Macro Water Drops with Refraction – More Attempts

I’m starting to get the hang of the technique of photographing water droplets – see Macro Water Drops with Refraction for my first attempt. Now I am looking for some different compositions. I’m not finding that so easy, because the darned droplets won’t stay quite where I want them to – I place them carefully and they run to where they want to go and, as they have a mind of their own, I am letting them choose the arrangement and making the best I can of a composition. I was most pleased to be able to hang one drop from the end of a thread from a spider’s web – perhaps the most creative and minimalist composition so far.

Being able to light the subjects with flash, I can hand hold quite well and use manual focus. The little bleep that the camera makes when the drop is in focus is a great help.

However, the drops want to form dome shapes and I have experimented with soap and oil to change the surface tension of the leaves, stems etc, but so far to no avail. I have also used plain water, sugar syrup and glycerine but the darned drops will not stay spherical. There must be some secret that I haven’t yet discovered. (If you know and want to help, there is a contact form on this web site ).

I am going to need a different bunch of flowers for my next attempt, as the same three flowers are getting a bit monotonous. The latest efforts are below, including beads of water on spider’s silk.