A photographer had to wait two years for the temperature to drop to well below freezing to capture spectacular macro shots of soap bubbles freezing.
Jens Braun from the YouTube channel Another Perspective captured stunning close-ups of snowflakes forming in a soap bubble as it gradually freezes over.
The German photographer tells PetaPixel he used a mix of water, dishwashing liquid, and glycerine. The glycerine prevents the bubble from popping.
“It only works at temperatures below -7 degrees Centigrade (19.4 degrees Fahrenheit),” he explains.
“Initially I set up the camera rig in my garden in the daylight. But maybe, due to the sunlight, the bubble did not really want to freeze.
“So I switched over to a shady area and the results were a little better. But I had to wait until the temperatures dropped even more.”
After waiting until 22:00, the temperatures dropped even further and the fun could begin.
Braun used his Sony a7r IV with a Laowa 100mm attached, which was set at the maximum 2:1 magnification.
“There is no need to use an expensive full frame body, a random aps-c camera will work best when you look for high magnification,” he says.
“The extreme close-ups in my video is 4K footage which is cropped to 1080, this means the width of the video is equal to 8:1 magnification. As an aperture, I used f/11 to get a larger depth of field.”
Braun’s ISO was set to 100 and the shutter speed was set between 1/50th and 1/5000, depending on the angle of the light source.
Braun used a powerful studio light for the shoot but says that a flashlight would suffice.
“If it’s not that strong, just get a little closer to the light source and you’ll get the same results.”
The photographer urges fellow shooters to try out their own versions.
“There is no right and wrong, ” he says. “You can try any light source, any angle of light, maybe experiment a little bit with colors to achieve satisfying results. Maybe try to freeze a bubble in mid-air.
Braun tries to make similar size bubbles every attempt and focuses manually so he is all set up for when it starts to freeze.
More of Braun’s work can be found on his YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Patreon, TikTok.
Image credits: All photos by Jens Braun.
