Golden Gate Raindrops
February 27, 2014
Photographer: Mila Zinkova; Mila's Web site
Summary Author: Mila Zinkova; Jim Foster
Have you ever tried to take a macro image of something as big as a bridge? Shown above is such an image of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California, taken through raindrops on the windshield of my car. 2013 was perhaps the driest year in California's history. Rain finally started to fall again at the beginning of February 2014. I celebrated by taking a picture of this liquid gold together with the city's most iconic symbol. A drop of liquid acts as a simple convex lens. So, the refracted image is upside-down when viewed through the drop. Note that windshields tend to be hydrophilic, thus raindrops spread out to increase the area they’re in contact with. The contact angle of the raindrops on window glass of windshields is low compared to the angle of a drop on a waxy leaf. Photo taken from inside the car on February 9, 2014.
Photo details: Camera Model: Canon PowerShot SX40 HS; Focal Length: 4.3mm; Aperture: f/8.0; Exposure Time: 0.0050 s (1/200); ISO equiv: 400.