What I Didn't Submit

 Nikon D700 with 60mm macro lens at f4.8 and 1/180th, ISO 200

For our July assignment of Opposites I thought I would try something more abstract than literal.  I set up a pyrex dish of water suspended on four glasses in the shade but at the edge of where the sun was hitting the pavement directly.  I placed two pieces of fabric in complimentary colors (opposites on the color wheel) under the glass dish and set up my tripod to suspend the camera with a macro lens attached directly over the dish.  Then I poured in some cooking oil and watched for some interesting patterns and shapes.  I had a lot of trouble composing what I wanted while the camera was on the tripod and also had difficulty keeping the area in focus so I removed the camera and hand held it. But still it was hard to keep the focus so I missed a lot of great combinations.  I was using a large aperture because I did not want the texture of the fabric to be visible since it was only a few inches below the dish and while that seems to have contributed to a feeling of depth (the water was only maybe 1/2 inch deep) with some bubbles more in focus than others, maybe that was what made it hard to retain focus between shots.  It was actually pretty addicting to shoot the constantly moving interaction of the oil and water but frustrating too in that it was hard to control and keep what I was trying to shoot from changing.  One of the issues was the concrete has a slope so I was not dealing with a level surface.  If I attempt this again I will try a different location and also a dish without the PYREX label right smack in the center of my compositions. I thought the 2 images in today's post presented several possible examples of opposites --- big and little, inside and outside, orange and blue, maybe even oil and water could be considered sort of opposing substances.  In any case, I decided to save the ink after all and chose not to submit any of these images for judging....who knew there would only be 2 submissions?!  I can't remember that happening before in the 4 years or so I have been a club member.