Oh, these are beautiful! What exactly are they and how do you do them? I love them all but for the theme of the room, I also like the 3rd one! Wow!!!!!

Thanks, Orie! These are extreme closeups of drops of oil on water. I used olive oil, and in picture #2 there are a couple of drops of dark sesame oil, too. The idea is to get the camera to focus on the oil and blur the background, which is 6" or more away from the oil and water. People have used gift wrap for the backgrounds, but I have fun painting mine.

If anyone wants to try this, I can look for the link to the instructions I used. Casey has taken some nice ones, too. She and others I've seen shoot indoors, but I've done mine outside because I've been afraid of spilling oil and water all over the place. Which I actually did this morning--fortunately, in my front yard. :-)

For your purposes, I like #1 the best, then #3.

Those are super cool, I really like them!

My vote is for #3. The colors in that one look the most jungle-ly.

I like 1 and 3 the best too. I guess number three would be my favourite if I chose.

I vote for #3 too!!

And, I'd also like to know how you did those!! They're so interesting!

I would agree, for your purpose I like 3 best. But for me personally, I love 4. The individual colors in it are not any that I would choose for myself, but the whole palette of #4 strikes a chord in me that I cannot ignore.

How neat!

Like all of them, but guess I'd pick 1 or 3!

Donna (^_^)

Yep - 3 says jungle to me.

#3, blah, blah, blah....since it won't just take "#3". lol

I, personally, would choose number 3. I'd love to have the instructions for creating these. I think they're amazing! Bettye/AZ

Thank you, everyone!

Here's a link to the instructions I used. I haven't used a bread pan, though . . . the first time I tried this, I used a glass pie plate. This time I used a small, plain glass plate. I liked it because it didn't have any "Pyrex" writing on the bottom.

Also, I didn't use extension tubes, but I did use a macro lens. A tripod is recommended, but as usual I handheld my shots. The fist time I tried this, I deleted an enormous number of failures. I did better this time. :-)

For those those who didn't see them last time, here's a couple from my first efforts.

I managed to do that without the link. Let's try again.

Here is a link that might be useful: Oil on Water Instructions

#3 has my vote. All of them are fantastic.

Blow them up and sell me one! I've never seen anything like it. Gonna give it a try sometime! Muy talentosa!

I like the last one of the first set, the blue with some gold & orange.

Wow.... they are beautiful. you do a good job.
My son is dabbling in photography. He'll love doing something like this. Thanks!

I choose #3.

I think # 3 fits the jungle theme better. I'm curious though - what size will you print it?

And I think #4 from the first set and the first one from the second set of photos go well together. I think the red and blue tones tie them together. I could see them as 5 x 7 prints in a minimalist bathroom.

Listen to me -- I downloaded my photos onto the computer and I've never done anything with them. Of course none of them are artistic like Susan's.
Maire

I'm curious though - what size will you print it?

Good questionÂI could use some help with that, too! Any thoughts?

I love them all, but I especially love the 3rd one!

number THREE!

or the first one from the second group.

these are cool!

size,... ummmm 8 X 8 with a nice big mat? A double
mat or running color along the inside cut of the mat
for a little contrast?

I vote for #3 too. But they are all beautiful.

I like number 3

Here's how I framed two of them for the show. The first one is something like what Kat described, with the wide mat and contrasting inner border. I could do this one that way, with a white or colored mat, but probably smaller--an 8x10 picture instead of the 11x14 shown here.

Or I could frame it without a mat, as I did here. This picture is 16x20, but I'd probably go with 11x14. The footprint (wallprint?) would be the same as the 8x10 in an 11x14 frame described above.

Decisions, decisions.....

They are all really beautiful but I like #3 from the first set the best and I think you should mount it with the wide mat. To me without the mat really detracts from the image, makes it look like a "poster" someone bought. I would also keep it the large size 11 X 14. The only other thing you might want to try since you have several "jungle" coloured ones is to do a triptych framing of them in a smaller size, which might look pretty cool.

Love it with the wide mat! The one with the silver frame is pretty, too. I just think the silver frame makes it look like something from outer space (in a good way). It would be great for a boy's room with a space mottif(sp?)!

I'll take the green-matted one please.....

Wow Susan!
Like the others I'd vote for #3, with the wide mat around it.
Your talents show no bounds!

Oh my gosh. I love love love your posts Susan. Especially when you show your photos. You have a gift that's for sure.

For a babies room I like #3, but #4 is my favorite.

Susan

I like both, but it depends where it is going to go. In a child's room, the silver frame is a better choice, IMO.

I just wanted to let everyone know that the baby shower was today, and I brought my gift. I chose photo #3, just like the majority of you advised. Mostly because I didn't want the picture to take up too much wall space, I had it printed at 11x14" and framed it without a mat. The frame is like the silver one above, but white instead.

When the mom unwrapped it, the first thing she said was, "It goes with the room!" Whew!! :-)

They seemed to really like it.

Thanks again for all your help!

Susan

Those are just amazing! Glad you picked #3. Now for ME, I'll take #1 and #4 (especially #4, it's gorgeous).

This is probably a dumb question, but if it's only water and oil, where do the colors come from?