2 Get real impact with refraction

How to make humble water drops act like a second lens

Some photo opportunities happen in front of you and require you to react, while others demand that you take a proactive approach and set everything up to create the possibility. This Easter-egg project is very much of the latter form, and will provide you with an enthralling hour indoors. You don’t need a studio to make it happen – just a few simple props. A really important aspect of the setup is that you treat the glass with some rain repellent (the kind of stuff you squirt on car windscreens). This will cover the glass with a hydrophobic coating and allow water to bead up into a ‘lens’. Without treatment, the water drops will be too flat to work effectively.

By setting up a scene under a glass sheet with beads of water on, you can capture a colourful still-life using the water drops as lenses.