For a shot like this to work, everything has to fall into place. In a brief intermission between taking care of Katie Rose (she was napping) and getting a book proposal out the sun came out. Reconnoitering, I saw light glistening on a wet spider web (it had been raining earlier).

I got out my big, honking 200mm macro lens and mounted it on tripod via the lens collar. I added an extension tube between the lens and camera, and a +4 close-up filter at the end of the lens. Then I shot straight down on the web, with a Gaillardia (native American blanket flower) reflected and refracted in the water drops.

If you liked this image, you might also like Orbit; Interstitial; my Water Drops category on this blog; my Flickr Water Drops set.