Macro Soap Photography

Colours and patterns arising naturally from the interference of reflected light rays from the front and rear surface of a thin film of water and soap held in a tiny frame (a ‘bubble wand’). The inner circle which I use for these photos measures 18mm. Some of the shots are of tiny areas within that ring.

Sony Alpha 100 SDLR camera with Cosina Macro 100mm lens

This (above) is a mixture of sugar, soap and water in a ring the size of a teaspoon (the bowl part). The actual photo shows just a tiny area of that size, perhaps one eighth, or even a tenth.

This one is cropped quite a bit, just showing a tiny area which is much smaller than the previous one, so doesn’t enlarge much unfortunately.

bought some bubble mixture with this plastic ‘wand’ today (in a shop here called ‘The Works’) for under £1. This is a first experiment using the wand as a frame for a soap film. Although the bubble mixture in the pot works just about as well, I mixed vegetable gelatine, shampoo and sugar for this shot (seen better at a larger size of course) Getting the angle right is almost impossible because my lamp needs to stand exactly where the camera is, or else the wand has to be angled.

In the same 18mm ring as the last one, the mixture being mostly washing up liquid and water this time!

Water and soap in the same 18mm ring; ISO 100, F11, 1/40 sec exposure, artificial lighting (no flash).

Water and soap in the same 18mm ring; ISO 100, F16, 1/30 sec exposure, artificial lighting (no flash).

Soap and water mixture in an 18mm ring (a ‘bubble wand’).

Colours and patterns arising from the interference of reflected light rays on a thin film of water and soap held in a tiny frame (a ‘bubble wand’).

Colours and patterns arising from the interference of reflected light rays on a thin film of water and soap held in a tiny frame (a ‘bubble wand’). The inner circle which I use for these photos measures 18mm.

Colours and patterns arising from the interference of reflected light rays on a thin film of water and soap held in a tiny frame (a ‘bubble wand’). The inner circle which I use for these photos measures 18mm. Colours slightly brightened in Photoshop – otherwise entirely natural..

Jane Thomas’s website

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