We\’ve all seen reflection used in photography-like when a lake doubles as a mirror to the sky. For this week\’s Shooting Challenge, we\’re going a step more complicated and using the rules of refraction.

The Challenge

Photograph anything you\’d like that incorporates some variety of spherical object, like a water drop or ball of glass, that\’s noticeably refracting a source.

The Method

So wtf is refraction, you ask? It\’s actually what allows a camera\’s lens to work.

At its most basic, refraction is the turning or bending of a wave (for that reason, a wave of light) as it passes through a medium. In the case of this challenge, that medium might be a sphere of glass or water (or something I haven\’t though of to list here).

To actually photograph refraction, you will want a sphere (which will most probably be in focus) capturing a worldwide or subject (that may certainly be out of focus). See examples in this excellent flickr collection, but don\’t let them limit how you push the boundaries of the challenge yourself.

Spherical refraction flips an image upside-down (due to the sphere\’s nature of a biconcave lens, I feel), that is plain neat, but on top of that, stepping into the actual physics of what\’s occurring might assist to creative ideas.

As one explanation points out, \” Each color has a special wavelength, and it bends differently from all other colors. Short wavelengths are slowed more sharply upon entering glass from air than are long wavelengths. Red light has the longest wavelength and is bent the least. Violet light has the shortest wavelength and is bent probably the most. Thus violet light travels more slowly through glass than does any other color.\”

I\’m unsure how easily color will manipulate an image at the scales we\’re talking about-maybe a physicist can offer more insight within the comments-but it surely\’s an intriguing possibility to truly shape an image by color, no? UPDATE: Ahh, it seems like this just causes chromatic aberration.

The Rules – READ THESE

1. Submissions have to be your individual.
2. Photos must be taken the week of the contest. (No portfolio linking or it spoils the \” challenge\” part.)
3. Explain, briefly, the equipment, settings, technique and story behind shot.
4. Email submissions to contests@gizmodo.com, not me.
5. Include 800px wide image (200KB or less) AND a 2560×1600 sized in email. (The 800px image is the only judged, so be at liberty to crop/alter the larger image for wallpaper-sized dimensions.)
6. One submission per person.
7. Use the appropriate SUBJECT line to your email (more info on that below)

Send your best photo by Sunday, July 25th at 11PM Eastern to contests@gizmodo.com with \” Refraction\” within the subject line. Save your files as JPGs, and use a FirstnameLastnameRefraction.jpg (800px wide) and FirstnameLastnameRefractionWallpaper.jpg (2560px wide) naming conventions. Include your shooting summary (camera, lens, ISO, etc) within the body of the email together with a story of the shot in a couple of sentences. And don\’t skip this story part because it\’s often essentially the most enjoyable part for us all beyond the shot itself!

[Lead Image by Shooting Challenge alum Chris Andrews]

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This post is tagged: Challenge:, refraction, shooting, Spherical, [Photography]