Psycodelia is back

Lord Vetinari

If you are as old as I am you may remember the light shows that many pop groups used

These are shots of interference colours in soap films. Been doing these during some especially nasty wet/windy weather here- just about got the hang of them on the third go.

Brian V.

Click on Pics for larger size

eggbanjo

Wow, very trippy.
Excellent series of shots Brian.

Skippy

Lord Vetinari wrote:

If you are as old as I am you may remember the light shows that many pop groups used

These are shots of interference colours in soap films. Been doing these during some especially nasty wet/windy weather here- just about got the hang of them on the third go.

Brian V.

Click on Pics for larger size

Ohhhhhhh boy oh boy, these are amazing Brian
Beautiful patterns and colour, you just continue to amaze me as to what you can find to photograph.

Just Beautiful ... I'm truly amazed :ivar .... Skippy
.

Richard

Groovy.

Llywellyn

Far out, man. :cool Really excellent shots.

thegridrunner

bowbow

Lord Vetinari

Thanks everyone for the kind compliments everyone

These things are amazing hypnotic to watch through the viewfinder as the colours swirl around and the patterns continuously change.
Brian V.

toofast

You do these w/ soap?? Looks crazy!

schmoo

Lord Vetinari wrote:

These things are amazing hypnotic to watch through the viewfinder as the colours swirl around and the patterns continuously change.

I would imagine it's difficult to remember to hit the shutter every now and then!

Beautiful dicovery, Brian! These are so perfect it's hard to believe they're photographs.

sunita

These are beautiful!!!

Been a lurker for a while now, but today I got all inspired and tried my hand at soap films too - came out okay, but thanks to the poor (sun)light and my crude set-up I had to step down f/2.8 and so mine have poor DOF and look a bit fuzzy. But I had a lot of fun!


Here's one sample:



Your work is truly amazing (not to mention inspiring!), Brian!

Sunita

Art Scott

Way trippy, far out man Groooovy.....FANTASTIC PICS LV!!!!!bowthumb


Ohh yes I remember the light shows....those were the days, I am told of course I have also heard if you remember them you weren't really there:D:D

Your using soap...is that dish soap (like dawn) or what kind and upon what is it floating on (glass...water in a glass container).....how lit?......ambient.... flash??

Please do tell.

Lord Vetinari

Thanks again for the comments everyone
Sunita- excellent shot - took me three sessions and about 150 pics before I started getting reasonable shots - all the shots are crops BTW because it's just about impossible to get a flat FOV doing this.

Scott - I was using a 150watt halogen bulb to light the bubbles/soap films. The lamp had my normal kitchen towel over it to diffuse it but you have to be careful as these things get very hot. It was very close to the bubble/soap film. I was either blowing bubbles onto a pre-wetted plastic lid (bubbles about 2-3" in diameter) or using a wire loop to pick up a soap film.
I was using washing up detergent in a very strong slightly thick mix. I still have a bottle of "Joy" detergent we bought in the US about 18 years ago after finding out it was what the professional bubble blower was using in a theme park there - suspect that doesn't really matter though.
The main problem is that the best colour is always seen at an angle from the soap film so you can't shoot at right angles to the film, and also you need the lens very close to the direction of the light source. Only time in macro I thought a tilt/shift lens might be useful.

Brian V.

gregneil

Wow, I absolutely love these. Thanks for sharing, and for the shooting tips! I have a feeling that lack of funds is not going to keep me from a macro lens for very long, especially if you keep posting.

Art Scott

Lord Vetinari wrote:

Thanks again for the comments everyone
Sunita- excellent shot - took me three sessions and about 150 pics before I started getting reasonable shots - all the shots are crops BTW because it's just about impossible to get a flat FOV doing this.

Scott - I was using a 150watt halogen bulb to light the bubbles/soap films. The lamp had my normal kitchen towel over it to diffuse it but you have to be careful as these things get very hot. It was very close to the bubble/soap film. I was either blowing bubbles onto a pre-wetted plastic lid (bubbles about 2-3" in diameter) or using a wire loop to pick up a soap film.
I was using washing up detergent in a very strong slightly thick mix. I still have a bottle of "Joy" detergent we bought in the US about 18 years ago after finding out it was what the professional bubble blower was using in a theme park there - suspect that doesn't really matter though.
The main problem is that the best colour is always seen at an angle from the soap film so you can't shoot at right angles to the film, and also you need the lens very close to the direction of the light source. Only time in macro I thought a tilt/shift lens might be useful.

Brian V.

Thanx Brian.....I know all about the ehat of a halogen lamp.....mine are all 500 watts so I will need to go to wally world or harbour freight to see if I can find a 100 or 150 watt....this looks like so much fun for the comming grey period of what they call winter in Kansas.

Thanx again

sunita

Thanks, Brian!

I too got about 12 reasonable ones out of 200 shots - had to crop most of them a little to remove the dark corners/edges.
Here are some more at: http://sunita.smugmug.com/gallery/3933075

I handheld the soap film at an angle to the sunlight against a black background and held it as close to teh camera as possible. I set up the camera on a mini-tripod. I read somewhere on the web that adding sugar/glycerin to the soap solution increases the lifetime of the film. I guess that too helped a little.

Lord Vetinari

sunita wrote:

Thanks, Brian!

I too got about 12 reasonable ones out of 200 shots - had to crop most of them a little to remove the dark corners/edges.
Here are some more at: http://sunita.smugmug.com/gallery/3933075

I handheld the soap film at an angle to the sunlight against a black background and held it as close to teh camera as possible. I set up the camera on a mini-tripod. I read somewhere on the web that adding sugar/glycerin to the soap solution increases the lifetime of the film. I guess that too helped a little.

Some lovely patterns and colours you captured there - congrats
Brian V.

patricia kay

Love these Brian...bet once you start its hard to stop with the everchanging colors....another wanna do to add to my list...thanks need lots of rainy grey day ideas as we are getting far too many of them at the moment!!!

Sunita...Just had apeep at yours...lovely colors and shapes...you did really well!!!

Patricia...........:D

sunita

Thanks, Patricia and Brian. Glad you like them.

My next goal is try my hand at dew drops - it's going to be quite a challenge - am just not a morning person - sigh! :

tlee

Beautiful images. I did a science project in school (a LONG time ago) envolving soap bubbles. I have always thought they were beautiful. Now I have a good excuse to start experimenting with them again.

banjon

Lord Vetinari wrote:

If you are as old as I am you may remember the light shows that many pop groups used

These are shots of interference colours in soap films. Been doing these during some especially nasty wet/windy weather here- just about got the hang of them on the third go.

Brian V.

Ok, Now I know my wife is going to shoot you.

How do you do these? Is this with dish soap or a special soap? I always wondered if they were different oils or paints. I was running around in diapers when this stuff was hot, but I love color so I always admired that time in history. I like watching the bands on tv shows from that time, they always had the wild screen show in the back. It did make a revival a few years ago, but now its done with computers - doesn't have the same effect.

I love all your patterns you've shown. These are so wild.
I've been experimenting (playing) with lots of indoor projects. Makes the hours fly by. I should get back to processing photos from a few months ago. hehe

Lord Vetinari

Thanks for looking and commenting T and banjon .

Banjon- was just using fairly concentrated washingup detergent solutions for these and either photographing large bubbles or a film in a wire loop.

brian v.

Glenn NK

Stunning - simply stunning.

ravic

Great!
Lovely colours. I like them so much. T4S

Lord Vetinari

Thanks for the kind comments Glenn and Ravic
Just trying to demonstrate some Winter "macro" ideas
Brian V.