Raindrop flower refractions

Lord Vetinari · August 27, 2006

Some shots of flowers through raindrops on grass blades. The flower was placed about 2cms behind the drops so the OOF background is the flower itself- the shots are focus stacked.
Brian V.

Click on pics for larger size

Mini panorama

Richard · August 27, 2006

You know, Brian, every time I look at your stuff I get the feeling that I just ought to sell my photgraphy gear and spend more time playing guitar.

Great work, as usual. I prefer the first two for their simplicity.

clap

Regards,

Skippy · August 27, 2006

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Some shots of flowers through raindrops on grass blades. The flower was placed about 2cms behind the drops so the OOF background is the flower itself- the shots are focus stacked.
Brian V.

Click on pics for larger size
Mini panorama

Just when I thought you could amaze me no more Brian :wow
Fantastic

Brilliant

gosh those are Amazing Brian

Love the reflections in all of them ...... thanks for sharing your amazing Macro Photography with us ..... Skippy (Australia)

Awais Yaqub · August 27, 2006

i am amazed and wordless as usual
wow

Swartzy · August 27, 2006

No Joke

rsinmadrid wrote:

You know, Brian, every time I look at your stuff I get the feeling that I just ought to sell my photgraphy gear and spend more time playing guitar.

Great work, as usual. I prefer the first two for their simplicity. clap

Regards,

I think I'll go sit at the piano for a spell. Magnificent work. What talent. Thanks...makes me try harder

ajgauthier · August 27, 2006

OMG - that is so f'ing cool!

incredible, great work!

Adrienne

wxwax · August 27, 2006

Absolutely beautiful! Commercial quality. The first one is delicious, great idea, wonderful execution, love the colors.

rjpat · August 27, 2006

amazing

Andy · August 27, 2006

Barb · August 27, 2006

:jawdrop:wow

clap

I can't even begin to come up with the right words!

Lord Vetinari · August 28, 2006

Thanks for the compliments all , very much appreciated

Nice thing about these is once you get the hang of them they are very easy to do but you do need to be shooting around 2:1 magnification. If you get the placement of the flower behind the drops correct often you don't even need to focus stack.
Still trying to figure out a way of getting a fish inside one of the drops

Brian V.

athos · August 28, 2006

the 1st two are perfect!

the others get a bit busy. the first ones are sublime in their simplicity.

Lord Vetinari · August 28, 2006

athos wrote:

the 1st two are perfect!

the others get a bit busy. the first ones are sublime in their simplicity.

Thanks Athos

I tend to agree about the last two shots but took them more to show how the shot had been setup, but many people on Flickr seemed to like them more than the simple shots

Brian V.

Deadlock · August 28, 2006

Fantastic work
The first couple are beautiful in their simplicity with the latter showing how complex it can become.
Fascinating.

douglas · August 28, 2006

Excellent work as always! What equipment do you use? I have never done any macro work although I would love to get into it. Sigma has plans on bringing out the APO MACRO 150mm F2.8 EX DG HSM lens in OLY 4/3 mount. I was considering buying it when it comes out. I might end up getting their 105mm F2.8 instead and save $200, any thoughts on these lenses?

davidryan · August 28, 2006

Wow those are amazing-- very well done! I could look at them forever!

athos · August 28, 2006

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks Athos
I tend to agree about the last two shots but took them more to show how the shot had been setup, but many people on Flickr seemed to like them more than the simple shots
Brian V.

ahh that makes plenty of sense. and it definitely explains the method in a very beautiful way.

im gonna have to give it a shot now.

mbz · August 28, 2006

Really amazing and beautiful

Lord Vetinari · August 28, 2006

douglas wrote:

Excellent work as always! What equipment do you use? I have never done any macro work although I would love to get into it. Sigma has plans on bringing out the APO MACRO 150mm F2.8 EX DG HSM lens in OLY 4/3 mount. I was considering buying it when it comes out. I might end up getting their 105mm F2.8 instead and save $200, any thoughts on these lenses?

Thanks

WRT lenses- I'd actually go for the 105mm EX and get a set of Kenko ext tubes as well. I think the longer macro lenses are actually harder to use than those around 100mm and you won't notice any difference optically- all the macro lenses by the major manufacturers are extremely sharp.
I was actually using an MPE-65 (the king of macro lenses) but you really need to start off with the lens type you suggest to get used to macrophotography. THe MPE-65 cannot be used for anything other than macro- minimum magnifiction is 1:1 (max focus distance is 4") and it goes up to 5:1 with no additions.
For drop pics like the above you need really to be working around 1.5:1 to 2:1 minimum which you would be able to achieve with a full set of ext tubes on a 105mm EX.
Brian V.

douglas · August 28, 2006

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks
WRT lenses- I'd actually go for the 105mm EX and get a set of Kenko ext tubes as well. I think the longer macro lenses are actually harder to use than those around 100mm and you won't notice any difference optically- all the macro lenses by the major manufacturers are extremely sharp.
I was actually using an MPE-65 (the king of macro lenses) but you really need to start off with the lens type you suggest to get used to macrophotography. THe MPE-65 cannot be used for anything other than macro- minimum magnifiction is 1:1 (max focus distance is 4") and it goes up to 5:1 with no additions.
For drop pics like the above you need really to be working around 1.5:1 to 2:1 minimum which you would be able to achieve with a full set of ext tubes on a 105mm EX.
Brian V.

Good to know, thank you!

TristanP · August 29, 2006

wxwax · August 29, 2006

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Still trying to figure out a way of getting a fish inside one of the drops

Brian V.

wxwax · August 29, 2006

Lord Vetinari wrote:

T
I was actually using an MPE-65 (the king of macro lenses)

Here's a very interesting write-up on using the Canon MPE-65 macro lens.

saurora · August 30, 2006

WOW!!! Brian just keeps raising that bar for the rest of the forum every week!!!! Fantastic shots, Brian!

SirArmstrong · August 30, 2006

I can't add much to what has been said but just wowy zowy!

clap

Especially the first one.

Lord Vetinari · August 30, 2006

Thanks again for the comments all

wxwax- think my MPE-65 shots are better than the ones in that article- the lighting is particularly nasty

Brian V.

mbz · August 30, 2006

Great images.

Dee · August 30, 2006

I'm envious!
I have yet to figure out how to get an image in a drop -- I liked all the photos, especially seeing the large flower and the tiny reflection. I need to experiment some!

boogie · August 30, 2006

I'm speechless. First class photography.

Lord Vetinari · August 31, 2006

Dee wrote:

I have yet to figure out how to get an image in a drop -- I liked all the photos, especially seeing the large flower and the tiny reflection. I need to experiment some!

Thanks

You do need to be taking shots at high magnification- around 2:1 with the flower only about 1" behind the drop- the drop just acts as a wide angle lens.
Brian V.

Lord Vetinari · August 31, 2006

boogie wrote:

I'm speechless. First class photography.

Thanks boogie- these really are very easy to do once you get the hang of them

Brian V.

Raindrop flower refractions

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