How It Was Done: Water Drop Shot
Ok so I havent done one of these in a while and the entry’s for the Photo5 competition have closed so theoretically no one can copy this for the competition.
Anyway here is the finished image that I submitted to the competition….
Competition Brief: Eye Dropper
This brief is asking you to use your lens to look closer. Use the eye dropper to place drops of liquid in any arrangement you want. You can use a single drop, or as many drops as you like.
And you’re not limited to just water – feel free to use liquids of different colours and consistencies, such as milk or tomato soup. Just make sure you get close.
OK that seems simple enough…
I had the idea to suspend a drop of water from the head of a pin and using a slide projector somehow get an image into the drop (at this point I want to say that using Photoshop wasnt an option that I really wanted to use).
Equipment Used: Kinderman Slide Projector, Nikon D70s with 50mm f1.8, 2 x Nikon PK13 and 1 x PK12 Extension Tubes, Tripod, Cullman Macro Rail, Various supports like chairs, 1 x Pin, Bluetac and a 42″ translucent reflector (used later on)… Oh and various slides.
So I set up the projector at the same height as the camera and blasted a slide onto the drop of water (which took at least 15 minutes to get to stay on the head of the pin) which produced the following image.
Even at 1/5000th of a second this was about as good as it got… Not really the look I was going for…
Step 2: Place a 42″ reflector in front of the projector to act as a screen… At the moment the projector is about 1.5 metres away from the water droplet.
Ok at this point I stop thinking “what the heck am I doing this is never going to work I must be crazy”! And start seeing a small glimmer of hope projected down a very bright slide projector.
However still not really what I had in mind when I initially set out.
Step 3: Time to move everything back away from the projector… now about 3 metres away still with the reflector in front acting as a screen.
I keep forgetting stuff… The slide was projected onto the screen upside down so that it was right side up in the droplet.
OK now we are cooking but still not quite right.
This is what the setup currently looks like (the images are from a point and shoot so sorry about quality/focus issues)
My studio is soooo sophisticated 🙂
Who needs a macro lens when you have a bazillion extension tubes…
Opps almost forgot to say that I added a small pop of speedlight at the pin just to give it a bit of a catch light.
Anyway I found that by moving a reflector backwards and forwards I could alter how much of the image would appear in the drop so after a lot of stuffing round (293 images from the first shot) this is the image that I liked the best…
This is the file straight off the camera with no processing
With a bit of straightening and a saturation boost and not to mention all the dust removal here we go 🙂
And before I forget here is a scan of the slide that I used…
All droplet shots on Nikon D70s with 50mm f1.8 Lens with 2 x Nikon PK13 + 1 PK12 Extension Tubes.
Last 2 Canon Photo5 Images
Here go the last two images I entered into the Photo5 competition.
If you missed the earlier ones they are here
Not quite as happy with these ones cause they were a bit rushed. I would have liked to have done the spray can one in The Alley but unfortunately time was against me.
f5.6 @ 1/40 Seconds
The one below is the inspired by sound entry but basically just turned into me having a bit of fun with Xmas lights, a power drill and some LED lights. It kinda fits the brief… Sort of 🙂
f11 @ 61 Seconds
Nikon D70s, 50mm f1.8, 200 Iso.
Kingdom Come Abandoned Set
Went and had a look at the abandoned set for Kingdom Come last night.
Lets just say that the Wellington weather is having its way with it… Not to mention the graffiti artists…
It all feels a bit mournful with all the work that went into it without being completed and then being destroyed by the elements.
Looks like it is quite the popular place to go as we weren’t the only ones there.
Colour film from Rollei and B/W from F5 still to come 🙂
Nikon D70s, 19-35mm Tokina Lens, ISO 200
Fatherhood Friday 25: Chickenpox and Cabin Fever
Whats worse than a week of chickenpox? A week of torrential rain and not being able to go out and run round AND chickenpox.
Both girls are starting to go a bit crazy and Emily is starting to talk non stop all the time…
At least today it is finally sunny and both girls are out on the deck running round chasing each other and screaming happily.
Apart from the spots Emily has been pretty much normal all week and has done a brilliant job of not scratching.
Twilight Fern
Fern shot at twilight with tripod and speedlight off to the right of the image.
Nikon D70s, 18-70mm Lens, ISO 200, Nikon SB80DX Speedlight with SC-17 TTL Cable.
Couple More 360 Degree Panoramic Images
Alas the Nodal Ninja has gone back to its owner but here go another couple of pics.
Nikon D70s, 18-70mm Lens, ISO 200. Nodal Ninja and Tripod. 22 Images stitched in Photoshop
Fatherhood Friday 24: Yay For Not Being Sick
Here goes some pics from when I was setting up lights to shoot the Calvin and Hobbes Challenge (Pic Here just incase you missed it) Not perfect lighting since it was setup for someone my height and not two small people sitting on the floor 🙂
Emily and Sam had just got out of the bath and were getting ready to go to bed… Probably the best time to get shots of them without snot and food smeared around their faces.
Its been a pretty hectic week but have managed to get through (so far). Em had Monday off crèche due to vomiting during the night on Sunday which unfortunately ment I didn’t get to go on me and Samantha’s usual “street shooting with cute kid in backpack” foray.
All in all everyone seems to be recovering from their various colds and coughs and we have had to sunny days in a row so hopefully spring is here in force.
Daylight savings starts this Sunday so that should be a fun exercise although it should mean that Sam will sleep in for an extra hour which will be nice 🙂
Nikon D70s, 50mm f1.8 Lens, ISO 200. 2x Electra Compact 400 W Studio Lights. 1 with Softbox Umbrella and 1 with only Reflector.
Nodal Ninja 360 Degree Panoramic Images
Wow! That title is a bit of a mouthful.
This week I have had the fun experience of borrowing a Nodal Ninja (or as Amanda calls it a “Noodle Ninja”)
For those of you who don’t know what this is… It’s basically a device that enables you to pivot around the absolute centre of your lens when you are taking images to stitch together.
unfortunately WordPress doesn’t display these too well since they are really wide, but you get the idea…
All the below images are made up of 22 images stitched together with Photoshop.
Nikon D70s, 18-70mm Lens, Nodal Ninja, Induro Tripod.
And in Breaking News… Burst Water Main in Manners Mall
Just as I was stepping out the door at work I heard a bang and… Chaos….Lucky I had my camera handy… There is a series on film as well
Would like to be the guy in the digger
Enjoy
Calvin and Hobbes Challenge
A friend on Facebook challenged me to recreate an image from the comic Calvin and Hobbes (Link Here)
This was my interpretation.
Nikon D70s, 50mm f1.8 Lens, ISO 200. Two Electra 500W Studio Lights and Silver 42 Inch Reflector.
Oriental Parade Panos
Another older image. This one is onto of the fisherman’s Table on Oriental Parade Wellington.
Couple of amusing things about this image:
The front of the roof is actually round and when it was put into Photoshop it straightened it up.
This is back before I took panos in the vertical mode.
Must go back and shoot this again some time.
Not sure what treatment I like best and slightly annoyed with the burnt out sky but all the more reason to go re-shoot.
Nikon D70s, 50mm f1.8 Lens, ISO 200, Made up of 9 images stitched.
HDR
An HDR from half way up Wrights Hill in Wellington looking out towards Makara.
Slightly messy processing but liked the effect.
Nikon D70s, 50mm f1.8, ISO 400, Made up of 5 images
Darkhalide Photography 
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