In this macro photography tutorial you’ll learn that a rainy day needn’t be a washout, as raindrops can really bring close-up shots to life.
Macro raindrop photography tips
Water drops are an excellent subject to shoot under a macro setup, and they look particularly attractive on flowers. For our photo shoot we visited the National Botanic Garden of Wales.
It was a dry day, so in order to create our ‘raindrops’ we supplied our own water, using a fine mist spray bottle. This is a handy piece of kit to have for a macro shoot, as water droplets add a touch of sparkle to just about any subject, from insects and spiders’ webs to abstract still-life subjects.
The secret to capturing successful shots is to find the right flower, and the yellow-orange stamens against the blue petals of our subject created a striking effect. It also helps to shoot on a calm day with no breeze, to ensure the petals are in sharp focus.
For our shoot we used a 105mm macro lens that was capable of shooting at 1:1 reproduction ratio – this means that we can get in super-close to our subject. If you don’t have a macro lens you can use an extension tube with a regular lens.
SEE MORE: What is a macro lens – magnification, minimum focus distance explained
01 Chose a subject
Choose a flower that has a variety of colours, and interesting detail, and ideally one that’s positioned in partial shade to diffuse the sunlight; if your subject is in direct sunlight you can use the diffuser typically included in a five-in-one reflector kit to soften the light. Set your camera up on a tripod, and secure all the adjustments firmly.
SEE MORE: Download our free macro photography cheat sheet
02 Camera settings
Set your camera to Aperture Priority (Av) mode, and set a narrow Aperture of f/11 to capture a good depth of field, so that most of the flower and water drops are in sharp focus. Set a low ISO of 100 to retain optimum image quality. Even though your camera is on a tripod, if it’s a windy day you may need to increase the ISO to enable a fast enough shutter speed to compensate for any wind movement.
SEE MORE: Best camera settings for macro photography
03 Just add water
Spray your flower with a fine mist of water. You want to have water on all the parts of the flower that will be in shot, but don’t add too much, otherwise it’ll start to run off, or the flower may become weighed down and will droop.
SEE MORE: Macro water drop photography – how to capture colourful abstracts at home
04 Manual focus
Switch your lens to Manual so that you can focus your shot precisely. Enable Live View mode, and zoom in to 10x magnification. Scroll to the centre of the flower, and then adjust the focus until this area is perfectly sharp. Zoom out again and start shooting, using the 2-second self-timer option or a remote release to avoid camera shake; the slightest vibration can completely ruin a macro shot.
SEE MORE: Manual focus – everything you need to know to get sharp images
05 Crop for composition
Download the sample image amd open waterdrops_start.dng in Adobe Camera Raw. Click-and-hold on the Crop tool’s icon to display the crop options, and select the 2 to 3 ratio. Crop into the image to remove some of the empty space on the left-hand side, and to reposition the flower so that its centre sits in the middle of the frame.
SEE MORE: Close-up photography – 2 macro lens alternatives when shooting on a budget
06 Exposure tweaks
Set the Exposure slider to +0.95 to brighten the image, and set Contrast to +23. To reduce the slightly overexposed highlights set Highlights to -55 and Whites to -48. Set Shadows to +23 to add some fill light, and set Blacks to +10. Finally push the Clarity slider up to +23 to enhance the fine detail. Click Open Image.
SEE MORE: 10 common exposure problems every photographer faces (and how to fix them)
07 Boost the contrast
In Elements, add a Levels adjustment layer, and set the Shadows slider to 14 and the Highlights slider to 241 to fine-tune the contrast. Next, make sure the top layer is selected and press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E to create a merged layer at the top of the stack.
SEE MORE: Creative macro photography – how to shift focus using layer blending
08 Unsharp mask
To sharpen the image go to Enhance > Unsharp Mask. Set Amount to 80%, Radius to 2 pixels and Threshold to 0. Press OK to apply. Finally, go to Layer > Flatten Image and save the image as a JPEG.
SEE MORE: Mastering macro photography – get to grips with macro focusing
More ideas for drop shots
You can combine flowers and water drops in lots of ways, to create an array of dazzling effects
Dandilion seed
This dandelion seed head was photographed indoors, with an LED ring flash as the main light source. Spraying a fine misting of water over the delicate seeds helps to create an ethereal and abstract image.
Rain effect
You can create spectacular effects with falling water. Here we backlit the drops with off-camera flash – you’ll need to sync your camera’s shutter speed to around 1/250 sec. A dark backdrop helps the illuminated drops stand out.
Pretty in pink
To get a close-up of this tiny flower we used a 68mm extension tube to boost the magnification of our macro lens. We used an LED ring flash to boost the colours, and in Elements we cloned out the most noticeable reflections in the drops.
READ MORE
Focus stacking – how to extend depth of field when shooting close-up
3 ways to affect depth of field – free photography cheat sheet
How to set up your autofocus for macro photography
Getting sharp images: every photo technique you need to know starting out
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