Water drops, they sing.
They tell a story wrapped in a bubble.
They look at the world upside down.
Inside of every drop is a whole world, full of its own colours and life.
It is great fun to keep looking at these hanging worlds, imagining what it would be to get inside! And as you keep on looking, slowly but surely, the world slowly slips and detaches itself to fall down freely. Millions of worlds are hanging out there inviting us to be a part of them.
Their beauty is short lived but the appreciation is long.
Every monsoon I go out with my camera to look for these little beauties. These are not very hard to find. On the grass, hanging from thin branches, sliding down leaves, they are everywhere. They play with the light shifting and sliding ever so slightly. They wrestle with the winds. With the certainty of defeat, they are not afraid to take it on, shine, live and fall off in a matter of a few seconds.
I have often experienced these beautiful words sliding off just as I get ready to click. (Make no mistake, they are difficult to get in focus!). Just when you believe that you finally managed to get everything right, you see through the viewfinder of your camera the drop laughing at you and sliding down slowly till it gets out of the frame. But then that is the whole fun of it. And of course there are times when you get to see the drops, appreciate them and capture them in a photograph.
Hanging drop shot with Canon EOS 7D, Raynox DCR250 at
f/25, ISO 500, Shutter speed 1/125
Manual mode, 240mm focal length
All it takes to get these beauties on the click is to be ready to get out in the rain, wait patiently, get covered in mud and lie down in water!
If you enjoy the season, you would not mind doing all these things.
And once you get these lovely clicks, you will enjoy and cherish them for a long time to come.
The above photograph , rain drop on a white Hibiscus petal was clicked with Canon EOS7D camera.
Shooting mode – Manual, Focal length – 125mm, ISO 500, Shutter 1/125, Aperture f/20, Macro was obtained by using a Canon 21mm extension tube.
Every time I look at drops with reflections, I’m reminded of an old song says;
“the world is such a cheerful place when viewed from upside down
It makes a rise of every fall, a smile of every frown”
A note for photographers :
Photographing water drops with beautiful reflections inside is every photographer’s dream.
In the rainy season, after a few heavy showers have passed, all the dust is washed away.
The drops from the subsequent rainfalls are beautiful, clear and vibrant.
Sheil’s Photography conducts Monsoon and Macro Photography Workshops that teaches techniques for such photography, among other techniques.