Drop on a blade of grass
An extreme closeup of a rain drop on a grass blade:
I used high magnification (3x to 4x) and a wide aperture, f/2.8, for minimal depth of field and an abstract look.
Nature Diary
Notes from the field, essays, and observations.
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It looks to me like the drop is on a suture in a piece of fabric.
What looks like a suture is the plane of focus as it crosses the parallel lines (veins) on the grass blade. I like a wide aperture at this magnification for the way it singles out a few details and melts and transforms the rest.
That super-shallow depth of field certainly creates a minimalist and abstract image. Framing the picture to put the drop way over near the corner is a nice touch, too.
Thanks – the idea was to draw the viewer’s eye to the drop, then up to the soft diagonal shape of the blade.
Nice work of drawing the viewers eye to the water droplet(s).
Thanks, Miguel!
Wonderful photo. Love the suttle shadows leading to the drop. Very nice.
I’ve looked at this a few times, trying to identify what makes it seem so unusual to me. I saw the same suture-like effect as Steve did (and appreciated the explanation), but I finally decided it was the color that was the eye-catcher. “Blade of grass” and this marvelous sort-of-blue green don’t usually go together. It’s as though the droplet diluted the color: it’s quite water-colorish.
Photographs are supposed to capture the world “as it is”, but I’m fascinated by how a photograph can transform familiar things into something else. I’m thinking of the effect of wide aperture, but colors can be different in different light as well.