Smarties Pants

I picked up a copy of Digital SLR Photography magazine this morning and over a coffee in Starbucks I was inspired by an article on taking indoor photos and "fun with refraction". I followed the article (almost to the letter) to reproduce these images. They're not a patch on the one in the magazine but I didn't imagine they would be! I'm fairly happy with how it turned out though for a first attempt.

The article said you need a 150mm Macro lens but I had to settle for my Tamron 70-300 on macro setting.

So, what is it?

Well, take one white cup or mug (he used a rolled up piece of white card in a tube shape) and pop some Smarties sweets in the bottom. Place the clear lid of a CD case on top and then spray liberally with water from a spray bottle. Then set up your camera on a tripod, pointing right down at the top of the cup and focus manually(the best you can) on the image of the sweets refracted inside the water droplets. Et voila!

(Bonus - you get to eat the props once you've finished!)

What a great idea! They look brilliant and I bet they didn't taste bad either

Looks like you filled the second one higher. The white border on the drops of the first one looks quite cool but also pops up the question "what's causing that?". I definitely have to try this...

Prieni

Nice shots, going to try myself thanks for sharing.

I am very impressed, great idea.

They look great. Not doing yourself justice by posting a small size either, lets see them bigger.

I look forward to seeing some variations on the theme too. Anyone have any allsorts or dolly mixtures handy ?

Size to 800pix on the longest side.

Thanks for the comments folks. Here they are a bit bigger....

Excellent SJ.

Nice bear too

Super work,well done

One of these simple, wonderful ideas - great job! And thanks for sharing

These are great. Sometimes the simple ideas work best. I like the colours in the first one, would make a great poster for a kiddies bedroom.

My thoughts exactly!

These are super-fun, thanks for sharing the technique.

Some of the best shots I've seen on the forum. Well done! Gold star!

I love these and it is something my daughter can have fun trying too!. We'll definitely give this a go; I just hope hers don't turn out better than mine