Photographing Waterdrops

Introduction

I love to photograph waterdrops. Here’s why: If you look closely at a waterdrop you will see glamour, magic, and beauty. I don’t use these terms lightly.

Try this as an experiment: Forget about your camera. Pick a day when it is bright, but maybe sprinkling a little. Find a waterdrop on a bush or flower, and get up really close to it. Squint, adjust your eyes, do whatever you have to do to peer right inside the waterdrop.

Waterdrops are encapsulated worlds that follow their own rules. Inside a waterdrop you will see the play of light, focus, and shadow writ large. On the outer edge, the skin of the waterdrop, transparency plays with reflection—and reflection presents a fisheye view of our outer world. This outer world, our universe, ...