A bright summer’s day. Soapy fingers getting scratched reaching for the wand inside the plastic jar of bubbles. The satisfying feeling of blowing a fully formed bubble instead of just dripping soap-water all over your bare feet. You watch the translucent prism float over the grass, reflecting sunlight and showing off the full spectrum of color. It’s beautiful. And then pop! It’s over. A tiny shower of what once was your bubble falls on the grass. Ah, the fragility of life.
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Thankfully, the DIY effects artists at PBS Digital Studios' Shanks FX, have created a how-to guide to capturing that irreproducible bubble sheen. By experimenting with the “thickness” of a bubble, they explain, you can manipulate how they work as prisms.It sounds easy enough: Start off in an environment with soft lighting, preferably where the sun isn’t directly shining down on you. Then place your choice of bubble wand (anything donut shaped) between a large white bounce card and a black backdrop. Soak a cotton string in some soapy water, and drag the string across the wand until there is a full layer of the water on the top. Blow your bubble, and snap away.Check out the results below:
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