A Bubbly Tutorial

By Mira Crisp | Published March 17, 2011
What do you need for a bubbly shot?A rectangular glass (vase or container), a piece of Styrofoam, needle, magnifying glass, Alka-Seltzer tablets, water, and paper towels to clean up. And yes, something to take a picture of.

I use macro lens to take this kind of photos but if you don’t have one, you can use a magnifying glass. Works great! Put it in front of the lens and shot.
Cut the Styrofoam a slightly bigger than a bottom of your glass. That should keep it in place at the bottom of a glass. However, in my case, the strawberry turned out to be too heavy (and too big) for the Styrofoam and the glass I used, so I turned it upside down and secured it in place with a magnifying glass and a wooden stick. I used the food stick to secure the orange slice in place as well. In the orange photo, the sharp end of the stick (you cannot see it  here) is secured in place by a larger piece of the Styrofoam.

 

Once you have secured your item in place, pour the water into the glass/vase/container. I usually dissolve a tablet of Alka-Seltzer in a separate glass and than pour it in.  If you’d like more bubbles (or a bubbly motion) while you are taking photos, carefully slide a ½ of the tablet into the glass.
You don’t have to use Alka-Seltzer if you don’t have it handy. You could use a Sprite or some other beverage but have in mind that those drinks are sweet and therefore sticky which could be pretty messy.
Generally, the longer you let your item soak in the water, the bigger bubbles you get.
I always set up my space for bubbly photos before I pour water into the glass, including tripod and camera settings. That way I can start shooting immediately.  Now,  proceed to take photos like this. Once you are done, edit the photo and remove the needles or sticks that might be in sight.  My items were pretty big and the glass was not big enough to get the effect I had with a bubbly bug photo so I decided to turn these photos into a sparkling beverage photos.

Now, get a bubbly shot and come back to show it or send me an email with a link to your shot and I will publish it on my blog as well.

The white and black version of the orange photo looks like this:

Linking up to the long roadSweet Shot Day

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Mira Crisp

Hello! My name is Mira and I take pictures, blog, and drink espresso! As a portrait photographer I take pretty pictures in Ft. Walton Beach - Crestview - Destin, Fl. area. I blog mainly about photography and image enhancement and I am enjoying it a lot. I'd love to hear from you, so please feel very welcome to leave a comment or two.

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20 Comments

  1. Posted March 17, 2011 at 9:42 am by Chic Homeschool Mama | Permalink

    Love this! I may have to give it a go sometime this week. Thanks so much for the tutorial!!!!!

  2. Posted March 17, 2011 at 10:18 am by Marilyn | Permalink

    Awesome!!! I am def. gonna have to try this….

  3. Posted March 17, 2011 at 11:52 am by Jessaca | Permalink

    Cool…going to keep this in mind for some fun photo time!!!
    Have a good one!!!

  4. Posted March 17, 2011 at 2:53 pm by Ashley Sisk | Permalink

    I've seen this before but I need to save this tutorial!

  5. Posted March 17, 2011 at 10:33 pm by Rosie | Permalink

    This is so fantastic! Thanks for the tutorial!

  6. Posted March 18, 2011 at 4:13 am by May | Permalink

    Mira, this is so awesome!! A question though: Can I follow this tutorial on a point & shoot cam??

  7. Posted March 18, 2011 at 4:20 am by Alicia | Permalink

    That is really cool, thanks for the tip and the pictures look great.

  8. Posted March 18, 2011 at 4:29 am by Mira | Permalink

    Thanks guys! You make my day! :)

  9. Posted March 18, 2011 at 9:32 am by Ray | Permalink

    Wow love these shots! The black and white edit is great!

  10. Posted March 18, 2011 at 10:19 am by heather | Permalink

    thanks for the tutorial! i can't wait to try it out! and i'm your newest follower!

  11. Posted March 18, 2011 at 3:42 pm by Tiffany | Permalink

    Love these shots, I have tried the orange before but never thought to convert to B&W…really beautiful. Thanks for the visit.

    Tiffany

  12. Posted March 18, 2011 at 6:28 pm by borne . image . photography | Permalink

    How cool is that!! The photos are amazing! Love the B/W!! Thanks for sharing this … it'll be fun to try!! You have a great weekend! :)

  13. Posted March 18, 2011 at 6:29 pm by MamaTales | Permalink

    Thank you for the tutorial! This is something I definitely want to try soon.

  14. Posted March 19, 2011 at 1:53 am by Tanya | Permalink

    You're awesome! Thank you for the tutorial!!!

  15. Posted March 19, 2011 at 10:40 am by Jennifer Bowen | Permalink

    What a fabulous tutorial, Mira! Thank you for sharing it and linking up with us at CG! Looking forward to seeing more of your work. :)

  16. Posted March 21, 2011 at 2:10 am by My garden haven | Permalink

    Thanks for the tutorial. Great shot! Ingenious.
    Rosie

  17. Posted March 22, 2011 at 5:13 am by Amber | Permalink

    Wow that is super cool and I LOVE the tutorial! :)

    Thanks for visiting my blog.

  18. Posted March 23, 2011 at 6:25 am by Rachel B | Permalink

    These are beautiful shots and I love the tutorial. Now I am going to have to try and do some myself!
    Rachel.

  19. Posted April 1, 2011 at 5:43 am by Rachel B | Permalink

    Hello Mira…I am including my site for the bubbly photo that I tried. However, I could not get a lovely clear shot like yours! Any tips re: camera settings etc would be gratefully accepted :)

    Rachel.
    http://rachel27b.wordpress.com/2011/03/31/macro-orange/

  20. Posted January 31, 2012 at 9:46 am by Jaymi | Permalink

    These are awesome! I love the crisp white background! It worked really well with alka seltzer tablets! I just used tonic water, I’ll have to keep those tablets in mind next time I try this!