Photographing Water Droplets

I love shooting water droplets. They are tiny and perfectly formed, and light plays within them , making them seem to possess a life of their own. Here are some of our water droplets.

Studio photography gives you fine control of light and shadow. For this shot, I placed a flower in a black box, placed a piece of glass on top, and sprinkled water droplets on the glass. A thin layer of RainX helped the droplets bead up. I set up my camera on a tripod, and shot straight downward, making sure the flower was properly exposed.

After it rains, water droplets form on branches and leaves. Jay used a macro lens to capture this pretty droplet and found a tiny world inside it. He took two shots – one for perfect focus along the edge of the droplet, and the second for  the reflected scene within. Then he combined the two images in Photoshop.

Here’s a shot of dew on a fresh green stem. Varina wanted to capture the essence of Springtime. She got down on her knees and used a macro lens to get close to this little gem. The simplicity of the composition and color scheme let the droplet stand out.

Broad leaf vegetation often allows water droplets to bead up – in the same way that they do a on a freshly waxed car. Jay used diffused side-lighting for this shot. If the subject is small enough, you can create subtle lighting with a diffuser – but in this case, Jay used indirect light coming from the entrance of a small cave.

And here’s one more. This is a shot taken the day after a heavy rain – in the middle of winter. Temperatures dropped during the night, and tiny droplets froze on every leaf. Varina used a very narrow depth of field to capture the beauty of this miniature ice sculpture.

About Author Varina Patel

There is nothing more remarkable to me than the power of nature. It is both cataclysmic and subtle. Slow and continuous erosion by water and wind can create landscapes every bit as astonishing as those shaped by catastrophic events – and minuscule details can be as breathtaking as grand vistas that stretch from one horizon to the other. Nature is incredibly diverse. Burning desert sands and mossy riverbanks… Brilliant sunbeams and fading alpenglow… Silent snowfall and raging summer storms… Each offers a unique opportunity. I am irresistibly drawn to the challenge of finding my next photograph, and mastering the skills required to capture it effectively.

Website | Google+ | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube