Creativity with oil and water

There are lots of ways to be creative at home. Here is one project that can be done with a pan of water and a teaspoon of oil.

Setting up, step by step

• Place a clean glass dish on two tin cans.
• Add some water to the dish – we find it's best if the water is room temperature or colder.
• Add a teaspoon of cooking oil (it doesn't seem to matter which kind, we have tried sunflower, walnut, coconut, olive oil and avocado oil).
• Stir gently with a plastic or wooden utensil to get more bubbles.

• We use our M.Zuiko 60mm F2.8 lens, usually choosing F2.8 to F4 for the aperture. Try to get your camera as parallel to the glass dish as possible. A tripod with an articulating arm can make this easier, but it can be done handheld.

• For lighting, you can use a cheap desk light or a flashlight.
• For additional creativity, can use a coloured flashlight (or place a gel on your flashlight with a rubber band or gaffer tape). You can also place scrapbook pages underneath the glass as another way to get coloured bubbles.

Here are some examples of what you can capture with this activity!

Featured products

• OM-D E-M1X
• M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-40mm F2.8 PRO
• M.Zuiko Digital ED 60mm F2.8 Macro