Water Droplet Refractions with Don Komarechka 

I know, right? Even his snowflakes are handheld!

Thank you so very much for the kind words Enoit! I agree with you, Don is the most approachable photographer I know, and at his level that is amazing. He tries to answer everyone that asks a question, and sometimes he does so in depth.

ProJohn13 Totally agree. Don really is one of a kind. Sincere in his desire to help others, and just plain amazing skills. I really appreciate you’re time watching, and be sure to check out Don’s Photo Geek Weekly Podcast too.

Thanks so much for these kind words, I don't think I've ever received such a glowing review! I don't want to put others down in their approach to photographic education - there are many great folks out there doing amazing things. If you eat, sleep and breathe your craft... it's in your blood. I love talking freely about these things. There is no fear of others coming along and taking my techniques and one-upping me. Everything can be unique, you can take your own twist on anything and I have far too many ideas I have yet to explore. :) Also, macro photography 354pg hardcover book being announced later this month. Watch for it!

​@@DonKomarechka I am an electrical engineer by trade and am a firm believer in the free transmission of information. I really believe that the more everyone knows the more innovation and growth can occur overall, which of course benefits us all. In my trade am am the same way I will teach you anything you want to know never watered down. I know what you mean, you are Don and even if I know everything you know I can't be you and you can't be me. That philosophy is why I've come to respect your approach to teaching and information flow. BTW I certainly never meant to put anyone down or imply anyone is lesser in what they do, but credit is due where credit is due and you sir deserve credit. I'll be watching for it!

@@DJSlimzilla Hah, you know I never thought of it this way: It's fast and easy to be concise and accurate when you're not trying to obscure the truth. :) Words I didn't know I lived by!

That’s the goal. Inspiration. Thanks for watching.

Thanks, Terry. So kind of you to take the time to watch, and for the kind words. Don is hands down one of the best there is, and happy to say a good friend. This show is a bit older, but he’s been on a number of times over 6 or 7 years. His water droplet class at Princeton Photo Workshop is awesome too.

Oscar Jairo Pabon C. Thanks!

That’s awesome Rosas! SO glad that DOn helped inspire you in this video. Post the shots in the Flickr group so we can see them when you’re ready.

@@BehindTheShot I will Steve. Thanks, you inspire me too :-)

Thank you!

Thanks for watching, Noel.

Hi Adam! Thanks so much for watching, and subscribing. Don is so good at what he does, and he presents his knowledge so freely and plainly that it’s much more easily digestible than the subject should be. I’d argue he’s one of the best there is in both creativity and teaching. He’s been on two other times too - a snowflakeimage and a sweat bee image. Both great content if I say so myself. Again, thanks for the comment and be sure to check out our critique shows we do together. (Reminder that youtube still won’t notify you for each post unless you click the bell too)

Thanks for the feedback Richard, I’m glad you enjoyed it. If you click the bell that will guarantee notifications, we’re subscribing does not. Also the show is available in both audio and video format through any podcast app.

evadenna

Ben Stevens That’s a good question. I’ve passed these questions on to Don, so hopefully he’ll chime in on the paper question.

@@BehindTheShot Just tagged you in on IG for the popcorn. A great still life subject. No 2 are the same.

Thanks Ben, and great question! I tend to favour a few paper types, which you can get from a number of manufacturers. "Metallic Satin" or "Metallic Luster" as some call it offers a subtle bit of shimmer, almost subliminal, when printing vibrant macro images that have some nearly white content like the petals of this flower - I use the same paper for my snowflakes and infrared work. If you have heavier saturated colours across the entire image, like most landscape images, the ink will obscure the shimmer too much. For that kind of work, I prefer something like a cotton rag baryta paper. I also have a textured metallic paper that I'll be testing soon to see how it holds up with different subjects... always more to explore!

I did see that on IG@@benstevens1718 . Great idea for a macro subject too.

@@DonKomarechkaThanks for chiming in Don!

Hi Barry, thanks for watching and I’m glad you enjoyed it. I passed your question on to Don. He’s usually helpful in answering questions like yours, but with his new macro book Kickstarter doing so good it could take a little time. Watch here for him to answer.

@@BehindTheShot yes, I was going to mention you need to add that link but saw on twitter that it got funded in no time at all! Lol Thanks.

Thanks for enjoying the video, Barry! You will always be seeking the most spherical droplets as these act like the best lenses, but the distance between the object (flower) and the droplets is largely based on the size of the object. In this example, the flower used in the background was smaller than my usual gerbera daisies so it was placed closer to the droplets. In doing do, it would normally come further into focus than I'd like, so to keep it soft and smooth in the background I shot the image with a slightly wider aperture. In general, these images are made between F/8 and F/11 to achieve the optimum balance between foreground focus and background smoothness. This often means that you do not have sufficient depth of field to get entire droplets in focus - both the outer edge and the refraction. This is normal, and focus stacking is the answer most of the time. Occasionally some images are shot with just a single frame when complete sharpness isn't required, in favour of the depth provided by focus fall-off around the subject. If you're having trouble seeing the refraction at all, remember that you need a clear line of sight to the object in the background. Even a droplet sitting on a flower petal might be partially obstructed by the petal itself if you are not shooting at the correct angle. Many elements to consider! Oh, and if you want further details then I might recommend you look at my current Kickstarter campaign for a copy of my upcoming book Macro Photography: The Universe at Our Feet - www.kickstarter.com/projects/donkom/macro-photography

Thanks for watching. I passed the question on to Don, so hopefully he'll be able to point you in the right direction.

@@BehindTheShot Thanks so much!!!

Hi Marek, Sorry for the delay, you comment was marked as spam by RU-vid. I will ask Don to him in, but he regularly stacks images of snowflakes that were shot handheld.

Marek, this is easier than you think! Even when you're on a tripod using focus bracketing in camera, or using a focusing rail, you'll still need to align the frames afterwards. The better the initial alignment the less you'll encounter issues, but if you hold the end of the lens with your left hand or otherwise brace the end of the lens, your vertical and horizontal deviations will be minimal. The most images I have combined together in a handheld approach was 70 for a truly epic snowflake, the average for snowflakes is around 40 frames and 12 frames for water droplets. All handheld. All focus stacking software aligns frames, with Photoshop behaving the best when dealing with a series of handheld images for stacking.

Hey Russell, Thanks for watching. Hard to believe it’s been that long ago, wow. Yes, Don has had some amazing books, and “Macro Photography - The Universe at Our Feet” is amazing. I believe it’s sold out, but if you reach out to Don he could tell you for sure.

I passed this question on to Don for you. Hopefully he’ll have time to reply here, but can’t promise of course.

Yep - it was a huge success and the entire print run has been sold through. I don't believe there are any in the retail channel any more. Work has begun on a second edition with a large publisher. :)

@DonKomarechka Thanks for jumping in here, Don!

I am right there with you Jim. Let me ask Don if can shed some light.

My limited experience has been to keep a REALLY similar frame and make sure you you have a lot of decent contrast for the algorithm to pick up. I found you have to keep a as much of your end image in the centre, as Photoshop can carve up the outer sections (blurry/clean background helps).

Jim, great question and Ben summed it up nicely - you just need to keep your horizontal and vertical deviations to a minimum. Anything where all the frames properly overlap will be handled well enough by Photoshop, and any issues with blending the stack together can be handled through a manual process. You might run into difficulties if some of your frames are WAY off, but this is less likely to happen with you have your hand or your arm connected to the end of the lens for greater stability. Even if you were focus stacking by other techniques such as using a focusing rail or by using in-camera focus adjustment systems, you will still need to align the layers before blending them to some degree. Handheld is no different. :) If you'd like to see a video of how I handle images like this in Photoshop as a workflow tutorial, I recorded a video with Frederick van Johnson in the TWiP "watch me work" series: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8_nVhtFgkN4.html

@@DonKomarechka ^ this right here is why your great Don.

@@DJSlimzilla I try my best! :)

The photographer is Don Komarechka, and he does mention during the video what he used. I don’t remember unfortunately, as this video is from 1.5 yrs ago, but I’m pretty sure we discussed it in there. The other option is to reach out to him on Twitter to ask him.

The photo is not mine, it’s my guest’s. If you reach out to Don Komarechka I’m sure he’d be happy to tell you. We may have mentioned it in the show too, but this was recorded long ago so I don’t remember.

i miss the good ol days where people were actually watching the videos. Anyway, he said (in the video believe it or not!), it was a Canon MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro

Thanks for that , much appreciated. And yes, there are times I’m amazed at the comments showing they didn’t watch.

Hi Lenie, Don has said why, and I am trying to recall. I think it had to do with the number of images and stacking, so you would need a rail. Let me ask him to chime in if possible.

Behind The Shot I have a rail and have never used it! 😩

A great question Lenie! Part of it has to do with speed. There are a lot of moving parts here, quite literally - the water droplets are evaporating, but these seeds tend to "animate" when they get wet, changing their curves, curls, etc. as moisture gets absorbed by the spine of it. Because every setup is different and the placement of the background is critical, it ends up being far more beneficial to more that camera around the droplets as if the droplets were the center of the rotational movement. If you're on a tripod, that center of rotation is where your tripod mount is, and aligning the various components in the frame is more challenging. At least, it takes more time and that is working against you! By hand-holding the camera, you can quickly find the precise angle and focus needed (with some practice) in a few seconds, make adjustments quickly and shoot for focus stacking. Even on a tripod you will have some vertical and horizontal shifts to account for, requiring the end images to be aligned. In short: being fast and flexible outweighs any additional difficulties caused by shooting without a tripod. :)

@@DonKomarechka Thank you Don!

If you'd like to discuss techniques that are alternative to your own methodology, I'd be happy to have that conversation. Using a tripod is not imperative to anything - every single one of my snowflake photos, as an example, is shot handheld and is a focus stack of roughly 40 images. I've published nearly a thousand of them. And just like snowflakes, my water is simple: water. No additives. You are entitled to your opinions, but please try this with pure plain water yourself. Not only is it possible with the right subject, it yields better droplets on hydrophobic surfaces such as wildflower seeds. With a backdrop of a flower that is radially symmetrical, you do not require an up or down for the background subject - it's why I typically use daisy-type flowers for these images. I've used images and maps as well, which do need to be flipped upside down - but that's not always the case. These shots don't need to be difficult. I can place a water droplet on a flower petal and be done with it. When you add in extra elements such as the surface of water and additional reflections, every element adds complexity and chaos to the process. The reward of working through the chaos is almost always worth it.

Thanks for the reply, Don!