I was reading up on refraction shots today in preparation for my photo club meeting tomorrow. We'll be setting up some different table top photography options for the membership and I was hoping to do one of those shots where a pattern gets reversed when shot through a glass of water. I was pleased to learn that you can also do something similar with a crystal ball, so I decided to play around with mine a little bit before I FINALLY put all the Christmas decorations away!
Thank you one and all! I must admit I am fascinated by refraction! I think I shall be playing with it some more in the next few days. I appreciate all the views and comments which interestingly landed this on the PP for a bit without a single fav. Hmmm...don't know how that happened?!
@radiogirl I'm no expert on them and most of the time just play with it until something catches my eye. There are a few approaches I guess- mine is to keep it simple. I try to keep my subject separated from the background. If the background is too busy you can't see it in the ball. Secondly I'm always keeping what is inside the ball in focus and everything else out of focus or mostly blurred- again to make what's in the ball stand out. After that there are a couple options- keep the shot as is, like it is in this shot (the subject remaining upside-down) or the flip the picture and make the subject right-side up. Most people then merge the same shot without the ball, and then erase the part where the ball is so that it appears to be floating. I don't know if there are any hard and fast rules with them- it's pretty much wherever your creative juices take you. I hope that helps!
I think the crystal balls are so interesting because the subject is still quite discernable after the refraction, unlike many through glasses of liquid.
Thank you one and all! I must admit I am fascinated by refraction! I think I shall be playing with it some more in the next few days. I appreciate all the views and comments which interestingly landed this on the PP for a bit without a single fav. Hmmm...don't know how that happened?!
@radiogirl I'm no expert on them and most of the time just play with it until something catches my eye. There are a few approaches I guess- mine is to keep it simple. I try to keep my subject separated from the background. If the background is too busy you can't see it in the ball. Secondly I'm always keeping what is inside the ball in focus and everything else out of focus or mostly blurred- again to make what's in the ball stand out. After that there are a couple options- keep the shot as is, like it is in this shot (the subject remaining upside-down) or the flip the picture and make the subject right-side up. Most people then merge the same shot without the ball, and then erase the part where the ball is so that it appears to be floating. I don't know if there are any hard and fast rules with them- it's pretty much wherever your creative juices take you. I hope that helps!
Thank you Kathy!
Thank you Leana!