Macro Me, iPhone Style

Fingerprint taken by using a water droplet at a macro lens.

Being a macro enthusiast, you can imagine my excitement when my friend and expert Starbucks barista Carlos Cespedes came to me with this question; “Is it true you can put a water droplet on you mobile phone camera lens and take closeup images of insects?” “Well, let’s find out”, I said, and proceeded to locate a droplet of water to prove him right.



To his amazement it worked quite well, and for me it lead to an opportunity for exploration, one aspect of which was the world of tiny flowers...

These tiny flowers vary in size from as small as a quarter of an inch across to about 5/8" for the red flowers at the bottom. The scale of the photo can vary widely by the size of droplet that you use. Smaller, more shallow droplets offer a wider view, while larger, deeper droplets give greater magnification. The point of sharp focus varies widely from image to image making each photo unique and not easily repeatable. The effect is not unlike a tiny Lensbaby selective focus lens for your wireless phone camera.

Water develops a natural skin on its surface, containing the droplet and preventing it from passing through small openings. This makes it unlikely that it will enter your phone, so I had no qualms about doing this with my new Apple iPhone 4S. These images were all taken using natural rainwater from a donor plant.

The “lens” tends to sag when the camera is held vertically, so it’s best if you can point it downward and at a slight angle. As with any macro setup, lighting is a challenge and was helped along here with the application of Fill Light and Recovery in Adobe Camera Raw.

So, next time your bored, with only your wireless phone to entertain you, explore the tiny world around you through water droplet lens photography.