Water as seen by our tiny critters - Series

[Stagecoach]

More experimenting tonight and a couple I'm pleased with but whilst taking these I got to see mini critters that were dwarfed by these drops. Unfortunately with fixed lighting that has given me the best affect on the water drops with its slow shutter speed there's no way I could incorporate them in the scene.

I'm going to progress with this theme and will continue posting new images within this thread.

So for starters;

1 sec, f22, 105mm with 36mm tube, lit from directly behind by desk-lamp through diffuser


1 sec, f22, 105mm with 36mm tube, lit from directly behind by desk-lamp through diffuser


I wonder if I can train an ant

Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome as always

Grahame

[Bobobird]

I wonder if I can train an ant

Yes you can. Place some watered down honey drops on whatever surface you want them on. Pieces of jelly will also work.

I once saw a pic of ants that were multicoloured due to different groups on the same large leaf drinking sweetened water that had different coloured sections. So those in the green section turned green, blue turned blue, etc.

Pics - I really like what you have done here. #1 has better clarity and balance imho.

[deetheturk]

Even cooler images Grahame,i really like these, well done bud and keep at it

[Sergio M.]

These and your other series are remarkable, Grahame. The richness of colour, clarity, and detail are outstanding.

Sergio

[bnnrcn]

Very nice images,clarity is better in #1

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[dragon76]

Otherworldly....great shots

[NorthernFocus]

Really an interesting concept and well executed. Nice job.

[Brownbear]

Beautiful and creative! I prefer the 1st image for the darker background. I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of these.

[FrankMi]

Beautiful! A whole new genre of photography to explore!

[Stagecoach]

Thank you all for the comments of encouragement and suggestions.

Bobo,

Thanks for the tip on honey water, I'll be trying that today. No 1 I PPd slightly darker to try and emphasize the lighting of the large drop.

David,

I'll certainly be progressing this as it has a number of challenges especially with the lighting.

Sergio,

For info, there is very minor PP undertaken on these, minor recovery of any highlight using the 'recovery slider' in ACR, minor shadows/highlights adjustment in Elements, standard CSM (Colin Southern method) sharpening and no colour/WB changes.

Binnur,

I wonder if the clarity appears better in No 1 because I have PPd it darker, No 2 had exactly the same lighting and treatment apart from the mid tones being reduced in Levels?

John, Dean and Dan

Thank you for commenting, I'm pleased you have enjoyed these.

Christina and Frank,

What I have found interesting with this project are the unexpected challenges that crop up.

As an example, the best lighting so far has been simply my kitchen lights but I do not want to see water drops with a perfect image within them of kitchen cabinets and four down-lighters. Another problem is that the drops soak into a porous surfaces in a short time so speed is critical and more so if undertaking stacking.

I'll continue to post any new ones on this thread.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

This is the final shot from last nights session where I finally got to get flash to give me the result I was after on the water drop.

1/250s, f22, manual flash 1/8th power from behind through a diffuser panel angled at 45 degrees down on to the subject


Grahame

[FlyingSquirrel]

Very unique and interesting shots Grahame! I like these a lot.

[flashback]

Just. Fekkin. Awesome.
Strong work!

[Stagecoach]

Very unique and interesting shots Grahame! I like these a lot.

Thanks Matt, this all started off with achieving 'pretty' reflections in water drops but has taken a new route.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Just. Fekkin. Awesome.
Strong work!

Thanks Jack, perhaps it's because these show water in a way that we never normally notice it.

Grahame

[Bobobird]

You are doing some really interesting work. So much so that I am thinking maybe time to get back to the macro lens and do ice and snow and forget the birds for a bit....

[bnnrcn]

Grahame,after your comments on clarity,I looked at the both images again.I think why #1 seems more clear to me is just because there are two big drops in #2 and one of them is out of focus and because it is big I think it effects the clear drop because they are near each other..so, although your drop is clear,it seems less clear to me

Thank you all for the comments of encouragement and suggestions.

Bobo,

Thanks for the tip on honey water, I'll be trying that today. No 1 I PPd slightly darker to try and emphasize the lighting of the large drop.

David,

I'll certainly be progressing this as it has a number of challenges especially with the lighting.

Sergio,

For info, there is very minor PP undertaken on these, minor recovery of any highlight using the 'recovery slider' in ACR, minor shadows/highlights adjustment in Elements, standard CSM (Colin Southern method) sharpening and no colour/WB changes.

Binnur,

I wonder if the clarity appears better in No 1 because I have PPd it darker, No 2 had exactly the same lighting and treatment apart from the mid tones being reduced in Levels?

John, Dean and Dan

Thank you for commenting, I'm pleased you have enjoyed these.

Christina and Frank,

What I have found interesting with this project are the unexpected challenges that crop up.

As an example, the best lighting so far has been simply my kitchen lights but I do not want to see water drops with a perfect image within them of kitchen cabinets and four down-lighters. Another problem is that the drops soak into a porous surfaces in a short time so speed is critical and more so if undertaking stacking.

I'll continue to post any new ones on this thread.

Grahame

[bnnrcn]

They are all nice but #3 is just great!

[Stagecoach]

Grahame,after your comments on clarity,I looked at the both images again.I think why #1 seems more clear to me is just because there are two big drops in #2 and one of them is out of focus and because it is big I think it effects the clear drop because they are near each other..so, although your drop is clear,it seems less clear to me

Binnur,

I agree with you, looking at No 2 again the OOF large drop centre competes in size with the forward large sharp drop to the right which is the focal point. It would have been better if it was smaller.

Today I have done a bit of investigation into 'ideal' drop size and apparently when they get to greater than 2mm diameter they significantly change shape due to their weight, all to do with surface tension. Using the graduated syringe I should theoretically be able to control size

Grahame