Reflection perfection: Photographer captures images of beautiful bubbles

By Mish Whalen, TODAY

British photographer Richard Heeks skillfully photographs beautiful reflections in soap bubbles. He got his start in 2007 by taking photos of the reflections in his wife's eyes. He moved on to bubbles after watching his nieces playing with them in the garden and noticing their strange and mesmerizing reflections.

"The reflections are double … because the front and back surfaces of the bubble both reflect one upside down, and one the right way up, " Heeks told TODAY.com. "The reflections and colors are so interesting and complex that the possibilities seem inexhaustible."

Heeks photographed this close-up shot of a bubble outside in the sunlight. The white dots running from the center to the edge are from the light of the sun, reflected on the surface of the bubble. "I think of them as the sunlight bouncing around inside the bubble," Heeks said. "The individual bright spot is, I think, the sunlight focused to one point. It reminds me a little of seeing our planet from space with the sun rising behind the horizon."

Heeks said most of his early bubble photos were out of focus, blurred or badly exposed — but his techniques improved over time. He takes at least 100 shots before he gets one that satisfies him. His photos are hugely dependent on sunlight and weather, with windy weather presenting special challenges. Heeks said he can't count the number of times he's chased around after bubbles in the wind, not knowing when to give up.

Heeks said he takes photos because they allow him to see things that aren’t visible with the naked eye. For instance, bubbles usually pop too quickly for people to see the act of popping in motion. The camera only captures the very brief moment of the pop, and the details on the water droplets.

Heeks was able to capture the process of a bubble bursting in this photograph. "I keep learning new things from bubbles," he said.

In 2011, Heeks bought a special mixture called Zubbles that allowed him to make colored soap bubbles. After a few attempts, Heeks’ bubbles were much more colorful and shiny and they had clearer reflections.

This is an extreme close-up of the edge of a soap bubble, photographed indoors in front of a light bulb. Heeks held the bubble directly in front of the light bulb and the light became focused on the edges of the bubble, making them brighter and easier to photograph. As the bubble liquid dries out there is a brief moment when the edges become intensely colorful, reminding Heeks of a rainbow.

These bubbles, using normal bubble mixture, were created by blowing little bubbles inside of the big bubble.

Snow and trees are reflected in the pink and green bubble.

The trees and colors visible on this bubble make it look like an image of a new planet.

Heeks needed a dark background to make this photo work, so he used a large garbage can lined with black fabric. He blew the bubbles over the bin and then photographed them as they were falling in.

"I just love the way that the curves seem to overlap and complement each other," he said. "I had been trying to photograph one bubble, but then when I viewed the resulting images on my camera, I realized that there had been another bubble behind it and I liked the image a lot. A happy accident."

Heeks’ reflection typically appears in the center of the bubble. If he stands very close to the bubble, he looks bigger in the reflection.

Heeks knows how hooked he is on photographing bubbles. "When the weather is beautiful and sunny, rather than think about going to a beach or going for a nice walk, I tend to think about how the bubbles might look in the sun," he said. To see more of Heeks’ beautiful bubble photos, Check out more on his Flickr site.