Bubble Macro

OK so I tried something new and fun and thought I'd challenge all of you to try it too!

This is macro photography of soap bubbles.

I used ordinary bubble solution, mixed with glycerin. 80% bubble stuff, 20% glycerin. (I just eyeballed it, 'cause I'm lazy like that.)Trust me, the glycerin is so worth it! The glycerin makes the bubbles last 3-4 minutes instead of 15-20 seconds. You can get glycerin at health food places by the massage oils.

My macro lens can do 1:1 and cover an area of about 1-1.5 inches. SO I bought a 3 inch metal ring at the craft store (50 cents) and left the tag on. Used big metal cans and a dowel to suspend it over the cup of bubble solution:

(When the tag gets too soaked to use any more, I plan to use a small strip of flannel or something.)

For my background, I made a really cheapo stand out of foam core:

I used a dark purple paper as my background. Black works best, but I was aiming for the purple challenge. Darker colors work better than brights, for sure! I made the slots on my background stand too loose and it wobbled. So I remembered the old stuff-your-bra trick and used kleenexes to stabilize it:

I set the background at an angle so that it wouldn't glare back through the bubble.

The camera and light were positioned with both at an angle to the bubble:

I was using a desk lamp with a daylight balanced florescent bulb in it, because my flash batteries are dead and I'm impatient like that.

I adjusted focus manually and then used my remote to trip the shutter:

Because the lamp needed it, I held a kleenex in front of it to diffuse it. Yeah, who knew kleenex had TWO good uses in photography? First stabilizing the background, now this!

And the final result?

I think it is beautiful!