Bokeh -post your best pls (Part 2)

A little different bokeh. I was shooting oil & water (in a clear glass dish) w/ different colored lights shining from underneath. I had a low keeper rate, but knew that going in. Most shots were out of focus, and almost all of those were just slightly out of focus. Then I noticed a few that were VERY out of focus. I had focused very far in front of the oil, essentially turning the colored oil drops into a pleasing (to me) bokeh. Here are 2 examples.

Pigpen101 wrote in post #18984446
A little different bokeh. I was shooting oil & water (in a clear glass dish) w/ different colored lights shining from underneath. I had a low keeper rate, but knew that going in. Most shots were out of focus, and almost all of those were just slightly out of focus. Then I noticed a few that were VERY out of focus. I had focused very far in front of the oil, essentially turning the colored oil drops into a pleasing (to me) bokeh. Here are 2 examples.

Hosted photo: posted by Pigpen101 in
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forum: Lens Sample Photo Archive

Hosted photo: posted by Pigpen101 in
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forum: Lens Sample Photo Archive

If this was your first try, that's not bad. Try to have the lens absolutely parallel to to water surface; never at an angle because the DOF (depth of field is insanely narrow)
I have shot oil on water at f2.8 and f2 but my camera was on a tripod and the lens was dead parallel to the surface. Here is a shot at f2.8 but as I said my camera was on a tripod and i'm not sure whether I focused manually or not. keep trying and you'll be fine.

Photo from itsallart's gallery.
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Frozen bubble

Photo from swltr's gallery.

I did have some better luck, these are complete lucky accidents. I wish I could say this was my goal.

I have definitely experienced what you have mentioned. I did start on a table, with a tripod but that quickly went out the window. I moved to the floor with camera hand held, set to minimum focus & just moved up & down until I "think" I've achieved focus. My DOF is a little more shallow than your standard DOF. The EXIF data shows I used my 85mm F/1.8 @ F/2.2. What it doesn't show is that I had a full set of extension tubes attached. My DOF is crazy. I like the shot, nice & "clean", I think I may be using too much oil.

My niece just got married in Denton, TX. Is that near you?

Another failed oil & water shot.

OK, don't shoot at f1.8, Jack up the f to at least 5.6 and focus manually if possible. Even at that f, the outer bubbles are going to be out of focus. I may not have posted the same shot here as you can see from the EXIF.
Here are some shots, not the best but they're showing the process. I wish, I had some better examples from my old "good shot but I must have deleted them. Even, though I've found the xmp files, I wasn't able to recreate the good macros.
So, here is full shot as taken in RAW but reduced to JPEG
Another shot shows the cropping and some tweaking such as rotation and some adjustments.
Next post shows more.

Heavy crop and rotation with some blurring of the background plus more tweaking.
If you see a perfect macro shot, it's likely to have been heavily processed; well at least in my case.
I'm not trying to be blunt at all; I want to help you. Some folks never post their EXIF info so you have no idea what f or SS, or ISO was like. Some don't bother and some keep it for themselves.
I don't.
If you have any questions, send me a PM and i'll try to help. But, heck, I'm no expert
I could have gone on to perfect this image but I've been busy. Google or YouTube oil in water macros and you should be able to get the gist of it.
Let me say this: not many got their first macros of oil in water right the first time. We all probably post the best after gazillion shots
Don't give up; keep trying and you'll be good!

Pretty smooth bokeh for f/8! Those are the Rocky Mountains by the way.

Photo from C Scott IV's gallery.

Shuttershare wrote in post #18987817

Gallery photo (hosted):
posted by Shuttershare originally in forum: Wildlife

very nice shot and bokeh

Mediterranean colors

Photo from swltr's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (1019691)

Photo from swltr's gallery.
Image hosted by forum (1019692)