Photographing Dew Drops With A Nikkor Macro Lens

At this time of year, when you head out in the morning you'll most likely see some form of dew, or even sometimes frost, on the ground and surrounding areas. Here are some top tips and ideas for capturing dewy images with your Nikon kit:

Use a Macro Lens

To get up close and personal with dew drops, you'll need to use a macro lens. This will enable you to get pin sharp focus and create lovely bokeh filled out of focus backgrounds to make the drops stand out. The Nikon AF-S 105mm f/2.8G ED IF VR Micro will be an ideal lens for focusing on close subjects. Think about perspective - it will help to get down low to the dew drops, and using a different or unusual angle can help to bring more interest to the image. 

Use a Tripod

A tripod with the ability to splay its legs will be a great help for low level work. It will allow you to set up the camera and move around, to reposition unsightly objects in the shot. It will also allow you to accurately use manual focus to get exactly the right part of the image in focus - if you're working by hand the slightest movement can throw the shot out of focus when using a shallow depth of field. 

Think About the Subject

There may be many dew covered objects in your field of vision, but think about which ones will be more photogenic. The grass on your lawn is a great place to start as there will be lots of mini 'landscape' settings for you to choose from to make the composition pleasing to the eye. Other subjects that work well are spider's webs. You'll likely find these on fences or conifers around your home. The tiny dew drops that form on the web make them stand out and form intricate patterns, great for some abstract photography. 

Single Drop or Several Drops?

It's likely that there will be a lot of drops together for you to photograph. But single drops can be just as photogenic, so it depends really on the look you're going for with your image. Sometimes drops in the background can work well as part of the bokeh. Experimenting with apertures and shutter speeds is a good way to discover for yourself what works and what doesn't. 

Use Refraction

Dew hanging from the washing line or the side of the shed roof can be used for some refraction photography. This is where an upside down view of the world can be captured inside a rain or dewdrop, and depending on what is in the surrounding area when the image is taken some beautiful patterns can be created. These images can add a creative flare to your portfolio and offer something a little different to the usual dewdrop images.