Oct 8: Drop It With Style

I want to shoot flowers, refracted through a macro water droplet.

I've had this idea for a while: using a water droplet as a lens.

It took some time to develop a strategy.

Here's what I accomplished on my first go.

This is the ~250th shot of the session.

Here's a tighter look.

Here's why it took so long to even get this close.

The set-up that worked:

1/1000, f/8, Speedlite TTL +3.

(I also tried down to 1/250, and TTL down to +1.)

105mm focal length, 68mm extension tube.

Syringe to drip water onto rag. Drops form on the hanging corner and drop into the cup.

Shutter release cable.

It took over an hour to even get close. Then it took an hour to fine tune to get anything decent. Then, it was cold and getting late.

I'll try again, now that I have a starting point.