It has been bitter cold this week so I was watching some YouTube videos on photography projects to do indoors and bubble photography came up in this video by Andrew Lanson Photography. He was talking about shooting indoors but it reminded me of photos I had seen in the past of bubbles shot outdoors that freeze. I bundled up and headed to the back yard. I used my X-T5 with my 18-55 lens and a 10mm extension tube for a macro shot with very shallow depth of field. I used a tripod so I could set up the camera a specific distance from where I would try to place the bubbles.
Andrew uses a straw for the bubbles and I found this to work very well. I couldn’t find a bubble wand. Initially I tried my own bubble mix with water, dish soap, and corn syrup and that did not work well at all. Next time I will get some glycerine to have on hand. My son scrounged around the garage and came up with some premade bubbles that worked a lot better.
It was 13F and the bubbles freeze fast, so you have to be ready on the trigger. Most of mine would pop as soon as they froze but a few lasted longer. It was a fun simple project to break up the monotony of a cold week.
I did not have a nice background so I chose black and white in processing to eliminate the noise in the background and simplify the scene. I have seen others posting with a sunset or colored backgrounds and I will try that next time the temperature drops into the teens. I was happy with the results.
douglas adams 