After rain you get .. (56K warning)

Lord Vetinari · July 23, 2006

Raindrop macros

Finally rained here- well quite violent thunderstorms, after 2 weeks of high temperatures (up to 35.C). Can't resist doing water drop shots- just find the light and refraction effects fascinating. All the shots are focus stacked apart from the flower. Most of the other shots were taken on a Potentilla shrub which has nicely hydrophobic hairy leaves.
Brian V.

Dalantech · July 23, 2006

Excellent photos Brian!

It's been so windy here I may have to resort to indoor macro earlier than I expected... :cry

Richard · July 23, 2006

These are wonderful, Brian. One thing I sometimes wonder about in your pics is how big the things really are. Any hints?

Cheers,

Lord Vetinari · July 23, 2006

rsinmadrid wrote:

These are wonderful, Brian. One thing I sometimes wonder about in your pics is how big the things really are. Any hints?

Cheers,

Thanks Richard

The water drops with good refacted images in them are normally about 2mm in diameter or less. Bigger drops around 5mm in diameter or larger tend to give very distorted images I assume because the drop is no longer spherical due to gravitation effects. Most of these shots were taken at around 2:1 which gives a viewfinder/sensor width of about 11mm.
So they are fairly small

Brian V

Lord Vetinari · July 23, 2006

Dalantech wrote:

Excellent photos Brian!

It's been so windy here I may have to resort to indoor macro earlier than I expected... :cry

Thanks

I wouldn't let the wind put you off- I've taken some of my best pics in strong/gale force winds. You just need to practice shooting one handed whilst holding on to the plant or whatever the bug is on. The advantages are that the bugs are very unlikely to fly off (they don't like the wind either) and you can often twist or bend the plant to get a better angle.
About the only time I don't o out shooting is when it is actually raining
Brian V.

Dalantech · July 23, 2006

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks
I wouldn't let the wind put you off- I've tken some of my best pics in strong/gale force winds. You just need to practice shooting one handed whilst holding on to the plant or whatever the bug is on. The advantages are that the bugs are very unlikely to fly off (they don't like the wind either) and you can often twist or bend the plant to get a better angle.
About the only time I don't o out shooting is when it is actually raining
Brian V.

Thanks Brian -I'll have to give that a try!

:

Skippy · July 23, 2006

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Raindrop macros
Finally rained here- well quite violent thunderstorms, after 2 weeks of high temperatures (up to 35.C). Can't resist doing water drop shots- just find the light and refraction effects fascinating. All the shots are focus stacked apart from the flower. Most of the other shots were taken on a Potentilla shrub which has nicely hydrophobic hairy leaves.
Brian V.

Brian your work just amazes me, you always find something different to photograph and show us....... gosh I sooo need to try your stacking technique....it is made difficult by the lack and almost non existance of bugs in my yard.

You continue to not only inspire me, but so many other people on this forum with your williness to share your work and techniques with us.

Thank you...... Skippy (Australia)