Colorful bubbles -- Take 2

[Mike Buckley]

The photo shown below used the same setup and technique as my triptych of colorful bubbles posted in the other thread except for two differences. The soapy liquid was stored in three small glasses here rather than in one narrow vase there. Unlike there, the bubbles here were blown beyond the confines of their containers.

Actually there was a third difference. The other difference is that I forgot which end of the straw was to be inserted into my mouth and which end was to be inserted into the soapy liquid. Yuck!

[John 2]

That's different Mike. I suspect the lighting was quite tricky. Too easy to burn out the highlights.

[IzzieK]

I prefer this one better than the other three where one can see the liquid at the bottom.

[Mike Buckley]

I suspect the lighting was quite tricky. Too easy to burn out the highlights.

It was actually unusually easy and unexpectedly so. This lighting setup almost always causes significant flare, which I eliminate by placing a black card that has a rectangular hole in the middle in front of the lens. The card prevents the direct light from entering the lens. There was no flare and no need for that black card.

Regarding controlling the highlights, that's just a matter of reviewing the histogram after capturing an image and adjusting the exposure as needed. The flash sync shutter speed of 1/60 remained constant as did the aperture. I fine tuned the ISO value and the output of the speed light to obtain the desired exposure. Once it was set, I blew lots of bubbles, made lots of captures and selected this keeper.

[Mike Buckley]

I prefer this one better than the other three where one can see the liquid at the bottom.

That's interesting and is a good example of different tastes. There was no noticeable collection of blue liquid in this scene, including the areas of the scene not included in the photo. I tried cropping the others to eliminate the blue liquid at the bottom just to be sure I considered all options and I didn't like those images as much without that characteristic.

The characteristic of this photo that I especially like is the curvature of the large bubbles at the top that give it more of a three-dimensional look than the photos in the other thread. The two characteristics of those other photos that I like are the feeling of looking through holes where there are no bubbles and the bright colors grounded by the blue strip of liquid at the bottom. I think I like the photos in the other thread more than this photo because they display bubbles in a way that is more unusual in our everyday experience of seeing bubbles.

[Rebel]

I prefer this one better than the other three where one can see the liquid at the bottom.

I'm with Izzie on this one, another good shot.

[Shadowman]

I see faces. Nicely captured.