Fun with Flowers!

The other day, I saw a reel on Facebook that included some fun photography tips. The first one was frozen bubbles, which I already adore; and you have seen those many times on this page. The second is the one that I tried here. It involves water droplets and tape. Let me explain.

You take a flower (or a picture of a flower) and above that item, you place a strip of tape. (This time, I placed it sticky side up.) Onto the tape, you spritz water droplets using a spray bottle. You then position your camera to take photos THROUGH the water droplets on the tape. You'll get many fun, fractured images of the item below.

I was in the living room photographing the osteospermum, when I suddenly realized it was time to try the tape/droplet experiment. I set up shop on the bathroom sink for my photo shoot, as that place tends to have the best light in the house.

I cut my flower off with very little stem attached. I placed it on a water bottle lid to steady it. I positioned my tape about an inch above my flower and sprayed it with water. I then placed my flower, in its water bottle lid, beneath the tape, and began snapping away.

At one point, I thought I'd try placing a tiny flashlight near the flower, turning off the overhead lights, and taking some photos that way. Then I realized that there was actual sunlight on the kitchen table, and I moved my experiment to there; finished up my shoot.

Now, I do have some comments and reflections about the whole experiment, and that evening, as I sat in my chair in the living room binge watching Criminal Minds, I was excited enough about my results to make a list of some other items that might be fun to photograph this way. Fellow photography explorers, here are my findings.

1) Nothing beats natural light! The glorious sunlight on the kitchen table yielded far more shiny and sparkly results than any shot in the bathroom using overhead lights. But somehow, the light was almost a little distracting in those shots; they were pretty, but the macro flower images weren't the star. The LIGHT was the star.

2) I would get different results if I placed the tape further away from the flower.

3) All of my shots that I took in the dark with the flashlight were interesting, but way BLURRY. If I think that's a path I want to go down, I'll need to find a way to steady the camera. (I have a monopod, but it just doesn't make it to that angle.)

4) If I'm going to photograph actual ITEMS beneath the tape, I need a better way to steady them. I'm thinking I might clip them in place with a clothes pin or something of that nature.

5) Here are some additional items that might be fun to play with: sparkly/prism candle holder, glass rose under glass dome, small colorful Christmas tree, photo of butterfly, Christmas lights, milkweed floof, a dandelion seed head, a large crystal.

So there you go! That was fun, wasn't it!??? My soundtrack song is the Psychedelic Furs, with Pretty in Pink.