Okay, so I decided to mess around with that crystal ball photography thing, but specifically trying it out in water. Saw some shots like that, looked pretty cool, figured why not try it myself.
Getting Started – The Gear and Setup
First thing, obviously, needed the crystal ball. I’ve had one sitting on my shelf for ages, mostly collecting dust. Grabbed my usual camera, nothing fancy, just my trusty DSLR. Didn’t bother with a tripod at first, thought I could manage handheld. Spoiler: probably should have used one.
Finding the water was the next step. It hadn’t rained, so no cool puddles. I ended up just using a shallow, dark-colored bowl from the kitchen. Filled it up with water outside on the patio table. Simple enough, right?
Placing the Ball and First Tries
Okay, carefully placed the crystal ball into the water. It sank right to the bottom, which was good, didn’t want it floating about. The water made the bottom of the bowl look a bit weird through the ball, though.
Then I started trying to take pictures. Crouched down, trying to get the camera low, almost level with the water. The idea is to get the background scene flipped inside the ball. My background was just the backyard trees and sky.
Man, focusing was tricky. My camera kept wanting to focus on the water surface, or the front of the ball itself. You gotta switch to manual focus, really. Dialed it in until the scene inside the ball looked sharp. Everything else, the bowl, the water, gets blurry, which is kinda the point.
Dealing with Annoyances
Couple of things got annoying fast:
- Reflections: The surface of the water was reflecting the sky, and the surface of the ball itself was catching reflections too. Had to keep shifting my position, trying to block the worst of it with my body, without getting my own reflection in the shot.
- Ripples: Every tiny movement, even just breathing near the bowl, seemed to create ripples in the water. Had to wait for things to settle down between shots. Patience is key here, definitely.
- The Upside-Down World: Remembering that the image inside the ball is gonna be upside down and backward takes a sec to get used to when you’re framing the shot. What looks good right-side-up might look messy when flipped in the ball.
Getting Something Decent
I spent maybe 30-40 minutes squatting there, moving the bowl slightly, changing my angle. Got a bunch of throwaway shots – blurry, bad reflections, boring compositions inside the ball.
Finally, I got a couple I kinda liked. The trick was getting low enough, using manual focus carefully, and finding an angle where the reflections weren’t too distracting. The water around the ball added a nice, sort of moody base to the picture. Having the background trees sharp (but upside down) inside the ball, with the blurry background behind it, looked pretty neat.
It’s definitely harder than just shooting with the ball on a flat surface. The water adds another layer of complexity with reflections and ripples. But it also adds a different look, makes the ball feel more grounded or part of an environment, even if it’s just a simple bowl.
So yeah, that was my little experiment. Got my knees dirty, fought with reflections, but ended up with a few interesting photos. Worth trying if you have a crystal ball and some patience. Just be prepared to take a lot of shots to get one good one.
