refraction

Space provides all kinds of photo opportunities and one astronaut took advantage of microgravity for this unique image.

Refraction photography is an exciting subject that has been enjoying increasing popularity amongst photographers. You've probably seen refraction photos before: where an out-of-focus background appears sharply defined inside a crystal ball or a dew drop for example. In today’s post, we will examine this phenomenon and learn how to take beautiful photos by taking advantage of this effect.

Like tiny crystal balls, water droplets can add a magical element to macro photographs. There are a number of moving parts to consider, but the basic concept is simple: a spherical droplet can act like a lens, refracting light from whatever is behind it.

These water glass photos are not created in Photoshop. In fact, all photographer Alexandre Watanabe needed to shoot these striking shots was water, two colored plastic sheets, and a little bit of refraction.

We've featured photographs of paintings and candies captured in drops of water before, but photographer Markus Reugels' water drops double as planets. By photographing drops of water in front of images of Earth and the moon, he's able to transform the liquid spheres into beautiful worlds.

Flickr user Henrique Feliciano Silva made this neat photograph by hollowing out a light bulb, filling it with water, hanging it upside down on his balcony, and shooting his neighborhood through it with a shallow depth of field.