I’m currently into macro photography and at the moment I’m working on water droplet photography. This sort of thing: http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/waterdrop_macros_2.jpg

One problem I’m running into is making the droplet. At present ‘m using glycerol, which is OK but can’t sustain a droplet bigger than 3-4 mm. Any bigger and it drops off. I think there must be something better. Any suggestions? I need a clear viscous liquid that will make a decent sized well formed droplet, and will hang on to a twig..

pesce.del.giorno said:

I’m currently into macro photography and at the moment I’m working on water droplet photography. This sort of thing: http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/waterdrop_macros_2.jpg

One problem I’m running into is making the droplet. At present ‘m using glycerol, which is OK but can’t sustain a droplet bigger than 3-4 mm. Any bigger and it drops off. I think there must be something better. Any suggestions? I need a clear viscous liquid that will make a decent sized well formed droplet, and will hang on to a twig..

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Coconut oil seems to turn solid at about 24 C , so at 25 celsius it should be fairly thick.

Treacle? Not clear but it has a nice shine which could be interesting. Low viscosity oils. And for a little left field I have a roll on smelling stuff, the stuff inside is clear and looks to be thick enough to make thick drops.

pesce.del.giorno said:

I’m currently into macro photography and at the moment I’m working on water droplet photography. This sort of thing: http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/waterdrop_macros_2.jpg

One problem I’m running into is making the droplet. At present ‘m using glycerol, which is OK but can’t sustain a droplet bigger than 3-4 mm. Any bigger and it drops off. I think there must be something better. Any suggestions? I need a clear viscous liquid that will make a decent sized well formed droplet, and will hang on to a twig..

Tried saturated sugar solutions?

pesce.del.giorno said:

I’m currently into macro photography and at the moment I’m working on water droplet photography. This sort of thing: http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/waterdrop_macros_2.jpg

One problem I’m running into is making the droplet. At present ‘m using glycerol, which is OK but can’t sustain a droplet bigger than 3-4 mm. Any bigger and it drops off. I think there must be something better. Any suggestions? I need a clear viscous liquid that will make a decent sized well formed droplet, and will hang on to a twig..

paraffin oil

pesce.del.giorno said:

I’m currently into macro photography and at the moment I’m working on water droplet photography. This sort of thing: http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/waterdrop_macros_2.jpg

One problem I’m running into is making the droplet. At present ‘m using glycerol, which is OK but can’t sustain a droplet bigger than 3-4 mm. Any bigger and it drops off. I think there must be something better. Any suggestions? I need a clear viscous liquid that will make a decent sized well formed droplet, and will hang on to a twig..

I don’t think it’s viscosity you’re looking for, but surface tension.

pesce.del.giorno said:

I’m currently into macro photography and at the moment I’m working on water droplet photography. This sort of thing: http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/waterdrop_macros_2.jpg

One problem I’m running into is making the droplet. At present ‘m using glycerol, which is OK but can’t sustain a droplet bigger than 3-4 mm. Any bigger and it drops off. I think there must be something better. Any suggestions? I need a clear viscous liquid that will make a decent sized well formed droplet, and will hang on to a twig..

As a fluids expert I should be able to answer this, but …

Definitely want high surface tension. Also want it not to creep along the branch in a thin layer.

My immediate thought is to try a few different liquids, which isn’t any help for you.

I can’t help wondering if base area is a big factor as well. A drop from a big twig will be bigger than one from a small twig for example.

PS I hope you’ve got manual focus. Auto-focus tends to fail badly for macro-photography.

When I first saw “droplet photography”, I thought of something like this:

I don’t think viscosity would be good for this type of photograph.

DO did a great droplet photograph with a lot of repetition, I believe it was of umbrellas (? maybe) perhaps flowers.

I have done a couple, but the drops have been natural, so size restricted… however with some extenders and good lighting the size shouldn’t matter.

still, it would be interesting to know the results of your experiment

mollwollfumble said:

I can’t help wondering if base area is a big factor as well. A drop from a big twig will be bigger than one from a small twig for example.

Ie. In the quoted link, the blade of grass would have to be very wide, probably deliberately cut across the end to give a greater width.

Pitch

https://player.vimeo.com/video/63712180

Just get a glass bead and stick it on there, no one will know…

Just make sure you get the liquid to its near freezing point.

BEC

SCIENCE said:

BEC

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Please Sir, what does that mean?

tauto said:

SCIENCE said:

BEC

—-

Please Sir, what does that mean?

British Electric Company?

I reckon corn syrup is a go

Arts said:

I reckon corn syrup is a go

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Are you clear on this point?

dv said:

Just get a glass bead and stick it on there, no one will know…

Better than that….a dragon’s tear in plain glass. I have a few.

I need a clear viscous liquid that will make a decent sized well formed droplet, and will hang on to a twig..
==============================

Yeah, well. A dragon’s tear won’t do that……without glue.

kii said:

dv said:

Just get a glass bead and stick it on there, no one will know…

Better than that….a dragon’s tear in plain glass. I have a few.

It seems that they are more often referred to as “glass drops”, still won’t hang off a stick. Easily.

Have you tried Glucose Syrup (from the cake ingredients section at the supermarket)?

Rule 303 said:

Have you tried Glucose Syrup (from the cake ingredients section at the supermarket)?

isn’t that corn syrup?

I’m going to hate the day that I can’t wiki away my questions…

Glucose syrup, also known as confectioner’s glucose, is a syrup made from the hydrolysis of starch. Glucose is a sugar. Maize (corn) is commonly used as the source of the starch in the US, in which case the syrup is called “corn syrup”,

Arts said:

Rule 303 said:

Have you tried Glucose Syrup (from the cake ingredients section at the supermarket)?

isn’t that corn syrup?

It might be called that as a commercial ingredient, but the stuff you can buy off the shelf in a supermarket is called ‘Glucose Syrup’, AFAIK.

Low temperatures slow it right down, which would be handy for photos.

This whole thread now seems a bit fishy.

tauto said:

SCIENCE said:

BEC

—-

Please Sir, what does that mean?

Bose Einstein Condensate.

Rule 303 said:

Low temperatures slow it right down, which would be handy for photos.

Yeah. Lots of photographers use this. Frost on blades of grass caught at the right moment of thaw turn out really well. Got my knees wet and cold a lot back in the 70’s.

kii said:

He’s in my flicker contacts. ;) He does a lot of water droplet photography. https://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/34652303882/in/contacts/

roughbarked said:

kii said:

He’s in my flicker contacts. ;) He does a lot of water droplet photography. https://www.flickr.com/photos/lordv/34652303882/in/contacts/

I don’t bother applying myself to the level of his work but that’s because I simply get down on my hands and knees to take closeups of water drops. He is using more expensive equipment.

I particularly enjoy not only trying to catch a water drop or thousands of them but also the colours of the light within them and the reflections on their surface or within their depth.

I’d love to have the money to spend on the equipment or the time to build it.

Fascinating subjects, water drops.

Ebony dew:

Harlequin opal:

Light painting:

dark pearl necklace:

roughbarked said:

I love these three. The first because of the way the Sun is pretending to be a star, The second I’d be happy to hang on my wall. The last, I haven’t seen any photo done that way before, easily recognisable as a slater.

How did you get it to focus?

mollwollfumble said:

I love these three. The first because of the way the Sun is pretending to be a star, The second I’d be happy to hang on my wall. The last, I haven’t seen any photo done that way before, easily recognisable as a slater.

How did you get it to focus?

but.. the sun is a star

Yes. The sun is a star. :)

The slater was trapped in the water droplet. Focusing wasn’t easy because the slater was trying to get out. Walking on the inside of the bubble.

they do have that aesthetic appeal

pesce.del.giorno said:

I’m currently into macro photography and at the moment I’m working on water droplet photography. This sort of thing: http://ursispaltenstein.ch/blog/images/uploads_img/waterdrop_macros_2.jpg

One problem I’m running into is making the droplet. At present ‘m using glycerol, which is OK but can’t sustain a droplet bigger than 3-4 mm. Any bigger and it drops off. I think there must be something better. Any suggestions? I need a clear viscous liquid that will make a decent sized well formed droplet, and will hang on to a twig..

Water works well. Winter is a good time because the water does hang on to twigs, blades of grass, spider webs and etc..

roughbarked said:

That image reminds me so strongly of the time I lived in Brisbane. Spider webs laced with dew covering the ground. Impossible not to step on. Also a bit in Sydney, but to a much lesser extent. Never in Melbourne.

mollwollfumble said:

roughbarked said:

That image reminds me so strongly of the time I lived in Brisbane. Spider webs laced with dew covering the ground. Impossible not to step on. Also a bit in Sydney, but to a much lesser extent. Never in Melbourne.

I get a lot of it here if the dew hangs around until there is light enough.

As with any close-up work, The camera often is touching the subject or the support for the subject. This can be very frustrating for would be drop catchers.

roughbarked said:

You’re pretty good at that stuff, Roughie.

Peak Warming Man said:

roughbarked said:

You’re pretty good at that stuff, Roughie.

You should see the boxes full of bad slides.

roughbarked said:

Peak Warming Man said:

You’re pretty good at that stuff, Roughie.

You should see the boxes full of bad slides.

in fact, I once had a surrealist artist living here and he spent ages going through my boxes of not good enough to show shots and he reckoned there was loads of great material in there for his art works.

Natural necklace.

may need zooming in on.

The shaking spider in the last shot is about 3-5mm. The entire web is approx 60 mm

roughbarked said:

The shaking spider in the last shot is about 3-5mm. The entire web is approx 60 mm

Actually, the spider is smaller. <3mm