There was a time I went almost mad when the weather at my planned day off would be drab and rainy. Not anymore so.
I had planned to spend the morning in my hide to photograph partridge, but a quick look through the curtains was enough to resort to plan B.
Plan B consisted of an extended sleeping session, followed by slow breakfast while waiting for the rain to stop. As soon as it did, I went into my backyard. It measures only 8×5 meters, but all I needed was a square foot of green leaves covered by raindrops.
The hardest part was getting the raindrops fully in focus. The combination of the macro lens with extension tubes and the converter is long and heavy and has a tendency to bend forwards a bit. Also, the focussing range is only about 2 milimeters. I had to pull or push the tripod tiny bits to get the focus on the exact right spot. Further, I had to use a small aperture to get the full drop in focus. And that means long exposures on a windy day. I shielded the leaf from the wind with my body. After three hours, my knees, back and neck hurt a lot, but alas, at least I had fresh coffee during the whole shoot!
Raindrops on leaf; Canon 1D Mark III w. Tamron 90/2,8, Kenko tubes and EF 2x; 1/2s at F8 and ISO 200; Gitzo tripod and remote release
