Inspired by some amazing shots by the macro masterminds, Ursula I Abresch and Luigi Benedetti, I decided to experiment with bubble photography last weekend. All of these images are combination of cold water and drops of olive oil, shot from above. Nothing fancy was done in digital post processing except removing sensor dust and some cat hair.

Of course I went way overboard with my experiment by adding alcohol into the mix. The shot below was done by combining a left over bottle of rum we had from my last trip to Barbados last year.

The set up:
I used a clear-bottom glass baking pan and placed it on top of two empty garbage cans from Ikea. You can use any glass container that has plenty of space so you get enough real estate to move around the oil bubbles. We need enough height to separate the glass from the background which will give us a really nice bokeh effect.

I filled the glass about 3/4 full with cold water. I experimented with warm water, hot water, tap water and also water mixed with some ice cubes. I found out that the cold water worked better to separate the oils long enough.

Grab any colourful fabrics you can find around the house. You can use napkins, paper, clothing or anything that will give an interesting colour combination. Be warned that some oil may splash onto them — in this case I sacrificed my yellow and purple scarves.

Camera setting:
A Canon 5D Mark II, 100mm macro lens, and an extension tube were used on this experiment. Set the aperture to a minimum of f/8 to get a sharp image from corner to corner. I also used one strobe and experimented with some light modifiers. Change the setting to manual focus, use cable release and also don’t forget to turn on the mirror lock up function to avoid lens blur.

Technique:
Here is where the fun begins! Slowly drop the olive oil into the water with a glass medicine dropper. You can agitate the bubbles with the tip of the dropper – this little tool really comes in handy to achieve nice abstract shapes.  Alternately, if you don’t mind your neighbors suspecting that you’re doing some kind of voodoo rituals, you can blow on the bubbles to disturb them.

Playing with different fabric colours, dripping the oils while reminiscing of childhood excitement, and stirring the water until you get a nice abstract under your lens is beyond zen-like-feeling. Patience is definitely a virtue for this experiment and the back pain after 6 hours of kneeling on the floor was totally worth it. Tylenol works wonders too