This was easier than we thought it would be. We bought a bottle of “Rain-x”, which is made to treat car windshields to help raindrops fly off your windshield while driving. We wiped some rain-x onto an old windowpane of glass that was propped up on some books. Then sprayed some water drops onto the glass and watched them bead up. Jim set up the detached flash off to the side of the glass, so the flash would come sideways onto the top surface of the water drops on the glass.
Then we experimented with placing different objects and colors under the glass. One of our favorites is the peppermint look that was created when Jim slid a box top with a snowflake on it under the glass. Try anything-colorful scarves or household items – you never know what you will get!
Here is the set-up. A piece of plate glass or plexiglass is raised up on boxes, or a stack of books. The magic ingredient is Rain-x, which you can get at an auto supply store. Wipe the glass with the rain-x, then spray water droplets on top – the Rain-x makes it bead up. A speedlight is set up to hit the water drops from the side. And a macro lens was used – camera set-up with a tripod with the lens horizontal to the glass. You can see that we have weighted the tripod with a beanbag so it doesn’t tip over due to the unbalanced weight towards the front. The focus is on the water drops. Then, slide different objects below the glass.
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