Tag: Soap Bubble

Last Bubble Of The Season

We may still get snow. Maybe even some ice. Considering the weather this last year, either wouldn’t surprise me at all. What we won’t be seeing again, or at least I hope we won’t as green things are starting to poke out of the ground, are the crazy low temps required for me to be able to attempt another round of frozen bubble photos this season. That isn’t a bad thing and I’m so not complaining about that at all.

It would be nice if I didn’t have to bump up the temperature in the house just to be able to go work in the basement without needing 5 layers of clothes. Or work in the garage without the risk of frostbite.

I had planned on being able to do some of my work from the garage, but there has been no way to spend more than the 20 seconds it takes to run in there to grab something before sprinting back into the house because it has been so cold. Even on the warmer days, it isn’t comfortable for more than a few minutes.

My basement space has now become a full on tool shop. I think almost every single tool we own is now crowding up what little space was open in the basement, which is going to make working a little interesting. At least I’m not constantly running up and down the stairs all day.

Feathered Ice

Of all the photos I got the other day, this is probably one of the best at the almost fully frozen stage. Almost all of the ones I took started to get too blurry by that point because of the transparency of the bubbles and the angle I was at.

I don’t think I will ever get tired of seeing all the different types of patterning that these display.

Frozen Soap Bubble

Yesterday’s attempt at getting some frozen bubble shots was pretty successful and I learned a few new things.

One of the bigger things is that I really need to be wearing my reading glasses when I’m taking photos anymore. I struggle more and more often to see if I’m actually in focus or I have to rely on the autofocus, which doesn’t always give me what I want. This is especially true if I’m using my viewing screen to frame my shot. Wearing glasses is still a long way from perfect or even from where I used to be, but it gets me a whole lot closer than I’ve been getting lately.

When it comes to doing the bubble photos, I’ve also learned that the angle you take these from is critically important and I don’t always get that right. One is the fact that you have to have the light hit it in a way to bring contrast to those crystal structures or you just don’t see them well.

The other issue on angle is the fact that these are transparent and as they freeze, you will get the crystal structures on the back overlapping with the ones on the front, which can make the whole thing look blurry. Many of the ones I tried to take yesterday didn’t look that great once they were fully frozen, but the partially frozen ones looked great. So you have to be at an angle to get the crystal structures to pop, but mainly the ones only on the front side of the bubble, which can be really tricky.

I also learned that I pulled off some of my best images from the videos I tried, but those files aren’t nearly as good a quality as a normal photo, so that is a good and a bad thing.

There are several really good ones I want to share over the next couple of days, but this one is probably one of my favorites (though I do have a few that come close for different reasons). This one is up there because it is one of the best at really showcasing those crystal patterns as they begin to form.

In some ways, I wish we had more days where I could practice, but… nope! It has to be way too cold to play, so I think I’ll be good with the once or twice a year opportunities.

Frozen Bubble Time!

The conditions today were just almost perfect for playing with bubbles. It was just a tiny bit on the breezy side and I had way too many pop before they could fully freeze, but I was still able to get some great shots. I also tried doing a video for the first time.

Hopefully the video works. I think there is an HD option when viewing, but it may show a lower quality so be sure to check if it doesn’t look crisp.

Broken Frozen Soap Bubble

This one is actually from a couple of years ago. I had really thought this was from last year, but I was shocked to realize it was back another year. I have this in the rotation of background images on my computer and I saw it pop up the other day. It is one of my favorites from that particular attempt to do frozen bubbles. I’m hoping to get a chance to try these out again this year if the weather cooperates.

Yesterday, they got all the electrical in place. The only thing left is to have the electrician do the main connections and work out the specifics of connecting the three way switches, which is happening today.

I’m also supposed to get the rough in inspection done today! I was told that the city is being wonky about showing up though, so it might not actually happen. Fingers crossed that there are no hiccups on that front.

By the end of the day today, if the inspection happens, all the electrical will be done and we will be ready for drywall. As of right now, that is scheduled to start on Monday and won’t take but a couple of days, so I’m in final countdown mode to the end of the contractor part of this project.

I wasn’t able to get any photos of the progress because there is no power in the space, which means no lighting. Not that there really is a whole lot to see, but having lights in there made a world of difference and I can’t wait to have my lights in place instead of the temporary ones they’ve got now.