Creative macro photography: shooting flowers reflected in droplets of water

Using glycerine instead of water will create shinier, more viscous drops that stick to their support for longer, giving you more shooting time to capture the perfect shot. And using a faster shutter speed will enable you to get as many shots as you want in a short amount of time. Dip a needle or toothpick into the glycerine and use this to transfer the liquid – this way, you'll be able to position the droplets where you want them and add as many as you like. Experiment with different sized droplets and clusters of them to produce more creative compositions.

The technique

Manually focus on the drops and move the flower in the background closer until its refracted image is rendered sharply in the liquid. Shoot in Aperture priority (Av) mode so that you have more control over the depth of field, and choose an aperture of f/8 to start with. The trick here is to keep the flower in the background blurred while its refracted image appears sharp, so be prepared to experiment with the position of the flower and the aperture. Keep the droplets parallel with the camera to keep all the drops sharp.

To improve sharpness, use Live View mode so that the mirror movement won't jar the camera, and take the picture using your camera's self-timer, a remote shutter release, or the Canon Camera Connect app on your smartphone if your camera works with it. For additional advice on how to get started with macro, and for further inspiration on new tricks to try, download the Canon Photo Companion App for iOS or Android.


Written by Marcus Hawkins and Tamzin Wilks