Nature’s Harp, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

It had rained lightly overnight. But the water drops were quickly disappearing in the morning sun. I went out into my garden with my camera bag and tripod while Phyllis got the kids to school.

There was also a soft breeze. The wind and sun felt caressing, but the wind was enough to make extreme macro photographs a problem, because even small motions are magnified when you are up close.

I spotted these water drops on a spider web attached to the stems of some heliotropic ice plants (Carobrotus edulis). The spider web acted to keep the water drops pretty much still. You can see some of the heliotropic (meaning they open when it is sunny, and close at night) flowers of the plant reflected in the water drops.

The shape of the stems with the web and drops reminds me of a harp, hence my title for the photo. But I also see this as some kind of minature fiber construction.

Photographed on tripod with my Nikon 200mm f/4 macro lens at f/36, using a shutter speed of 1/6 of a second at ISO 100.