I'm back on the drops again.

Anyone who has followed my photography for a time will know how much I love to play with water  … I love how it plays with light … how under the right circumstances it becomes a lens, refracting and playing and changing the world we see into something other … something imaginative. Today I'm talking drop photography. Taking pictures of water is something I work hard at … well perhaps work isn't the right term because I enjoy the process and the journey. There's the setup, which can get fiddly (not to mention wet!), getting the drips just right at a frequency which allows the drops to be singular and not interfere with one another. There's the choice of backdrop … that's the image or pattern you want refracted (remember it will be upside down!). The distance between the backdrop and the drop itself determines how large the pattern will appear in the drop. Too far away and elements of your kitchen begin to appear in your drops πŸ˜‰ 

Below is a behind the scenes shot of the setup I used to take these ones … I even labelled it!

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See, you can do this at home in your kitchen!

Using this stripy back drop provides refractions like these…

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While I adore the symmetry of these first two … did I mention I like symmetry? No? I like the tension of this last one in the stripy series…

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I'm going to print some of these.

Changing the backdrop to a spotty one produces refractions like these

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As I said it's fiddfly and there's lots of variables but it just takes some practice and a reasonable sense of timing little luck … ok and the ability to live with a lot of empty frames … oh and I used the fork in front of the backdrop to focus by holding it in the drop stream and focussing on it … the fork mis good also because you get a feel for the way the drops are falling vertically or slightly off and can vary the focus accordingly.

Next time I set this up I might even do a little video if anyone's interested? Do tell πŸ™‚

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