Yes, they are tricky. This is the first time I've actually come out with something that worked. LOL I did this during the daytime and struggled with the lighting, so next time will be trying the night shots as you suggested. I hated the leaf, I need something with a little more sturdy structure to hold the drops so they will stay where I put them and not drip. I have glycerine mixed in and I'm sure that adds to the weight of the drops. I'll be looking around at plants and leaves this week. Thanks for the tips!They sure can be tricky, but you did pretty good in this attempt. The refracted image will be disorted if the droplet extends or flattens out, try to keep them spherical as much as possible . In your case that would mean having the droplet only touch the tip of the leaf and not the edge. Something else that will help is to light the santa only in the background and only the bare minimum on the leaf and droplet itself (sometimes I use no light on these, adding exposure in post). I shoot these type of shots later at night or in a darkened room, that way the only light is coming directly from the subject, you dont need to do this but certainly try lighting santa more to get a better image in the drop and see if you like the results, good luck and let me know how you go
This was using an upside down gift bag with a Santa on it behind the drop coming off the tip of a leaf.
These are tough, the darned reflections are problematic...but I will keep trying.
Nikon D7100, 85mm Meike Macro manual focus, f/5.6, ISO250, 2.5sec, remote trigger, tripod