Fun with Soap Bubbles - A learning exercise

[Brownbear]

Due to an unexpected encounter with a child's bubble machine one morning on my way back from a bird expedition, I've become intrigued with reflections seen in soap bubbles.

For the image below I blew the soap bubbles over the ocean waters, and captured this one (3 bubbles combined) just before it disappeared into the ocean. The reflections is of the sunset sky, a building and an outside staircase.

I'm not fond of the actual scene in this bubble but I like the shape of the bubble... It reminds me of a light bulb with a scene inside... I'm thinking that I would like to try capturing the reflections of birds, say a large swan inside a soap bubble, perhaps several, and combine them into one eclectic image.


f4 SS 1/320 ISO 320

As photographed but with a warmer white balance than true to life....



With a levels layer added to create a white background quickly done just to provide some insight into what I'm thinking of...



1. How might I manage better clarity of the reflection captured in the soap bubble?

2. If I use a smaller aperture for greater depth of field I'll likely have to up the ISO, and even though this image was captured with a relatively low ISO, exposed to the right and lowered in processing I can see a distinct graininess in the reflection inside the bubble. Should I try using my on camera flash on the bubbles? If yes, which flash setting should I try? (flash neophyte)


Anyhow, I have an idea in my head and I'd appreciate some tips.

Thank you.

[Shadowman]

I would experiment with the direction of light, try backlighting, frontal, side lighting and definitely a fast shutterspeed for most shots.

[Brownbear]

I've experimented a wee bit with the light already... With back lighting I think the reflection in the bubble disappears, and from the side the little star bursts from the sun are too much (hot spots) or vice versa (even at golden hour time). Front lighting is the easiest... The bubbles with the faster shutter speed are sharper but of course I had to up the iso and the grain is still seen even when exposed to the right and the reflection lacks clarity.

All that said, I will experiment some more and try again! Thank you.

I would experiment with the direction of light, try backlighting, frontal, side lighting and definitely a fast shutterspeed for most shots.

[chauncey]

Christina...a bubble is nothing but a round mirror, albeit, a relatively poor quality mirror at that.

You could achieve the same effect buying a glossy ball at the craft store and shooting that without
the grain that your image exhibits. Just remember that your looking at a reflected image and not
a refracted image as in a water droplet. Also your DOF will not be ruled by the radius of the
ball/bubble but by the DOF of the reflection as in a regular mirror.

Hope I'm being clear...

[Nicks Pics]

How did you possibly capture a soap bubble like this? Was it floating in the air? It is not perhaps a reflection of a pair of swans floating about, but that might be a difficult ambition to achieve. I think the staircase is an interesting thing for a reflection because of its geometric shape being warped the way it is.

[Brownbear]

Thank you for sharing. I hadn't thought of soap bubbles as poor quality mirrors but you know they are beautiful when they capture the reflected colours. I just did a search on Getty images and check out the image by John Grant (reflected on black) The quality looks exquisite and I bet it is just as exquisite full size.

http://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/pho...mage/169853818

I will keep the glossy (transparent) ball in mind but I'd have to purchase and maneuver a lot of them at one time so for now soap bubbles sounds a lot easier. I'll experiment and if I never mention or post a soap bubble again, it just didn't work out...

Christina...a bubble is nothing but a round mirror, albeit, a relatively poor quality mirror at that.

You could achieve the same effect buying a glossy ball at the craft store and shooting that without
the grain that your image exhibits. Just remember that your looking at a reflected image and not
a refracted image as in a water droplet. Also your DOF will not be ruled by the radius of the
ball/bubble but by the DOF of the reflection as in a regular mirror.

Hope I'm being clear...

[Mike Buckley]

The chemical makeup of the soap might affect the quality of the reflected image. Perhaps John Grant used a type of soap that is more suitable for photography.

[Brownbear]

Hi Nick,

Yes, I blew bubbles in the air over the ocean. Swans typically just glide along the water at leisurely pace, so I was of the mind that if I created lots of bubbles that surely some of the bubbles would reflect the swans, perhaps easier said than done. A Canada Goose would suffice. And if neither works out than yes, city reflections work well.

Thank you.

How did you possibly capture a soap bubble like this? Was it floating in the air? It is not perhaps a reflection of a pair of swans floating about, but that might be a difficult ambition to achieve. I think the staircase is an interesting thing for a reflection because of its geometric shape being warped the way it is.

[Brownbear]

The chemical makeup of the soap might affect the quality of the reflected image. Perhaps John Grant used a type of soap that is more suitable for photography.

Thank you. Something to think about and research!

[Rebel]

This seems like a good/fun little project I might try myself.

I definitely think the architectural reflections will look better, gives it a "fish-eye" effect.

[Loose Canon]

1. How might I manage better clarity of the reflection captured in the soap bubble?

The answer may lie in post Christina. I wouldn’t know what else you could do in-camera other than get the best exposure you can, which looks like you did.

So if in post, the clarity tool (slider) and work the contrast would be my suggestion. I had some luck with that route playing with this shot.

Should I try using my on camera flash on the bubbles? If yes, which flash setting should I try?

I would say that if you did that you would get a whopping image of your flash reflecting back to you on the front of the bubble. I tried lighting my bubbles from all angles and liked this angle least. But you could give it a shot and try experimenting with getting the bubble framed at different angles. I'd be surprised if you could get a shot you like with frontal lighting.

The lighting angles I liked the most were from slightly above and behind and the shot I posted was underlit. I thought the underlighting produced the best results.

It appears to me the shot you linked to (John Grant) shot his on a surface.

[Brownbear]

Matt...

It would be wonderful if you gave it a try and shared with the rest of us! And yes, in hindsight city scenes/scenery reflected off the water will likely work best.

Terry...

Thank you for sharing. I will give it a try but I'm thinking that it might be possible to capture more clarity of the scene in the actual bubble with the right lighting conditions. The other bubble image was photographed in the morning with light from the side and front, and perhaps some light reflected off of the water, so I'm going to try it again where there is more light falling on the water.

Thank you for advising on flash. I will give it a try for the learning experience.

Yes, the shot I link to was photographed on a surface which isn't what I'm trying to do. I chose as an example because the scene inside the bubble appeared so clear.

Nick... In case you are wondering, the other bubble image is 3 images merged together. (3/2/1 from top to bottom)

Thank you to all for sharing and advising. Truly appreciated.

[GBO25]

I really like this shot with its sunset colours and architectural reflections.
I think Mike's right with his suggestion of bubble mixture but even so the shot John Grant has taken looks very much an indoor shot under controlled studio lighting.
As for graininess it's mostly caused by grey scale noise caused by the way light arrives and is captured by camera sensors. I won't go into the physics of it but to reduce graininess in post try adjusting the Luminence slider in a Raw editing app (like Adobe Camera Raw). Set it to 50 and see what you think.
I use Photoshop Elements and often add a little more smoothing by using the surface blur tool in the main editing window. Usually set it to Radius 4, Threshold 4.
I really like this photo style you'd done here, it looks like it requires plenty of patience and very little wind. Lovely.

[Brownbear]

Hi Graham,

Thank you for taking the time to comment and advise. I will revisit the image and try adjusting the luminance, easily done in Lightroom and I suppose there is truly not too much detail to be lost.

I'm fascinated with reflections and love colours hence the current soap bubble curiosity. And in hindsight I think the surrounding architecture is the easiest type of reflection to capture in the bubbles. There was hardly any wind that day. A lot of patience was not needed, simply a matter of keeping an eye out for the prettiest bubble and following it with my lens.

I really like this shot with its sunset colours and architectural reflections.
I think Mike's right with his suggestion of bubble mixture but even so the shot John Grant has taken looks very much an indoor shot under controlled studio lighting.
As for graininess it's mostly caused by grey scale noise caused by the way light arrives and is captured by camera sensors. I won't go into the physics of it but to reduce graininess in post try adjusting the Luminence slider in a Raw editing app (like Adobe Camera Raw). Set it to 50 and see what you think.
I use Photoshop Elements and often add a little more smoothing by using the surface blur tool in the main editing window. Usually set it to Radius 4, Threshold 4.
I really like this photo style you'd done here, it looks like it requires plenty of patience and very little wind. Lovely.

[bnnrcn]

Hi Christina. I am not able to make any technical comments on your image but I like the idea. The colors in the first image looks better to me.

[Brownbear]

Hi Christina. I am not able to make any technical comments on your image but I like the idea. The colors in the first image looks better to me.

Hi Binnur,

Thank you for sharing. Also very new to me technically but I like the idea and intend to try it again with a different scene. I'm not fond of the greenish colour/film of the ocean waters captured on this day, hence the white background but good to know.

Just FYI I tried Graham's suggestion of the luminance slider and it did minimize the grainy effect seen in the reflection.

[Wavelength]

The golden hue makes the image beautiful. It has an attractive form too

[Brownbear]

Thank you Nandakumar. It's a collision of 3 bubbles and I bet that I'll have a hard time capturing that moment again, but I do intend to try.

The golden hue makes the image beautiful. It has an attractive form too

[IzzieK]

Worse comes to worse Christina, when you think you had already tried all avenues to create an image inside your bubble/s...and failed, do what one member here at CiC do : take a separate photo of each bubbles and a separate photo of any building or architectural structure or even the swans and with Photoshop, resize and warp it inside your bubbles and adjusting the tones at the front to make it natural looking.... Bubbles are fleeting as they are and very easy to burst that you won't have really enough time to go around it and shoot them at many angles and the right image to put inside it. Is it called "cheating"? Hell, yes! but you have achieved your goal...just a thought.

[Brownbear]

Izzie my dear... just a thought that you make sound amazingly easy to do! I'm still at the stage where it is more than enough challenge to combine a simple image and/or create a white background in a quality manner (no selection lines seen).

However, I truly appreciate the idea. It's very imaginative!

Capturing architecture reflections is easy as long as one can create lots of bubbles. The swans I realize may be impossible but I have a plan. Which is to find something to create extra large bubbles and recruit a companion to blow lots (and I mean plenty!) of bubbles at Swan Lake so all I have to do is press the shutter. That's the plan, and I'm really hopeful that I might just surprise you with a real swan in a bubble one day. If not I will send you separate Swan and bubble images so you can teach me how to do it.

I bet you're rooting for me now that you know my secondary plan.

Cheers!

Worse comes to worse Christina, when you think you had already tried all avenues to create an image inside your bubble/s...and failed, do what one member here at CiC do : take a separate photo of each bubbles and a separate photo of any building or architectural structure or even the swans and with Photoshop, resize and warp it inside your bubbles and adjusting the tones at the front to make it natural looking.... Bubbles are fleeting as they are and very easy to burst that you won't have really enough time to go around it and shoot them at many angles and the right image to put inside it. Is it called "cheating"? Hell, yes! but you have achieved your goal...just a thought.