge - fantastic.
Great Job.
Your fantastic color picture is my winner!
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khasan (73 months ago | reply)
Thanks Steve. Great lesson for me.
Fantastic shot. Love what I see.
Ed Karjala (73 months ago | reply)
you are the real deal, Steve :-) Keep it up!
myfear (73 months ago | reply)
Thanks for the explanation! Wonderfull work, again! You are a master of drops :)
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luisa_m_c_m_cruz (73 months ago | reply)
A jewel.
Jennifer Esperanza (73 months ago | reply)
w0w...super!
stevenbulman44 (73 months ago | reply)
Marvelous.
BamaWester (73 months ago | reply)
Another amazing shot. WOW.
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slow~~tide [deleted] (73 months ago | reply)
Very well shot, great explanation & much fancier shot than mine!!
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SeenyaRita (73 months ago | reply)
i am in awe.
kit e kat (73 months ago | reply)
Amazing macro and love the colors!
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axiepics (73 months ago | reply)
fascinating!
karma
Jan Ronald Crans (73 months ago | reply)
FANTASTIC! WoW.
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dreamscapepics (73 months ago | reply)
That is amazing!!!
Fantastic work!
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back to menu (73 months ago | reply)
You have a great eye to see this!
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tschopper (Tom Schopper Photography) (73 months ago | reply)
Just gorgeous, Steve-o! Kudos!
5color (73 months ago | reply)
>>>seen on
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wow!!!
i like macro !!
* Rhonda * (73 months ago | reply)
Beautiful shot and thanks for sharing.
lisa travelling around (73 months ago | reply)
It's art!!!!!!
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gina_belgium (73 months ago | reply)
Lovely and well done! Thanks for the info too!
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sodabug (73 months ago | reply)
damn, thats what i call compositioning, you're gong way above whats needed with awesome results!! i gotta concentrate on this kind of thing more often....inspiring!!
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Peggy Collins (73 months ago | reply)
I can see why you went to all that trouble for this one...the curve of the blade of grass is so appealing! A jolly good macro (yes, it seems "jolly" to me!) Well done, Steve! And thanks for the explanation. I've tried a few myself, and I know it's quite challenging to get something interesting.
Dean Lakic (73 months ago | reply)
Nice one!
heurtoirfan, en voyage (73 months ago | reply)
Thanks for your info !
Awesome raindrops !
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David M Hogan (73 months ago | reply)
great shot, very interesting with the curl
neoserenity333 (73 months ago | reply)
jewels of nature...great capture!
ramislevy (73 months ago | reply)
Great image and helpful information. Thanks for sharing both!
Ernanib (73 months ago | reply)
Amazing your set and job!!!
relatively_mike (73 months ago | reply)
I think this is one of your best. Really like the curve
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johnnycanuck (73 months ago | reply)
This deserves to be #1 on explore ! Thank you for the intensive methods on how to - I dont believe I would have the ability or patience -Congratulations ! faved
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life by design (73 months ago | reply)
Do you typically use a tripod or hand-hold the camera?
tijmenkroes (73 months ago | reply)
Perfect captured photo. So nice to see and so lovely to hear how you did that. Great work my friend.
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Steve took it (73 months ago | reply)
Thanks so much for all the kind comments, faves and invites. Its really fun when a photo I'm proud of seems to catch on with my friends as well.
life by design asked if I typically use a tripod, and the answer is no. I'm usually working too low to the ground. Oddly enough I typicaly use a couple of diet coke cans (coke classic might work too ;>) They are short enough I can use one can or both to steady the camera while I'm sitting or kneeling or laying on the wet ground.
experimien (73 months ago | reply)
Thanks Steve, and my compliments for this perfect and beautiful photo. :)
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dragon caiman (73 months ago | reply)
Amazing colours.
♥♫G♫♥ (73 months ago | reply)
Thanks for your beautiful shot, and also for the detailed description of how it was taken. The colours really do work well together, and I agree, moving the bouquet to the side made for a more interesting background. I am having such fun trying out your techniques! Have finally managed to get the drops in focus, so will work on more interesting backgrounds. Thanks for the inspiration!
carolt. (73 months ago | reply)
dritzdcool (73 months ago | reply)
Thank you for sharing all the details and tips.....
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Gúnna (73 months ago | reply)
Great work - thanks for the info.
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TakumaAkiba (73 months ago | reply)
Beautiful!
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