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Posts Tagged ‘Splash’

Updated Panasonic Lumix G 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 lens is splash and dust resistant

06 Apr

Panasonic has updated its versatile 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 lens, adding a degree of splash and dust resistance. The Lumix G Vario 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 II ASPH Power OIS, which is equivalent to 28-280mm on a Micro Four Thirds body, has the same optics as its predecessor, with 14 elements, a seven-blade aperture and 240 fps AF control. The lens is remarkably compact given its focal range, with a length of 75mm (2.95″) and weight of 265g (9.4 oz).

The new 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 II will ship in May for $ 599.

Press Release

The LUMIX G 14-140mm* Telephoto Zoom Lens for Micro Four Thirds System Undergoes Update

LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm* / F3.5-5.6 II ASPH. / POWER O.I.S. (H-FSA14140)
Featuring a Splash/Dust-Resistant Rugged Design
*35mm camera equivalent: 28-280mm

Newark, NJ (April 5, 2019) – Panasonic announced today that it has updated the LUMIX G telephoto zoom lens based on the Micro Four Thirds system standard. In addition to the versatile zoom range from wide-angle to telephoto, the new LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm / F3.5-5.6 II ASPH. / POWER O.I.S. (H-FSA14140) features a splash/dust-resistant* construction for heavy field use yet retains its stylishly compact profile remains lightweight.

The Practical zoom range of 14-140mm (35mm camera equivalent: 28-280mm) suits a wide range of shooting situations. It can capture dynamic landscapes, bring subjects up close, or shoot impressive portraits with beautifully defocused backgrounds.

Comprised of 14 elements in 12 groups, the lens system features three aspherical lenses and two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) lenses to achieve dramatic downsizing of the powerful 10x optical zoom lens, while minimizing distortion and chromatic aberration.

The POWER O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) effectively compensates for not only small, fast movements, but also large, slow movements, making it easy to shoot super clear shots even in low-lit situations at nighttime or indoors.

Incorporating an inner focus drive system and stepping motor, the new LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm / F3.5-5.6 II ASPH. / POWER O.I.S. is capable of smooth, silent operation to work with the camera’s high-speed, high-precision contrast AF system for both photo and video recording. It is also compatible with the sensor drive at max.240 fps to take maximum advantage of cameras with high-speed AF.

The LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm / F3.5-5.6 II ASPH. / POWER O.I.S. (H-FSA14140) is built with a highly reliable metal mount, and uses multi-coated lens elements that minimize ghosts and flare. Seven blades give the aperture a rounded shape that produces an attractively smooth defocus effect in out-of-focus areas when shooting at larger aperture settings.

* Dust and Splash Resistant does not guarantee that damage will not occur if this lens is subjected to direct contact with dust and water.

* Design and specifications are subject to change without notice.

The LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm will be available at valued channel partners in May for $ 599.99.

Panasonic Lumix G Vario 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 II ASPH Power OIS specifications

Principal specifications
Lens type Zoom lens
Max Format size FourThirds
Focal length 14–140 mm
Image stabilization Yes
Lens mount Micro Four Thirds
Aperture
Maximum aperture F3.5–5.6
Minimum aperture F22
Aperture ring No
Number of diaphragm blades 7
Optics
Elements 14
Groups 12
Special elements / coatings 2 ED, 3 aspherical elements
Focus
Minimum focus 0.30 m (11.81)
Maximum magnification 0.5×
Autofocus Yes
Motor type Stepper motor
Full time manual No
Focus method Internal
Distance scale No
DoF scale No
Physical
Weight 265 g (0.58 lb)
Diameter 67 mm (2.64)
Length 75 mm (2.95)
Sealing Yes
Zoom method Rotary (extending)
Power zoom No
Zoom lock No
Filter thread 58 mm
Hood supplied Yes
Tripod collar No

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash

02 Apr

The post Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.

1 - High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

The making of one of my most successful shots started with a little photo play on a hot summer day, and a try at some high-speed splash photography.

The image above, “Red Bell Splashdown,” went on to win first place in the Corel International Food Photography Contest.

Let’s take a look at the “making of” methods used to create the shot so that you too can have fun with this quite simple technique.

Freezing motion

There are essentially two ways to freeze motion with a camera:

  1. Use a Fast Shutter Speed such that the “sliver of time” you are capturing is very short and the object being captured moves very little, if at all, during the extremely short duration the shutter is open, or
  2. Use the very Short Duration of a Flash so that the object you are photographing gets illuminated for a very small sliver of time. The duration time of an electronic flash can be extremely short. For example, a Speedlight like the Canon 580EXII at 1/128 power is less than 1/19,000th of a second!

I’ve used the flash method, and indeed it can produce some dramatic results. I will perhaps show that process and the results in a future article. For my splash photos, however, I wanted to keep it simple and do it outdoors where water splashes wouldn’t require any clean-up or endanger my photo gear. When I did these shots, I was using my Canon 50D which has a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000th of a second. I figured this should be enough to get the job done.

2- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Let the sun shine in

Obviously, getting a proper exposure with a very high shutter speed would involve several possibilities:

  1. Use a fast lens with a wide aperture – I was shooting with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, so a wide aperture was possible. However, I still needed a decent depth of field, so opening it up all the way wasn’t a good option.
  2. Use a high ISO – Cranking up the ISO can aid in getting a fast shutter speed but at the penalty of more image noise. I didn’t want that if I could avoid it.
  3. Shoot in very bright light. Normally, shooting under mid-day summer sun would not be something a photographer would do, but in this case, blazing sunlight (and lots of it) was the perfect solution.

3- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

The set-up

I wanted to use colorful subjects for the shoot. Bell peppers – easily found at the supermarket in red, yellow and green – seemed a good choice. I also picked up some other colorful fruits – strawberries and limes. To accommodate the size of the objects and also give me a flat glass “window” to shoot through, a 10-gallon aquarium was just right.

Wanting to get light not just from above but from below as well, I put a large 5-in-1 reflector on the table where I wanted to shoot, silver side up. I placed the aquarium on top of that out in the bright noon sun. I filled the tank with water about halfway and allowed the bubbles to settle out while I set up the rest of the equipment.

4- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

I put a pepper in the water and let it float while I took a look through the camera to frame the shot. I could see I would need a plain and preferably dark background, so I put a piece of black paper behind the tank. The paper was still too bright with the direct sun on it, so I used another reflector, black side down, at the back to the tank to shade the paper backdrop. I had my camera on a tripod and moved it to get as much of the front of the tank in the frame as I could, being sure I could focus that close.

5- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

To be able to drop my subjects into the tank and also trigger the shutter, I rigged up a Youngnuo RF-602C radio trigger so that I’d be able to fire the camera remotely. A wired remote with a long enough cord could have also worked.

Camera settings

I put the camera in Manual Mode. To get a good combination of the fast shutter speed needed, decent depth of field, and not too high an ISO, I found that shooting at ISO 400, F/6.3 and the key – fast shutter speeds between 1/2000 and 1/3200th of a second was about right. Letting a pepper float in the tank where I anticipated it to be when dropped, I set the focus and then locked it in manual. I also put the shutter in high-speed continuous mode so for each drop I’d get a burst of about 5 shots.

6- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Splash-down!

So, good to go, I dropped the peppers, strawberries, and limes, trying to fire the bursts in synchronization with my drops. My wife Kathy came out to join in the fun and did some of the drops. We quickly found it was necessary to squeegee and wipe the front of the glass between shots to clean the drops off the front of the glass from the previous shot. So it went: drop, shoot, squeegee and repeat. For each drop, one frame of the 5-shot burst might be good, but often not. Timing is crucial. With practice, while we gained some skill, luck was still a huge element. There was lots of shooting to get the keepers. We tried it with the peppers and fruits in different combinations too. I easily made over 200 shots that afternoon.

7- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Cleaning up your act!

Straight out of the camera, the raw shots were less than impressive. Of course, Raw files look flat, and so I knew they’d improve greatly with a basic Raw edit. There were also more drops, splashes, bubbles and other particles in the water than I wanted. However, the important thing – the action – was properly frozen and sharp!

My Red Bell Splashdown image used settings of ISO 400, f/4.0, 1/3200th sec. The rest was using editing tools to adjust the exposure, get good rich color and deep blacks, and eliminate distractions. My editing tool of choice is usually Adobe Lightroom. With the Adjustment Brush and the Spot Removal Tool, I was able to clean up the image to create the impact I was after.

8- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Other considerations and possibilities

With any photo shoot, it’s always a good idea to critique your work and consider, “What might I have done better? Differently? What variations might I want to try?”

Seeing I had used a shutter speed of 1/3200th for my splash shots, I was curious how much difference there might be at the maximum shutter speed of my Canon 50D which is 1/8000th. I didn’t want to set up the fish tank and all of that for this second experiment, so I tried something simpler.

This time, I poured liquid into glasses in the bright summer sun. This process was simple enough. I clamped the glasses in a stand, put up a black backdrop behind them, set up the camera in a similar fashion to the previous splash shots, and did the pours. This time my settings were ISO 400, f/3.5, 1/8000th of a second.

When checking the shots afterward, it was apparent that the freezing effect was even more pronounced. However, at such a wide aperture, my depth of field was much more shallow.

9- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

What might I try next time?

I’d like to give different color backgrounds a try. Using black made editing much easier, and when cleaning up the shots, it was simple to “black out” any distracting elements. I’m not so sure that would be as easily achieved with a color background. Trying it with a white background for a high-key look might also look interesting.

10- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

Of course, using different objects for the splash photos is also fun. In fact, we did do that when during the splash photo session my Mini-Schnauzer, Schatzi, wanted to play and decided to bring us her favorite ball. Looking at the “face” on the ball, I thought it might be fun to try it in a splash drop as we’d done with the peppers. When seeing the result – which looked like the “creature” was exhaling bubbles during a dive – it made me laugh.

11- High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash - Rick Ohnsman

So, give this high-speed shutter technique a try. Take it outside in the bright sun, crank up the shutter speed as high as you can and have some fun. It’s a great way to improve your camera skills, learn the relationships between ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed, and then test your editing skills when tuning up your shots. I’m confident you’ll get some images of which you’ll be proud.

The post Making the Shot: Your Guide to Creating Stunning High-Speed Splash Photos Without Flash appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Rick Ohnsman.


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How to Take Amazing Photos Using the MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

22 May

Water droplet photography is a dream for almost every creative photographer. When a water drop collides with another drop, it creates beautiful crowns and other shapes that look fabulous. Capturing those moments is a very satisfying experience for a photographer.

MIOPS Splash water droplet

Taken by Andrea Laybauer using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Until now it was not easy to create such shots, but thanks to the advancement of technology, now we have some gadgets that could make this process almost effortless for us. One such gadget is the MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit which is the world’s first water drop photography gear that can be controlled by your smartphone.

It not only controls the size and timing of drops with great precision, but it also controls your camera or flashes so that you can focus on other creative tasks like lighting, background, and different settings to create unique pieces of art.

So, let’s find out how you can create extraordinary splash photographs using this amazing device.

Photo credits: In this article, we are featuring examples done by myself, as well as three photographers and MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit customers; Andrea Laybauer (a specialist who shoots drops and splashes), Jos Daanen (a primarily wildlife photographer), and Paul Lindqvist (a specialist in food, stop-motion products, and portraits).

MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit - blue drops

Taken by Ramakant Sharda using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

What you need:

A Quiet Room:

First, you’ll need a room that can be darkened where you can create a lot of mess in that room. It’s better to choose a spare room as you may need to keep your equipment setup for a few days.

Camera and Lens:

You can use any DSLR camera for water droplet photography, or any other camera that has manual controls. Lens choice is important as you need one with a longer focal length and shorter minimum focusing distance so your camera is safe from water splashes but you can still fill the frame with splashes. I found that a 100mm macro lens is the best option for this project.

Flashes/Speedlights:

Next, you need flashes with manual control over power. You are going to use the flashes at the lowest power setting so you need a minimum of two flashes. If you have more, that is even better.

Taken by Andrea Laybauer using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Taken by Andrea Laybauer using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Tripod:

A steady tripod is a must for the camera so you can focus on other aspects of the shoot. You also need an extra tripod for attaching the MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit device.

Water Containers:

You may use a glass bowl, wine glass, or a designer cup. But if you don’t want to show the container in the picture you need around an 8×12″ glass tray with two-inch depth. You can get it from your local aquarium shop (or a similar baking dish).

Taken by Jos Dannen using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Taken by Jos Daanen using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Backgrounds:

You also need some colorful background images. Go to Google and search for “blur abstract background” and you’ll get an idea about what type of images you require. You can buy similar images from stock sites or there are some sites that provide images at no cost. You now have two options, you can print these images on paper or transparencies.

MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit:

Finally, you need a MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit to control the water drops and your camera. It comes with a holder kit so you can easily fix it on a tripod.

MIOPS splash dark

Other than these items, you need a few more things like a milky white acrylic sheet (Plexiglass) to attach backgrounds. Something to hold the acrylic sheet, a dry cloth, some clamps or clips and a shutter release cable.

Setup:

Now you have everything ready, so let’s start. First, place the acrylic sheet as the background, making sure to leave at least two feet at the back for placing the flashes. Now place a tripod at the front of this and attach the MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit on it. The distance between the background and the point where your drop will fall should be around 12-15 inches.

Now put your water container below it and ensure that the drop falls in the center of this container. Also, align your background with it.

Next place your flashes. If you are using transparencies for the background, place the flashes behind the glass, at a distance of around 12 inches. If you are using a paper background, place the flashes at a 45-degree angle on both sides. Make sure to cover your flashes with a plastic bag.

Water droplet splash Setup 01

Setup using a transparent background with the flashes behind it.

Water droplet splash Setup 02

Setup using a paper background with the flashes in front of it. Notice the flashes are being protected from any water drops that might splash and land on them, potentially damaging your delicate electronic equipment.

One flash will be the master and it’ll attach with MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit and the other flashes will be in slave mode so they fire automatically when the master flash fires.

Lastly, fix your camera on a tripod and attach a shutter release cable. It’s better to create this setup on a table because you need to work for a long time and if this setup is on the ground, you’ll get tired quickly.

Settings:

At this point, you may want to take a break and have coffee but if you are like me, you probably dying to see your first image. So, let’s talk about all the settings.

First, set your flashes at 1/32 power. If you are using four flashes, you may need to lower the power to 1/64 or 1/128. The lowest power setting will give you shortest flash duration and your photos won’t have any motion blur.

Next set your camera to Bulb Mode, set ISO to 100, choose an aperture between f/11-f/16 and attach the shutter release cable. Now put a pencil or something else where your drop will fall and focus manually on that spot, and leave the camera.

Taken by Andrea Laybuarer using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Taken by Andrea Laybuarer using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

You can also control your camera using the MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit, but it’s always better to set your camera to Bulb Mode and fire flashes instead. It will give you accurate results as there will be no shutter lag.

Lastly, you need to do the MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit settings. You are going to set the size of the first drop, the delay between two drops, size of the second drop and finally the flash firing time. Open the MIOPS Mobile app on your phone and you’ll find some settings. Set the first drop size to 25 milliseconds, the second drop size to 50 milliseconds and delay to 100 milliseconds. Finally set Trigger to 350 milliseconds and set mode to flash.

These settings are just a starting point and you need to do some fine-tuning. If your nozzle is too high or low, you need to change delay time according to that. For the above settings, the distance between nozzle and water container is around two feet.

Workflow:

Now you need to open the shutter using the shutter release cable and tap on the Start button in the app and close the shutter when flashes are fired. Since your room is dark and you are using a narrow aperture, the ambient light won’t affect the shot.

Taken by Andrea Laybauer using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Taken by Andrea Laybauer using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Taken by Jos Daanen using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Taken by Jos Daanen using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

So, take a shot and check if the lighting is good or not. If your picture is too dark, increase the ISO or move the flashes a little bit closer. Keep in mind that you should not increase the power of your flashes above 1/32 or you’ll start getting motion blur. If your picture is too bright, lower the flash power to 1/64 or 1/128 or move them back.

Once the light is okay, take another shot and see if it’s properly focused. If not, focus again.

When everything is set and you get your first shot, it’s time to do some experiments to create different masterpieces. Change the size of drops to see what difference it makes. Remember that first drop size won’t make any major difference, it’s the size of the second drop what will create different shapes. Now change the delay time, every time you change it, you’ll get different shapes.

Now experiment with both drop size and delay between drops. Each change will give you different results. Just keep in mind that you should make small changes like 5-10 milliseconds.

Taken by Andrea Laybauer using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Taken by Andrea Laybauer using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Once you understand the process and take enough shots, experiment with different backgrounds and light positions. You can place the flashes at the back and front or you can use gels on them to get different results.

Taken by Paul Lindqvist using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

Taken by Paul Lindqvist using MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit

At last, I am going to tell you a little secret to get outstanding photos. If you add a few drops of liquid soap in the water, you’ll start getting some totally unique shapes.

So, let’s get started, please share your masterpieces in the comment area below.

More about the photographers:

Andrea Laybauer started to photograph in 2001. However, since 2009, she has dedicated herself to shooting drops and splashes. View her website here and Instagram to see more of her work.

Jos Daanen is primarily a wildlife photographer. He did his utmost best to get some collisions of droplets… For these featured photos, he ordered the MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit unit which was released at the beginning of 2018.

Paul Lindqvist is a commercial photographer who specializes in food, stop-motion, product photography, and portraits.  He loves using technology to create his images, and always find new ways to use it to his advantage. View his website and Instagram

Disclaimer: MIOPS is a paid partner of dPS.

The post How to Take Amazing Photos Using the MIOPS Splash Water Drop Kit appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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MIOPS Splash: The world’s first smartphone-controlled water drop photography kit

04 Apr

Camera trigger company MIOPS has launched a new specialized photography kit that aims to help photographers get into water drop photography. Called the MIOPS Splash, this standalone kit doesn’t require an extra trigger, and is said to be the first of its kind that’s controlled with a smartphone.

MIOPS Splash doesn’t just control a flash or camera, it also controls the timing and size of a liquid drop, essentially taking all of the hardest parts of out of water drop photography. Settings are chosen using a companion smartphone app, and users are given two setup options:

In addition to the Splash kit, which is available now for $ 80 USD, MIOPS offers the Splash Holder kit for an extra $ 20. The Holder kit enables users to mount Splash on a tripod with an included tripod mount and box clip.

The MIOPS Splash kit comes with a 2-year warranty and is available now with free global shipping. To learn more about Splash or order your own, head over to the MIOPS website.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

30 Jan

So you want to make a splash in photography, well photographing with water is a great place to start. This is a broad area of photography, with many creative possibilities. In this article, you’ll see a selection of ideas for water photography, and how you can try those out yourself.

Will you want to turn your home into a lab to create stunning droplet photos, or prefer the serene calm of long exposure landscape photography? Let’s dive into water photography, and makes some great photos!

9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

You can photograph drops of water mid-air using a strobe.

1 – Water drop photography

This is a popular technique you can experiment with at home, and there are lots of YouTube guides available on how to do this. This is a form of macro photography where you’ll photograph water drops falling into a tub of water. The best results are achieved when combining the technique with off-camera flash.

When combined with an interesting background you can use this as a form of refraction photography, with the background refracted inside the droplet of water. Do you want to push this to another level more? Then look no further than the dripkit, which produces amazing results!

Read this dPS article for more on water droplet photography: Beginner’s Guide to Water Droplet Photography

2 – Long exposure landscapes

Long exposure photography has been one of the most popular forms of photography among landscape photographers for a long time. Head out to the coast, or perhaps to your nearest local river and see what you can do! A tripod is mandatory if you want to try this, and a good ND filter is a great idea as well.

  • Capture motion – Exposures of around 1/2 to one second in length will capture the movement of water. For example, waves moving in and out along the coast.
  • Silk water – Water cascading down a waterfall can be made to look like silk with exposures between one and two seconds.
  • Flat seascapes – Those wishing to make the ocean flat need to expose for 10-seconds or longer.
9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

This coastal scene is captured using a shutter speed of a third of a second.

This is a great way to get amazing photos, especially when you are photographing a rocky coastline. Take care of yourself and your camera gear in these areas though, as accidents can happen. Along the coast, find out what the tide times are so you don’t get caught by the rising water.

Another tip is to watch the waves for around 30 minutes before you start photographing. Waves always come in cycles, with a sequence of much larger waves present in this cycle. You need to know where the force of these larger waves will land before you get too close to the water’s edge.

3 – Freezing objects

Freezing objects is an interesting way to take still life photos, and present an inanimate object in a creative way. As ice is transparent you will be able to see your object inside the ice, although good lighting is needed to make the photo come to life.

Once you have your object frozen in ice use a light source such as a spotlight, or a strobe to backlight it. This works well for many objects, but things you’d find in the sea like fish or seashells would be most interesting. In the winter, of course, you can go out and photograph ice in nature; icicles and ice waterfalls all look amazing.

9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

Freezing fish in ice is a great way to photograph them as a still life. These fish were bought from a local market prior to freezing.

4 – Photographing in the rain

Most photographers will avoid photographing in the rain, concerned that it can damage their camera. This is a valid concern, although with the right precautions there are some amazing photos to be taken. There are several options for protecting your camera from the rain, which you can buy, or you can use a simple plastic bag and a rubber band.

Rain can add a lot of mood to the scene, and shots of people with umbrellas are classic images. In order to pick up the rain itself try photographing against the light, and the rain falling from the sky will give your photo more impact.

9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

The rain shows up well in this scene because it is lit up by a nearby street light.

5 – Mixing oil and water

Back in your home laboratory, it’s time to mix some opposites together. Adding oil to water is a great way for you to make interesting texture photos. In order to create a series of photos of oil and water, follow these steps.

  • Add water and oil to a glass container, one with a clear transparent base.
  • Bridge the container over a surface, you could use two piles of books to create the supports.
  • The oil will make a large bubble, and not mix with the water. To create smaller oil bubbles add liquid soap and mix the solution.
  • Below the glass container add your background image, this will add color to your photo.
  • Use a macro lens to focus on an area of oil, the more circular shapes the better.
  • Either use a strong spotlight, or a strobe linked by radio trigger to your camera. This will be used to light your photo.
9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

Oil and water don’t mix, which can make some nice colorful texture photos.

6 – Water droplets on glass

A similar approach to mixing oil with water is to photograph water droplets on glass. This form of water photography uses refraction to create its effect. The following steps are a guide for creating this style of photo.

  • Use a clear piece of glass, one from a picture frame would work well.
  • Create two piles of books, and place the glass over the piles. Make sure there is a gap to photograph through in the middle.
  • For better results, smear some windscreen rain repellent onto the glass. This hydrophobic substance will make the water droplets form more circular drops. Once you have added the repellent allow it to dry for a few minutes.
  • Add the water to the glass surface. To be more precise use a water dropper, or alternatively use a water spray bottle.
  • Add a background image behind the glass, choose one that will create an interesting refraction inside the droplets.
  • Use a macro lens, and focus on an area of glass that has some interesting water drops. Focus the camera on the water drops.
  • Use an externally triggered strobe to light up the image behind the glass, and expose your photograph. As a guide or starting point, an aperture of f/9, a shutter speed of 1/60th and an ISO of 200 were the settings I used for these images.
9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

In this photo the South Korean flag is refracted inside water drops on a glass surface.

7 – Water photography with reflections

Water photography can provide some of the best reflections out there. Pick a nice calm day and head to your nearest reflection pool! A few tips that will help enhance your photos are listed below.

  • After the rain – Immediately after it’s stopped raining is one of the best times to photograph. Puddles offer some of the best reflection pools you can find, and they only form after the rain.
  • Calm days – Larger bodies of water such as ponds or lakes will also reflect, though these need to be visited on days when there is no wind at all so the lake is perfectly still and calm.
  • Get the angle – Getting closer to the body of water will improve the reflection. The angle of incident light is equal to the angle of the reflected light, so get low to the surface of the water.
  • Polarize the light – To really bring out the reflection using a circular polarizing filter will make the reflection much stronger (just be careful to turn it the right direction otherwise it will eliminate the reflection).
9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

Rice paddy fields form amazing reflection pools. The calm of dawn was the perfect time to photograph this location.

8 – Making a splash with water photography

Water can of course look incredible when it impacts something, or something impacts it. The splash this creates needs a fast shutter speed to capture and freeze it in motion. There are a few popular methods that you can try with splash water photography.

  • Drop an object – Dropping objects into water is another twist on still life photography. The moment of capture is made using a strobe, with objects often dropped into a fish tank or perhaps a wine glass.
  • Throw your hair – This can be great fun to play with on the beach. The idea is to put your head in the water, then throw your hair back (or get a model to do so for you). The water droplets this creates can now be photographed, they’ll be picked up better against the light (with backlighting).
  • Throw water at an object – Here you pick an object, or even a person and throw water at it or them. Catch the moment of impact, and you could have a good photo. This works best when done with strobes to light up the water.

Dropping objects into water can make a real splash!

9 – Underwater photography

This niche area of photography allows you to fully immerse! Underwater photography is not cheap though, and to get professional results you’ll need expensive housing for your dSLR, which will also house a light source that can be taken down to the ocean floor.

Photographing with a model can also be fun underwater, once again providing you have the equipment!

9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash

Underwater photography is fun and challenging. With better equipment the results can be very impressive.

Now it’s your turn!

With so many possibilities for water photography projects, which one will you choose? When you’ve had a chance to try one of more of these ideas come and share your experience, and of course your photos.

Already tried taking photos like this? Then share your work in the comments section below, we love to see your photos.

The post 9 Water Photography Ideas to Make a Splash by Simon Bond appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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Tutorial: How to shoot a martini splash photo using only speedlights

03 Sep

Photographer Dustin Dolby of workphlo is back with another of his straightforward, easy-to-follow lighting tutorials. This time, he’s showing us how to shoot (and post-process) a professional-looking splash photography shot—a very popular ad style—using just the affordable speedlights in his home studio.

As usual, his setup is extremely affordable. To start, he places the empty glass-and-lime combo onto a sheet of plexiglass, with two diffusers behind it and a cheap Yongnuo speedlight behind that. Then he uses a second speedlight off to the side to light the garnish, and that same speedlight is what he’ll use to light the splashes once he adds water and begins throwing in his fake ice cube.

From start to finish, here are all of the exposures he captured and combined in post to create his final image:

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Along the way Dolby offers a bunch of little tips and tricks that help really round out the final image, and produce something beautiful. Here’s the final shot, after a bit of post-production magic:

To see the full tutorial, click play above. And if you love product photography his YouTube channel is definitely worth a look.


All photographs by Dustin Dolby/workphlo and used with permission.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Water Splash Photography Made Easy

22 Jun

How exciting is it to freeze things in action? High-speed photography and water make the perfect recipe to get stunning images – and creating them is incredibly fun and easy too! Here are some tips for doing your own water splash photography.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

What will you need to do splash photography?

You will definitely need an assistant. He/she will make your life much easier. It’s true that you can do everything by yourself but it’s way more productive if you have some help, a person who can throw the objects into the water, get them out and then throw them again. And again. And again.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

  • Next you want a glass aquarium with a minimum size of 24x12x16”, preferably made of transparent glass.
  • Set up a table covered in black fabric.
  • Use a black background (paper or textile) standing at a minimum of six feet away from the aquarium.

Setup

Fill the aquarium with tap water, half or 2/3 full, depending on how deep you prefer the subjects to fall. Please keep in mind that if you fill the tank too high, every splash will probably result in water spilling. Please be careful with both flashes and your camera, when working with water.

Gear

Setup Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Any decent camera will be okay, but to obtain better quality you would probably like to use a crop-sensor or full-frame DSLR – or a mirrorless camera, with a good lens. Shooting from a distance, I used a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens at 200mm in order to obtain as much depth of field as I could.

As subjects you can use anything you like. I personally prefer fruits and vegetables because they vary in size, shape, and color.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Always use a tripod for your camera. Set the camera at a position where you have the desired framing of the aquarium, leaving enough space up, down and on both sides to capture most of the splashes. After you have positioned the camera, set the focus manually.

Focusing

For this step, ask your assistant to hold the subject in the water approximately where you want to make the splashes happen. Leave the camera on manual focus (or use back button focus). This way, the camera won’t need to refocus every time you make a picture, and you’ll know that the subject will be in focus every time the object is thrown into the same location.

Freezing the water splash

You have to know that freezing the motion (in this case) is done by the flash and not by the camera. Here’s a little bit of theory to explain this.

You have probably already made pictures where you stopped a human or an animal in motion. You’ve achieved that result by using a really quick shutter speed, somewhere between 1/4000th or 1/8000th of a second. But in the studio, where you use flashes or strobes, things change.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Your camera has to be in sync with the flashes (sync speed) and in most cases, this results in a shutter speed of 1/125th – 1/200th which is way too slow to freeze fast action. Luckily, there is this magic word called “flash duration”. This is the short period of time when the flash emits light which, if short enough, gives you the freezing effect you wanted.

You can use hot shoe flashes (speedlights) as they generally have pretty short flash duration, but only at very reduced power settings of 1/32 or 1/64 of full power. That results in low light, but you can compensate for that by increasing the ISO and opening the aperture.

The other option I prefer is using strobes with short flash durations. Most manufacturers make the flash duration of their strobes public information and the power at which you get the shortest flash duration. For the pictures of this article, I used Elinchrom ELC Pro HD 500 strobes, which have the shortest flash duration – 1/4000th of a second – at power 3.1.

Setting up the flash and camera

For your water splash setup, you will need two flashes, one on each side of the aquarium, aimed directly at your subject. I prefer to use light shapers which restrict the light to hit only the subject, so it doesn’t spill all over the scene, thus avoiding unwanted reflections and highlights.

For this shoot, my camera settings were ISO 100, 200mm, f/16, at 1/125th of a second.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Taking the pictures

This is the fun part! If you an assistant you’ll have to synchronize your movements. As he drops the objects in the water you’ll need to capture the perfect moments. In practice, this means that you will count to three, after which he’ll drop the object while you press the shutter release and pray to get the moment just right!

I sincerely suggest you repeat these four steps for a few hours. I prefer to set my camera to continuous or burst mode (my flashes recycle very fast) and record three or four pictures per drop. That way I increase the probability of capturing the subject and the splash of the water.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Some quick tips:

  • Use subjects with vivid color, this way you will have good separation of the subject from the black background and the white/blueish splash. This makes your pictures really pop.
  • If you photograph small subjects, try to use a minimum of 6-10 pieces at once.
  • Try to combine subjects of different sizes, colors, and shapes.
  • The heavier the subject, the faster it will fall, making it harder to capture at the right moment. So take that into consideration.
  • To get larger splashes, use subjects with a larger surface are, or let them fall from a higher position.
  • Wash the fruits and vegetables well before you use them, this way you can keep the water cleaner for a longer period of time.
  • If the water starts becoming dirty, change it. It’s pretty unpleasant as the tank is heavy and you’ll have to do that a couple of times. But the good news is that by doing so, you’ll have to work less in the post-processing phase, while also getting sharper, more cleaner images.
  • Frequently clean the front glass of the tank to get rid of the water drops that tend to accumulate on it.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Post-processing tips

This part is crucial! Despite all the efforts you have made to capture the perfect splash, the raw images you’ll get will definitely still need a little bit of polishing and processing.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Raw unprocessed image.

I only use Lightroom and Photoshop for post-processing, but you can achieve the desired effects in any preferred image processing application.

Clean up the water

After you’ve selected the image you want to retouch, you’ll first need to clean the water. I suggest that you use the Adjustments Brush, with Blacks set to -100. Apply this brush everywhere on the image except the subjects (that would make the subject too dark).

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Adjustment Brush settings to apply to the water.

You can use the brush even on the splash itself, because this will make it cleaner and sharper, but be careful not to over do it because you can lose some details on the splash.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

After the Adjustment Brush has been applied.

Final touches

Now open the image in Photoshop, create a new empty layer, select the brush color black, and start painting the new layer black. Be careful near the subjects, to avoid painting them also. This way you can achieve a clean black background around the subject. You can even paint away small drops of water that you consider unnecessary. Try to preserve a little bit of the surface of the water though.

If you like the painting you applied, it’s time to add sharpness to the image using the Unsharp mask at the level of your taste. You can also add some contrast or saturation depending on the final look you want to get.

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Water Splash Photography Made Easy

Your turn

Are you ready to give water splash photography a try? Here’s another dPS article that can give you some more splash tips, How to do Creative Water Splash Photography with Off-Camera Flash.

If you have any questions please post them in the comments section below, and also share your images so we can see your results.

Bio

Stefan Mogyorosi is a photographer based in Oradea, Romania. He works mostly on commercial projects for the beauty industry, but also likes to do personal projects photographing still life, macro, fashion, portraits, or glamour. Experimenting with freezing motion and working with liquids are his top priorities right now.

Personal page – http://www.mogyorosistefan.ro
Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/mogyorosistefanphotography/
Instagram page – https://www.instagram.com/mogyorosistefan/

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How to do Creative Water Splash Photography with Off-Camera Flash

19 May

Photography gives us the unique opportunity to freeze time. Moments that normally can’t be seen because they occur in the blink of an eye can suddenly be captured by a camera with incredible precision. This gives us the opportunity to discover fascinating and unique opportunities for photography that showcase and celebrate the wonder of the world around us. It can also be an extremely fun and creative style of photography, and a way to practice your skills with off-camera flash.

A toy car dropped into water, photographed with off-camera flash

Chances are you’ve come across a photo of a water droplet or water splash before. The intricate and mesmerizing patterns of water droplets in flight make for excellent abstract art.

But how can you take a picture fast enough? How does it work to freeze each individual droplet in midair?

A water droplet frozen in midair with off-camera flash photography

Lightning Fast Photography

Most modern cameras can take a picture as fast as 1/8000th of a second. You’ve probably noticed, however, that lightning fast shutter speeds typically require a lot of light.

If you are walking around outdoors on a bright and sunny, you will be able to get your camera up to 1/8000th, and you can capture a water fight or the splash of a water fountain. However, there often isn’t enough light to take a good image indoors or under cloudy lighting conditions.

Water droplets splashing into a jar, photographed with off-camera flash

Furthermore, taking a picture under sunny lighting conditions won’t hide the background. The intricacies of the water will be lost against the background.

That’s why the trick to creating a truly amazing water image is to use off-camera flash.

How it works

Cameras only record what they see. This means that a picture taken in a dark room will result in a pitch black picture.

When you use flash in a dark room, your subject will be illuminated for the duration of the flash of light – which means that your new “shutter speed” will be the speed at which your flash fires (flash duration).

Depending on the model and power, a flash can fire as quickly as 1/10,000th of a second. This new shutter speed of 1/10,000th of a second is easily fast enough to freeze a water droplet in midair.

A water droplet, frozen in midair with off-camera flash

This shot was taken using the settings 1/250, f/5,6, ISO 250. Even with the “slow” shutter speed, the flash stops the water droplet in mid-flight.

The neat thing here is that as long as the room is dark, the shutter speed on your camera doesn’t actually even matter anymore. With the right setting, your camera can take an image that lasts for a full second long, but the final shot will only be recorded in the blazing fast burst of light from the flash.

Setting up your shot

To try this out for yourself, you will need to set up in a fairly dark room – dark enough so that you can use your in-camera settings to take a completely black picture. You’ll need to get off Auto mode in order to do this.

Remember that the aperture and ISO that you select will affect your flash power. Selecting either a wider aperture or a higher ISO will make your camera more sensitive to light, including the light from your flash. This makes your flash more powerful, in a way.

For this purpose, I used the following setup:

A behind the scenes shot of the setup for water splash photography

Note the towel. A towel just might be the most important piece of equipment to remember when you try water splash photography!

Even though there is still some light in the room, I was able to create a dark background by setting my camera to 1/250, f/5, ISO 250.

Get the flash off-camera

The key is to use the flashes off-camera. Having the light come in at an angle is more in line with how we experience light in the real world, so it produces a more naturally lit image.

But you don’t need to have multiple flashes to try this out – experiment with one flash and see what happens!

More importantly, by bringing the light in from an angle and preventing it from shining on the walls or objects behind your subject, you can create a dark background. This really makes each droplet shimmer and shine in contrast.

Two tomatoes splashing into water, shot with off-camera flash

A toy car splashing into water, photography with off-camera flash

Two common ways of triggering a flash off-camera are to use either a radio transmitter or a sync cord that connects your camera’s hotshoe to the flash itself. Your camera may also be able to fire your off-camera flash optically using the built-in pop-up flash. You may need to check your camera’s manual to see if your system has that functionality.

The exact power settings you will need to use on your flash will vary depending on the type of flash, the setup, and the distance between your flash and the splash you are photographing.

Remember: Digital is cheap! Experiment and watch your camera’s LCD screen after every shot. If it is too dark, simply turn up the flash power or consider moving your lights a bit closer to the subject.

Getting the timing right

Once you have everything set up, it’s simply a matter of trial and error! Even with a fancy setup, perfecting your timing in order to capture a splash at the right moment is tough.

Unless you have a high end strobe unit, you won’t be able to take pictures quickly – the batteries will need a moment to recharge every time they fire. This means you’ve only got one shot for every splash!

A man photographed with off-camera flash as he is hit by water in the face

If you get tired of using toy cars as a model, why not ask a friend to step in?

Every camera has a very slight delay after you press the shutter button (before it actually takes the picture). You’ll want to work on your timing so that you can make the most of every shot – especially if you ask a friend to stand in as a target for a water splash picture!

Shooting digital allows you to experiment until you have a good sense of the timing. After a bit of practice, you will have some incredible and creative water splashes to show for your effort!

A man being photographed splashing water while on a black background

The post How to do Creative Water Splash Photography with Off-Camera Flash by Frank Myrland appeared first on Digital Photography School.


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Splash Photography: How to Capture Liquid Motion

13 May

Freezing motion using high-speed photography basically gives you magic powers!

It gives you the power to stop time and enables you to see what your eyes are otherwise unable to process.

Capturing these micro movements for a fascinating look into things happening too fast for our own vision to grasp, is simpler than you think.

We’re here to show you a simple setup for capturing the intricate and unique freeze frame drops created during a splash.

With a little patience and some help from a friend, you’ll be surprised at how easy they are to create.

(…)
Read the rest of Splash Photography: How to Capture Liquid Motion (585 words)


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Making a splash: Nikon D500 real-world sample gallery

03 May

Nikon’s flagship APS-C line got a long-awaited update in the D500. And as far as updates go, it’s an impressive one: its 20.9MP sensor, 10 fps continuous shooting, 153-point AF system and 4K video shooting make it something of a DX-format D5. Our initial studio test results have been very encouraging, so we were eager to follow them up with plenty of real-world shooting.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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