Jewels of monsoon

Rainy days always provide an interesting photographic opportunities. The overcast skies provide a good diffused light which proves really good for photo shoots. Just after rains you would find water drops clinging to all the objects which make them look very different and beautiful. The monsoon breaths in new life into the landscapes and brings out all the colors. It has been kind of overcast since many few days here in Bangalore and has also rained few times. I took this opportunity to take different shots of water drops at different times. Few of them are posted below. All of them are taken by Nikon D40.

Holding a Drop

This one was taken early in the morning in my garden. I realized that it had rained during the night and saw this plant where many leaves were precociously holding drops of water. Ofcourse, this had to be captured so I got my camera out and took couple of shots.
Exif: 18-55@55mm, f/8, 1/500sec

Painted by light

This was again taken in my garden. It has rained late in the afternoon and by evening the sky had cleared off. It was late evening and the mild rays of sun light was falling on the plants. The backlight created a lovely halo around the flower which was covered with the water drops. A nice setup was created by nature, I simply captured it.
Exif: sigma 150mm@150mm, f/9, 1/200sec

Bathing!!!

The sun was behind this plant and I asked my wife to spray water on the plant when I took the shot. Because of backlight the water shower became prominent and it looked as if it was taken during rains.
Exif: sigma 150mm, f/11, 1/500sec

Textures in nature

An early morning walk after a rainy night can be really productive for a photo shoot. This leaf was lying down drenched with water. The lovely patterns and texture on the leaf along with the water drops on it caught my eye and the camera was out. Yes!!! I carry my camera along with me most of the times.
Exif: sigma 150mm, f/8, 1/13sec

Reflections

Water drop has unique optical quality. It has capability to reflect and sometimes, if looked at it very closely you tend to see the surrounding areas being reflected from the water drop. Here a flower was behind the drop which made it appear in the drop. Interesting!!! Looking closely to nature reveals the real beauty of it.
Exif: Sigma 150mm, f/9, 1/320sec

Holding On!!!

This was one of my first few shots with the Sigma 150mm macro lens. Just after rains the budding rose
was drenched with water and this large drop of water was clinging to the rose. I thought it would fall off, but it seemed to hold on strong. This resilient drop had to be shot. So here it is.
Exif: Sigma 150mm, f/8, 1/400sec, tripod mounted

Holding on Part 2 :)

Just after taking the above shot, I saw another drop that was holding on to the flower. If you notice carefully, the drop has reflection of the house which is on the opposite side of my house.
Exif: sigma 150mm, f/16, 1/30sec, tripod mounted

Sparkle on drops

This one was taken in my garden. The sun was down and there was hardly any light, so took this shot using on camera flash. The use of flash allowed a faster shutter speed and also rendered the background stark black making the drops stand out. The reflection of flash light also created a slight spark on the drops.
Exif: Sigma 150mm, f/6, 1/60 sec.

This is again an early morning shot. The rains during the night had left the drops on the leaves. This was taken at a relative narrower aperture to achieve corner to corner sharpness.
Exif: sigma 150mm, f/22, 1/3 sec, tripod mounted.

Nature art

I took this just couple of days back. Initially I wanted to capture just the drop, but when I saw through the lens, I realized that because of the shallow depth of field the drop looked as if it was clinging on to a thin line.
Exif: Sigma 150mm, f/8, 1/100 sec.