Work Record - Shoot 10

Evaluation:

Plans For The Shoot:
In my last shoot to do with water I wanted to build on the water droplets I created in my first shoot.
I have seen in photo libraries mater drops on a flat shiny surface so wanted to try and create this.
I will need a shiny surface and water for the shoot.

What I Actually Achieved:
I set up the mirror on a flat surface outside and set up my camera on a tripod. I then squirted water over the mirror to form water drops. I tried wiping the mirror first with oil so the water would sit better but this did nit work.  The best effect I got was on a clean dry mirror and then shooting in bright sunlight.  I tried some directly overhead and some at angles. In some images the water picked up the image of my house or trees which gave a nice coloured edge to the drops. I shot some images at f 32 to keep all the water drops in focus and I shot some images at f 3.5 to get a narrow band in focus. Some were shot overhead and some at angles. All my images were shot on a 100mm Canon macro lens.

This is a monotone image that I have edited. I added more contrast and clarity in Lightroom and a small vignette. The image above was shot at 1/320th second at f10.

In this image I again added more contrast and clarity but also added a green tint which reminded me of a beer bottle. This image was shot at 1/160th sec at F10.

The image above was shot at f2.8 1/1600th sec  ISO100.  I added a tint in Lightroom to try and get a lid of liquid gold or oil look.

Work Record - Shoot 9

Evaluation:

Plans For The Shoot:
In my next shoot I want to look at water in a natural setting. I have a forest close to me so thought that even in a wood there would be lots of opportunity to discover and take photographs of water. I hope to achieve some creative pictures of water in a natural setting by using interesting angles and reflections. I think most people just pass by puddles and patches of water without giving it a second thought. My aim in this shoot is to discover what I can see in these little patches of water.

What I Actually Achieved:
I took my camera with a single flash attached to a local forest.

This is a small puddle about 30cm across. I got really low to the ground and focused on the water. The edges of the puddle made the image look like I was peering into another world or looking through a hole.  I did not realise this until I got the image on my computer. I have made it black and white and added a small vignette to the image to enhance the shape of the puddle. 1.250th f5.6 hand held Canon 5D mk3 with a 24-70mm wide angle lens.

This is another puddle and I focused on the water to get as sharper image as I could of the reflection of the trees. I think it looks like a picture of trees taken from down a bank. The puddle was quite muddy hence the brown look.

1.320th f6.3 hand held Canon 5D mk3 with a 24-70mm wide angle lens.

Progression:

I would like to develop my outdoor photography further and get some more imaginative shots. I want to visit the sea and do some early morning shots and late evening shots hopefully of sunsets or mist.

Here we have an image of a sunset from a green area rather then a typical beach. The great thing about this image is the array of colour within the image and how they have manipulated the sunset to create the very colourful image.

Here we see a type of photo that I would like to try and re-create in my exam shoot. This is because these type of photos are very interesting and create a sense of calmness and serenity in the image. This type of photo would have been taken using a long exposure and possibly some form of filter in-front of the lens.

Work Record - Shoot 8

Evaluation:

Plans For The Shoot:
In my last shoot I liked the fire on water images that I did in the studio. However, I wanted to see how this would look in a natural setting like a pond in a forest or similar. I have this idea that the opposites of the natural environment and fire will look really odd. I also want to shoot water in a natural setting.

What I Actually Achieved:
For this shoot I took my camera to a pond in a local forest. Up to now all my images have been in the studio and I wanted to get outdoors.  I set up my camera by a pond with a view to shooting some with flash some with a video light and some with natural light.

This first 2 images are just shot under natural light with the camera at the level of the water. These too images are both of the same subject. Both images were shot at 1.60th second at 4.5. In Lightroom I then adjusted them to give a totally different feel. The top one is over exposed and then had more saturation. The bottom one has the clarity turned up and a dark vignette added. The cropping added to the effect.

On this image I wanted to extend the water and fire theme that I did in the studio. I thought that the contrast of the wood and pond that is all greens and browns would contrast with the red and yellow of fire. This image was shot at 1/160th of a second at f/6.3.

Progression:

I would like to continue with the outdoor theme. Just to discover what reflections I can get in water while out and about. This would include any type of reflection I can get from any type of water source whether in be a puddle or a steam.

This is the image I want to get because it shows both reflection and water. The interesting aspect of this image is how perfect a reflection they manged to get from the puddle which is strange because getting this type of reflection from a puddle is very peculiar. 

In this image we see a steam in a forest. This is one of the types of images I would like to aim to get because I think it would be an interesting image to get. The reason I like this image is because it shows a good incorporation of plant life and water.

Work Record - Shoot 7

Evaluation:

Plans For The Shoot:
For this shoot I want to explore the relationship of elements particularly water and fire as they are opposed to each other. It might not work but I want to set fire to water (actually lighter fluid on water) to see if I can get some good effects and in the hope that I will also get some nice reflections.

What I Actually Achieved:
I set up my fish tank with clean water in a dark room. I have learnt from previous shoots that a good exposure is around 200th sec at f7.1 ISO 200.In this shoot I squirted lighter fluid on the surface of the water in my tank and set light to it. Then using 6 frames per second in manual mode I continuously shoot until the flames went out.

I liked the images but I could not get much of a reflection just a bit at the bottom of the images. In Photoshop I had the idea of reflecting the image on water line which looked better but then by turning the image through 90° I got what I think is a really imaginative image. This was not what I was aiming for when undertaking this shoot but the end result surpassed my expectations.

This images surpassed what I was trying to achieve in mixing the elements of fire and water and almost ended up as a piece of art.

Progression:
Actually I want to move away from studio work and want to concentrate on outdoor work for the remainder of this project. I think that it might be interesting to still use fire on water but in a natural environment. So for my next shoot I plan to shoot a small pond that I know of in my local forest. I plan to spray lighter fluid onto the surface of the water then set it on fire and take photos of the lake.

In this image we see a fire circle in the middle of a lake. It almost seems like a fire portal to an underwater world. This would be an interesting thing to try and re-create but I think it would be very hard to do in the pond I plan to use.

Work Record - Shoot 6

Evaluation:

Plans For The Shoot:
For this shoot I wanted to make things float under the water. I like the kind of ethereal effect of water on objects. It made the object seem weightless and transcendent.

What I Actually Achieved:
For this I chose to use flowers as I thought the petals would give an nice effect in the way they move under the water. Although we are shooting stills I was hoping that I could still get this effect.I wanted to add some additional colour to these images so I added some orange card into the bottom of my fish tank to hopefully get some bright colours to enhance my images.

My lighting for this was 1 flash gun above and to the left of the tank.  I got my mum to hold the flowers at the bottom of the tank with a stick and take the stick out really quickly as I shot.  I used manual camera settings (I have done this for all my fish tank shots) The camera was set to shoot at
6 frames per second.

I like this image. The background matches the colour of the flower and it really does look like its suspended in water.  1.200th Sec at f7.1 ISO 200 with flash. There were lot of bits of pollen in the water which I have removed in photoshop.

In this image the splash on the surface of the water was left by the stick used to hold down the petal before it rose to the surface. There were lot of bits of pollen in the water which I have removed in photoshop. 1.200th Sec at f7.1 ISO 200 with flash. I like the way the light hits the leaves in this image and the water splash gives context to the image.

Progression:
It has occurred to me that it might be interesting to mix up elements. So I have Water and Air but you can't see the Air. I think I would like to experiment with Water and Fire as they are opposed to each other and I feel that I have exhausted dropping things into water.

Here we see an image of fire on the surface of a lake creating a fire wall. I love the contrast between the two different elements because they are both polar opposites of each other.

Work Record - Shoot 5

Evaluation:

Plans For The Shoot:
In this shoot I wanted to move on a bit from dropping fruit and vegetables in water so thought that punching the water or stabbing it with a knife might look good. I have seen on YouTube people doing controlled firing of a rifle under water and the effects look really good. But seeing as I am worried that firing live rounds into a small fish tank might crack the sides I will keep to fists and knives! Also live rounds are very fast and I don't think my camera would be fast enough to capture the moment

What I Actually Achieved:
For this I have used the same setup as before so a large fish tank filled half with water. A black room with only one light. Because I am shooting quite close to the subject and my dad's fist is quite big, I needed a large depth of field to keep as much as possible in focus.

This image was shot at 1.200th second at f20 ISO 200. On a Canon 5D mk3. It took a lot of shots to get something that worked and if I was to do it again it would be better to have had a second light bottom right. I have removed most of the splashes in photoshop and added a vignette.

This is my second most successful shot and I thought it would look unusual to turn it upside down.This image was shot at 1.200th second at f20 ISO 200. On a Canon 5D mk3.

Progression
I want to move on from the effects of water splashing. I have seen many images in both TV and film of things or people floating under water. It gives a kind of etherial effect so wanted to try and create this in my fish tank.

Here we see a flower floating peacefully in some water which creates a rather tranquil feeling.

Work Record - Shoot 4

Evaluation:

Plans For The Shoot:
In developing my experimentation with water in the studio in this shoot I wanted to try different lighting and different objects in water. For my shoot I want to try some larger objects in water but I also want to try some with a single light source so as to give a more moody look to the images. My plans are to get more dynamic images than I have done before and I want to achieve this by more dramatic lighting.

What I Actually Achieved:
For this shoot I used one flash light only. Just outside of shot in the top left hand side.
This was again shot in a dark room with a black backdrop. After each shot I had to wipe down the sides of the tank to remove the splashes. In the final shot I brought it into Photoshop to remove most of the water drops and splashes to make it look more dramatic. I also applied a vignette in Lightroom to isolate the object.  I also wanted to drop the pepper much closer to the water level than before as I wanted to try and slow it down when hitting the water.

1.200th second f18 ISO200 Canon 5D mk3 24-70 2.8 lens.

This is my other favourite image from this shoot. Again lit with one flash light positioned off camera to the top right hand side of the image. Just out of shot.  In all my splash shots I placed clear plastic bags over the flash guns to stop them getting wet.  The splash on most of my shots was much bigger and in all I have taken out a lot of the splashes and used a vignette to isolate the object.

Progression.
For my next shoot I want to mix things up a bit. I want to try things like stabbing water with a knife or punching the water. I think this might create a good effect.

In this image we see an example of what I want to try and do in my next shoot. We see here a fist punching though some water allowing it to break the water and create the splash.

Work Record - Shoot 3

Evaluation:

Plans For The Shoot:
For this shoot I decided I wanted to experiment with the effect fruit has when it impacts water. My aim is to capture fruit entering water to give a dynamic fresh look to the fruit. A bit like a product or healthy eating image.

What I Actually Achieved:
I would try and capture it the moment the fruit hit the water so it was't fully submerged but I would still get the initial splash which is what I wanted to capture. With this there was a lot of trial and error in the to get the timing right it didn't take me very long to get the correct timing thus giving me the photo I wanted. I did this many times with different fruits and managed to get lots of very interesting photos.

After each attempt I had to clean all the splashes of the front and back of the tank as these just reflected the light and ruined most shots. In my finished shots like the one here I also removed most of the splashes in photoshop and the edges of the tank to isolate the lemon.

I had a large fish tank that i filled with water and I had a black backdrop. In these shots I lit the scene with one off continuous light above and to the left of the shot and I had a second down low to the front right hand side.

After each attempt I had to clean all the splashes of the front and back of the tank as these just reflected the light and ruined most shots. In my finished shots like the one here I also removed most of the splashes in photoshop and the edges of the tank to isolate the lemon.
In this shot the splash is half in and half under and half above the water line by careful  retouching i removed the waterline to give this effect.

In this shot the splash is half in and half under and half above the water line by careful  retouching I removed the waterline to give this effect. 1.1250th at f5.6 ISO2000 24-70mm 2.8 lens on Canon 5d mk3.

In this shot above the Lemon was dropped from quite high up so entered the water very fast. In fact so fast that I did not really capture the lemon but did gat a really nice splash that was left behind by the Lemon. It reminded me of a jelly fish so once I cleaned it up and removed all the surrounding splashes I duplicated the splash and made it different sizes like a cluster of jellyfish. 1.1250th at f2.8 ISO2000 24-70mm 2.8 lens on Canon 5d mk3. The light was also placed directly in front of the lemon here just below the camera.

Progression:
I think that I would like to carry on with controlling water in the studio and try some more product related shots like dropping vegetables into water. I am finding it difficult to get sharp images as the water distorts the fruit under water.

In this image we see a pepper which has been dropped into a vat of water and we see it has created a larger splash and also a larger air void in the water which is something I would like to try and achieve.

Work Record - Shoot 2

Evaluation:

Plans For The Shoot:
As an extension to my first shoot I wanted to develop close up water photography further by experimenting with different coloured food dye in water. Food dye is good as it does not immediately mix with water when dropped in. So it produces really nice shapes as it sinks through water.

What I Actually Achieved:
In this water shoot I wanted to add some colour to water and get different colours mixing with each other which I know can make a really good effect. It looks like clouds exploding with energy.I got my fish tank and filled it with clean water. Set up a white background behind the tank and then put my camera on a tripod in front of it.  I shot in a bright evenly lit room and put the camera on rapid fire.  Then just started dropping ink into the water while shooting as I dropped the food dye.

The effects were quite good. Tried some small drop at first then tried pouring a lot of dye at the same time.  Sometimes the food dye held together and dropped in streaks not instantly dissolving in the water but sometimes it would dissolve into clouds of colour.When I got all the images on screen they were all a little dull but the shapes of the drops were good so I overexposed in Lightroom added some contrast and boosted the colour a little to produce the images below.  On a few I changed the colour balance.

1/200th second @f4.5 ISO800 shot on a canon 5D Mk3 no flash in a well lit room with natural light and a white backdrop.  I then inverted the image so it looks like the colour was rising up from the floor. The floor being the underside of the water surface.

1/250th second @f5 ISO800 shot on a canon 5D Mk3 no flash in a well lit room with natural light and a white backdrop.  I overexposed this in Lightroom and increased the saturation and washed out the background to white so the colour drops appear to just hang in white space.

Progression:
I think that I would like to carry on with controlling water in the studio and try some more product related shots like dropping fruit or vegetables into water.

Here is an example of something I want to try in my next shoot where you drop some type of fruit or vegetable and capture the splash they make in the water.

Work Record - Shoot 1

Evaluation:
I have chosen to base this years work on water. I think the medium of water will be an exciting one to shoot. One area that excites me is close up imagery and in particular water drops. I have seen a lot of these images on the web and the amazing variety of splashes is like a miniature world that is not very often seen as it happens so quickly and is very small.

Plans For The Shoot:
For this first shoot I plan to try and capture a freeze frame shot of a droplet of water. I am going to experiment with some ink droplets as well to add a level of colour to the shoot as well. The issue I think i'm going to have with trying to get the desired photo is the timings because from what i've seen of people trying to do this timing was the number one issue in getting the droplet.

What I Actually Achieved: 
In this first shoot I decided to try and photograph water drops. Which proved to be a lot harder than I expected.  I looked at a few pictures of setups and had also decided that a fish tank would be best for this. I set it up in a semi dark room and used off camera flash to both sides of the image with a 100mm macro lens.

I also suspended an old copper pipe full of water with a valve at the end so I got one drop of water to drop every few seconds then just started to shoot.  To be honest this was rubbish.  The images were blurred and out of focus.  I tried the fastest sync shutter speed of 250th second with an aperture of around f11 so I had some depth of field as the water would not always drop in exactly the same place.
I was also shooting through glass which was no good either.  Then I tried using a studio lights on full power to try and light the drops. This was even worse.  What I discovered was 1. The more I turn up the studio lights the longer they are on for so that I get blur. I also get blur through the side of a fish tank. I also get blur as the mirror in the camera flips up and down when taking the shot.

So I tried again firstly with my flash turned down as I had discovered this vastly shortens the flash duration and thus freezes the motion of the drops. Secondly the camera shutter speed does not control the exposure its the flash speed.  Also by using mirror lock up I can help stop shake even when using a tripod. I also used the small aperture so maximise my depth of field. I also stopped using the fish tank and just used a dish of water, got the camera and flash in real close and you can see the results here.  I also tried to shoot some in a really bright room using ambient light and this worked on some shots. Still nowhere close to what I see on the internet though but it is a start. Also despite using these setting I still did not get many good shots and looking back at my exposures now it was rather random.

1/250th second f5 ISO 400 no flash but in a really bright sunny room using a macro 100mm lens.

1/8000 second f2.8 with flash using a macro 100mm lens.

Progression:
This man http://www.photosbykev.com/wordpress/tips-and-trick/water-droplet-photography/   takes fantastic shots. I would like to get much closer to these and try again from different angles I also like the use of ink and colour in water so would like to try this as well.

This shot used inks and gel to light using off camera flash and manual mode in a dark room 1/4 second at f16-22 iso 100.