Frozen bubbles

Angi_Wallace

Welcome to my page, here you will mainly find images of Reptiles & Amphibians, plus creative portraiture, but other subjects are mixed in too.
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Frozen bubbles

13 Feb 2021 10:02AM Views : 798 Unique : 490

I have wanted to try photographing bubbles freezing for years but either conditions have not been right or I have been unable to get out or didnt have access to a suitable outdoor space to try this. This week conditions finally provided me with the perfect opportunity - minus 4, little to no wind and a lovely sunrise to help with light plus snow. I was able to sit/kneel on our garden bench and use another platform covered in snow to blow bubbles on. Resting my camera on a steady surface helped a fair bit too. I used a Sony 90mm macro lens for these and shot mostly at F18 trying to get the whole bubble in focus - trickier that it seems with low light and then sun streaming through the bubbles at I attempted to catch the sunrise too. Next time I try this I will use a longer lens and photograph from further away. I compensated by trying to blow small bubbles once I noticed many weren't fully in focus.

Frozen bubbles
by Angi_Wallace

Frozen in time
by Angi_Wallace

I used a mixture of two parts washing up liquid, 6 parts water, 1 part glycerine and a tablespoon of sugar. Dissolve sugar and glycerine in warm water first then add the washing up liquid - try to avoid over stirring and getting bubbles on the top as this can affect your bubbles. Place in fridge or outside to cool. Apparently these work best at temperatures below minus 4 - some say minus 10. I used a straw, took deep breaths of cold air and slowly blew bubbles. This was only my first attempt so they’re not perfect and I can already think of ways to improve. Best done when there is no wind. The colder it is the quicker the bubbles freeze so it can be handy having someone blowing the bubbles for you whilst you concentrate on photographing the quickly. Although once temperatures are around minus 1-2 it was taking a couple of minutes to freeze.

I am looking forward to trying this again as I have a few creative ideas I would like to try, I can see it being a regular winter activity Many of the bubbles will burst so perseverance is necessary - just keep trying. There are a few different recipes for bubble mixtures out there if you google them - many include ingredients such as corn syrup or glycerine to help the bubbles last longer and sugar to help crystalize. It is important to prepare the mixture in advance and cool it to give yourself a higher success rate, so keeping a batch ready in your fridge is handy.