Have you ever seen a CIRCULAR rainbow?

Full circle rainbow
(Image credit: Doris Bartelds • Blipfoto)

Have you ever seen a full circle rainbow? Now you have, thanks to a photographer from Germany who captured this stunning image – without a single drop of rain. 

The circular rainbow shot was taken by Doris Bartelds, a photographer living in the Odenwald mountain range near Frankfurt in Germany, using an Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II

• The E-M5 II is still great, but check out the best Olympus cameras right now

The image, The Rainbow Experiment, was posted to Blipfoto – an online platform that functions as a daily photo journal, enabling users to document their lives while being more considered about the images they post to social media. 

Indeed, the reason this image came about is because the community runs themed challenge. And, for the first half of June, the theme was rainbows – very appropriate, as the world recognizes Pride month. 

Understandably this proved challenging for many 'blippers' among the Blipfoto community, as many countries are currently in the midst of heatwaves. This is where Bartelds – whose blipper name is Hanulli – struck on the idea of using an artificial water source. 

"For this, I stood with the sun very low in the sky and right behind me," they explained. "Using a water hose with a fine spray, I sprayed the water droplets in front of me and when the sun caught them, I created a full circle rainbow."

Bartelds has been 'blipping' for eight years, concentrating mainly on macro images, but couldn't resist the challenge of creating their own rainbow. 

"Do you know, that rainbows aren't just arcs in the sky – they're actually full circles?" reads the description on the image

"You can see it, when the sun is still very low and exactly behind you and you use a water hose with fine spray for the water droplets. It's an amazing fun and bad news for gold hunters :-D"

The E-M5 Mark II has since been replaced by the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark III and most recently the OM System OM-5. You might also be interested in the best Olympus lenses, which work on all three cameras. 

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James Artaius
Editor

The editor of Digital Camera World, James has 21 years experience as a journalist and started working in the photographic industry in 2014 (as an assistant to Damian McGillicuddy, who succeeded David Bailey as Principal Photographer for Olympus). In this time he shot for clients like Aston Martin Racing, Elinchrom and L'Oréal, in addition to shooting campaigns and product testing for Olympus, and providing training for professionals. This has led him to being a go-to expert for camera and lens reviews, photo and lighting tutorials, as well as industry news, rumors and analysis for publications like Digital Camera MagazinePhotoPlus: The Canon MagazineN-Photo: The Nikon MagazineDigital Photographer and Professional Imagemaker, as well as hosting workshops and talks at The Photography Show. He also serves as a judge for the Red Bull Illume Photo Contest. An Olympus and Canon shooter, he has a wealth of knowledge on cameras of all makes – and a fondness for vintage lenses and instant cameras.