Question to all pro photographers...............?

Question

I am trying to take a photo of the Mexican flag reflected on a rain drop, maybe on several raindrops. I have a macro lens, but not having any luck..........PLEASE HELP! It is for an exhibit and want to impress. I am a photojournalist, but want to show something more artsy and it has to be something involving Mexico and its culture.

Answer 1

Photojournalism is primarily my field, but my personal work is very different and experimental.

There are two things you can do with water: use it for reflection, or, use it for refraction. If you use it for refraction, the water drop will be a primitive lens. In fact, the first microscope was a water drop suspended off the point of a pin. There will be a distorted image of whatever is behind the drop in it. It's strictly a maco shot. I am assuming that you're setting this shot up, so take a hint from food photographers and special effects people: use a glycerine/water mix instead of plain water. It evaporates more slowly and has better viscosity (hangs on better and has has better flow characteristics).

Reflection off a water drop is going to be a problem. First problem is that most of the light is going to go into the drop and the only thing your going to get is what there is when the angle of the flag to the surface of the drop (angle of incidence) is equal to the camera angle to the subject (angle of reflection). I think this will move any usable reflection way off to the edge of the drop. If you move the flag closer to the subject/lens axis, then the light will simply go into the drop and you won't get the reflection.

The problem is the spherical nature of the surface re reflection and the transparency of the water.

If you back up conceptually a bit to the level of
subject: flag
reflected in: water

then you have a lot more creative scope and more easily achieveable results. We all know you get reflections in puddles, the trick is to be fluid (yes, that's a pun) in your concept of a puddle.

Why do we get reflections of images in puddles? Because a puddle presents a flattened surface. Now, you an consider puddles to be very big drops of water with a flattened surface, or you can consider a drop that has a flattened surface as an extremely small puddle. It doesn't matter except for the lens choice.

Now, to create the flattened surface I would use a very small, fine paint brush. Quality is irrelevant. Paint the shape and size of the drop you need to get the reflection on whatever surface you are using. Then add the water or water/glycerine mix in small amounts of one drop at a time. A bristle from a broom would be a good way. The surface tension in the liquid will hold the drop to the shape you have painted.

This is really too much to deal with in this format, so I can't be complete. There is a lot to consider in this type of shot and you will need to do a bunch of shots as you zero in on a final image.

Good luck!

Vance

Answer 2

Take a box with 2 open sides and a piece of glass. Line the box with dark material. Put your flag in the box. Put the glass on top. Either use a bright lamp or put the box in bright sunlight so the light source shines through the remaining open side.. Put your water drops (add glycerin if you have any) on top of the glass. Use macro or a digicam to get close. You will get amazing droplet shots if you can get enough light shining on the flag. Good luck!

Answer 3

You probably already know this but you will probably want to go with manual focus. The autofocus probably just wont be able to distinguish what you are trying to focus on.

Answer 4

This may help ;)

http://www.flickr.com/groups/macroviewers/discuss/72157594313729574/

Cheers!