This series of soap bubbles photographs is a personal project I carried out during the lockdown in May.
I had been intrigued by soap films, presumably because of my physics background. There is a big research group at the University of Edinburgh where I used to work dedicated to the study of soft matter. According to Wikipedia:
“Soft matter or soft condensed matter is a subfield of condensed matter comprising a variety of physical systems that are deformed or structurally altered by thermal or mechanical stress of the magnitude of thermal fluctuations. They include liquids, colloids, polymers, foams, gels, granular materials, liquid crystals, pillows, flesh, and a number of biological materials.”
In layman terms, soft matter is everything that is “squishy”, such as soap films and bubbles. The vivid colours in these photographs of soap bubbles arise from interference of light reflecting off the front and back surfaces of the thin soap film. Depending on the thickness of the film, different colours interfere constructively and destructively.
I used two kinds of soap liquids. Dishwashing liquid and the kind of soap bubble liquid you can buy for your kids. Two parts water and one part soap. I also added some glycerin to the mix to make the bubbles last longer. Nothing is more frustrating than having your bubble burst when you just got you lighting and focus right. You can find more photographs from this project in my bubbles portfolio gallery.
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