Project365 - Take Your Time...

Introduction

Anybody who knows me understands that I struggle with patience. Sometimes, I get so excited about my photoshoot, that I don't pause to think about what I am doing - I just want to start shooting ! And it shows in my work. I have a huge pile of rejects, usually because I forgot about white balance, or I didn't think about the depth of field. I keep them as a reminder to slow down and think.

So in tonight's photo shoot, I went to great effort to take my time. To consider what I am shooting, and what my desired outcomes are. If you look back in my blog, you'll see I did an entry on capturing water droplets. I enjoyed that shoot, but as soon as I saw the photos, I was a little disappointed, and immediately started thinking about how I could improve the shots.

The Setup

Camera - Canon 60D, Flash - Canon 430 EX II Speedlite, Lens - Canon 24-105mm f4 L IS (my general-purpose lens), Tripod - Manfrotto 190CX Pro 3

In the following shots (taken with my iPhone, sorry !), I show how I set up for this shoot:

Here we see the layout. Camera at a lowered position, to better catch the droplets from the side. I put the hood on to minimize flare from the flash. The flash was remotely triggered off-camera (note to self - look into Pocket Wizards !). The subject is in a clear dish, laid over top of a black nylon golf shirt. My working premise is that it won't look so washed out in the flash.

Same setup, different view. You can see the eye-dropper & my shutter-release cable. A bit harder to do without my trusty assistant ! You will probably also notice the inflatable soft-box on my flash. It acts to diffuse the light, so it is not so harsh. I used it and still dialled the flash down to 1/16 power to get the shots I wanted.

I used a AAA battery to help me determine focal length, etc. it is approximately the same height the droplets bounce, and gives me something to focus against. Obviously, this is the test-shot from the 60D, not my iPhone ! ;-)

 

The Photos

This is probably my favourite photo of the shoot. The background is nearly black, and you can see the refraction of the flash on the ripples on the surface. The water droplet is crisp.

I am also pleased with this photo. While not as dark, the droplets are crisply focused, and the ripples on the surface are nice and smooth.

This is called a "crown". Of the 100 or so shots I took, and 39 usable, this is the only one I that is decent.

 

Remember I said I was impatient ? We'll apparently I got a photo of a water droplet BEFORE it hit the surface ! There's no splash, so the surface is calm & flat. You can see the flash reflected in the perfect sphere of the droplet.

 

Lessons Learned

I put more thought and energy into the setup of this shoot. I slowed down to consider a lot of variables. I adjusted my flash settings and added the soft box. I moved the flash head so it didn't point directly at the subject. I probably shot a hundred shots, just getting the position of the eye-dropper centred over the glass dish. But the results are better !