Dazzling Droplets: Photos Reveal Mini Worlds

Drops of Jupiter

Jupiter in a water droplet

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

Carefully "posed" water droplets turn flat photographs into spherical worlds.

Earth In a Droplet

Earth in a water droplet

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

Photographer Markus Reugels uses high-speed photography to capture these images of falling droplets.

Alien World

Mars in a water droplet

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

The planet Mars, shrunk to "fit" inside a water droplet.

Venus in the Water

Venus in water droplet

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

Venus sparkles in a drop of water.

A Tiny Globe

Earth in a water droplet

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

A political map of Earth becomes a globe in a droplet of water.

Little Moon

The moon in a water droplet.

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

The moon gets the water drop treatment in this photograph by Markus Reugels.

Saturn's Light

Saturn in a drop of water

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

Saturn, sans rings, appears in a drop of water.

Blue Planet

Neptune in a water droplet

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

Neptune in a drop of water.

Dreamy Cream

Milk or cream in water.

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

Another, simpler, photographic technique involves dripping milk or cream into water to create dreamy images like this one.

Drop-on-Drop

Water droplet photography

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

With precision timing, a drop of water dropped on another drop creates sculpture-like shapes that disappear in an instant.

Water Shot

Shoot em up series of water droplet photographs.

(Image credit: Markus Reugels, LiquidArt)

In one of the most technically challenging series, Reugels shoots a pellet through falling droplets, creating photographs like this one.

Stephanie Pappas
Live Science Contributor

Stephanie Pappas is a contributing writer for Live Science, covering topics ranging from geoscience to archaeology to the human brain and behavior. She was previously a senior writer for Live Science but is now a freelancer based in Denver, Colorado, and regularly contributes to Scientific American and The Monitor, the monthly magazine of the American Psychological Association. Stephanie received a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of South Carolina and a graduate certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz.