Umm, bubbles are tricky to photograph!
I was inspired to take bubble photos through a random YouTube video. I had given it zero thought beforehand, but assumed that bubble photos with a macro lens were pretty straightforward - take photos of bubbles … profit? Not sure. So I watched the video, was mesmerized and gave it a go. I quickly realized a couple of things. 1) it’s hard to focus. I wasn’t really sure if I should be focusing on the edge of the bubbles, the front or back of this transparent object, so I did a combo of all of the above. 2) It's very easy to make a million tiny bubbles, but it takes some concentration to make just one or two big bubbles. Foam doesn’t photograph well. 3) The oil the video used was EVOO, and that gave the solution a yellow tinge. Not sure if that was good or bad. 4) Bubbles are ephemeral and can disappear from frame to frame, so I took a ton of photos of mostly the same thing while working out focusing. 5) Bubbles are very reflective so I took a lot of photos of my light strips reflected on the bubble's surface. Not really what I was going for. 6) Lots of photos of accidental boobies (bubble combos that looked like breasts together). Also not what I was going for. Takeaways - I bought some glycerine so may try to make some longer-lasting bubbles in the future. This will hopefully give me some time to work out the kinks of focusing before the whole thing blinks out of existence. I think I’ll also try a single light source. I was using a lightbox with strips on top and to the sides, and next time I’ll try just one of those, or maybe one of my ice lights. I’d also like to try a slow-mo video of the bubble surface like in the video linked above. I’ll also try to get in closer - I was using a tripod and that kept me further away from the table then maybe was necessary. Overall, it was a fun learning experience, and I’m looking forward to my next attempt. Click below to see more.
