umbrellas in water drops

[JDUPhoto]

I decided to try for some shots of colourful umbrellas reflected in water drops for some Challenges last year and got some that worked out. These are the main two I entered in a couple of Challenges.

Turning The Tables:
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7 Digital (http://www.pbase.com/cameras/minolta/maxxum_7_digital) ,Tamron SP AF 90/2.8 Di Macro
0.80s f/20.0 at 90.0mm iso200; manual flashgun
http://www.pbase.com/image/47606448.jpg

More info on how I did it here:
http://www.pbase.com/jduphoto/image/47606448

Cure For A Rainy Day:
Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7 Digital (http://www.pbase.com/cameras/minolta/maxxum_7_digital) ,Tamron SP AF 90/2.8 Di Macro
5s f/8.0 at 90.0mm iso400; manual flashgun
http://www.pbase.com/image/47889321.jpg

More info on how I did it here:
http://www.pbase.com/image/47889321

I included a setup image that I explain more in my galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/image/47931834.jpg

[Hatch1921]

John... NASA called... they want you to return their equipment :) :) :) LOL What a setup! The image is outstanding! Very well done.

Hatch

[cgratti]

Excellent post and stunning pictures. Your going to inspire a lot of us to try this.

[EOSX]

That's SICK! So awesome!

[JoseC]

Very nice and original picture.
Jose

[JDUPhoto]

John... NASA called... they want you to return their equipment :) :) :) LOL What a setup! The image is outstanding! Very well done.

Hatch

No can do. Wife won't give up the ficus to anyone! ;)

[JDUPhoto]

Excellent post and stunning pictures. Your going to inspire a lot of us to try this.

Thanks. I got the ideas from looking at posts by others and fine tuned them for my own efforts. I tried lighting the umbrella from the camera side, but the results sucked for both the water drops on the mirror and the falling water drops. Backlighting brought them to life.

[LordV]

Love the resulting shots :) Very well done.
Brian V.

[Action_Man]

Wait until Athena see`s these :D, i think a new craze is about to start, great images ...

[racketman]

the prince is dead long live the Sony........sorry. You got the gear and you know how to use it - top notch. Nice of you to share the technique too.

[Action_Man]

Was i mistaken i my belief that these forums were for Canon cameras ? :) ...

[JDUPhoto]

Wait until Athena see`s these :D, i think a new craze is about to start, great images ...

Thanks Gordon. Athena already made a passing comment in another of my posts, so I know she's seen this one. Said she was busy and would normally have commented, but chose another one to comment on instead. I guess I'm bombarding with some of my old stuff as I start here and will slow down big time soon enough.

Based on your comment, I'll have to see what Athena posts as you've raised my curiosity.

[JDUPhoto]

Was i mistaken i my belief that these forums were for Canon cameras ? :) ...

Yes, good point Gordon. I wondered when someone would make that comment. I now shoot Canon, but thought I'd throw in some of where I came from as it's equally applicable to what can be done with any system, including Canon and is hopefully fun to share in any case. For me, it helps to fuse all of this stuff together. Any new stuff from me will be Canon.

[Action_Man]

I`m not complaining John i just thought it needed mentioning :D ...

[JDUPhoto]

I`m not complaining John i just thought it needed mentioning :D ...

No problem Gordon. Your comment was quite appropriate and if anyone really doesn't like it and tells me, then I'm happy to stop until I have some new stuff taken with my Canon system. To be honest, I didn't really think much about it until I'd alredy made some non-Canon posts and then decided to go ahead anyway as a way of introducing myself as much as anything to show that I have some kind of macro history and some ideas that others might be interested in here. I'm a Canon guy now that I've made the system change, even if I haven't done so much with it yet, at least for macro photography anyway.

[Omri Alon]

Great shots :D Very well thought out! :)

[Athena]

Okay - water droplet junkie that I am, I had to come back and comment now that the munchkins are asleep.

Gordon - I loved your comment - you had it spot on. When the dropper photo loaded, I sat here with my jaw dropped in awe mixed with envy. And subconsiously I think I was already planning the comeback of my own water droplet setup. ;) Alas, time is tight at present, so it might be awhile (remember how long it took me to finally USE the rainX?)

John - these two photos are absolutely lovely (even if I weren't oddly drawn to water droplets - what does that mean anyway??). I love the backlit umbrella idea. Oddly enough I have done this with glass pebbles, but hadn't made the connection to my beloved droplets. Thanks for sharing these beauts and for the inspiration to get the kids' medicine dropper back out of the drawer! :D

[JDUPhoto]

Okay - water droplet junkie that I am, I had to come back and comment now that the munchkins are asleep.

Gordon - I loved your comment - you had it spot on. When the dropper photo loaded, I sat here with my jaw dropped in awe mixed with envy. And subconsiously I think I was already planning the comeback of my own water droplet setup. ;) Alas, time is tight at present, so it might be awhile (remember how long it took me to finally USE the rainX?)

John - these two photos are absolutely lovely (even if I weren't oddly drawn to water droplets - what does that mean anyway??). I love the backlit umbrella idea. Oddly enough I have done this with glass pebbles, but hadn't made the connection to my beloved droplets. Thanks for sharing these beauts and for the inspiration to get the kids' medicine dropper back out of the drawer! :D

Thanks Athena. I used a syringe as it can hold a lot more water than a dropper so that I didn't have to keep reloading quite so often. It wasn't easy to get several individual drops in the frame at the time I fired the flashgun. It was often a stream or only one or no drops.

[Athena]

John - did you have to depress the syringe each time? With the dropper I have to keep a hand on the dropper and the other on the cable release. Of course I guess I also get to be in control of when the water drops...

[cgratti]

Yes, good point Gordon. I wondered when someone would make that comment. I now shoot Canon, but thought I'd throw in some of where I came from as it's equally applicable to what can be done with any system, including Canon and is hopefully fun to share in any case. For me, it helps to fuse all of this stuff together. Any new stuff from me will be Canon.


I dont think these forums are STRICKLY for Canon users, does it really matter? You can learn a lot even from Nikon users, or any other brand for that matter.

[Athena]

:eek: *gasp* the "N" word. ;)

[greg76]

those pictures are insane.. talk about a setup and a half wow..

[zenden]

Hey John,
Good to see you on here
Quite the splash you made ;)
No surprise to me .
Love this image. Outstanding

[Ballen Photo]

Very clean, and well done John. :D Thanks for sharing your settup as well. :cool:
BTW, My very first SLR was a Minolta 370, or 700, I think. ;)
-Bruce

[Livinthalife]

these are amazing! thanks for sharing the photos and the setup!

[kallousa]

a ha
here I see new challengers .. the race will go on :lol: though my 4th part is still under preparation .. :cool: the refractions are planned for the 5th ..

Welcome in here John. Excellent shots , simple and effective setup.
Glad you seen that the backlight is much much better than forelight. Hint: try to have the flash light reflected from sides as well.

Still dropping one by one, keeping one hand busy all the time?
To you and Athena, well I can't wait to see her output as well, here's a clue: have a small x-section flexible tube, and make the water (liquid) be dropped by a siphon action from an upper container. you can adjust the flow by necking the tube as you want , and click the button or fire the flash by synchrinizing your finger with your eyes to the steady falling drops. HERE'S A FREE HAND :lol: , more freedom to move and no refocusing everytime..

Come on guys, warm it up ... :lol:

Regards

[JDUPhoto]

John - did you have to depress the syringe each time? With the dropper I have to keep a hand on the dropper and the other on the cable release. Of course I guess I also get to be in control of when the water drops...

Athena, I guess you didn't spend hours reading all the details I provided on my site about how I did this one. Maybe you're not so crazy after all. :lol:

Essentially, I pressed the shutter release button (via cable) for each exposure. That started a 5 sec exposure so I could get the water dripping from the syringe (difficult to judge) and then fire the flashgun manually behind the umbrella when all was ready. Ahmad Kallousa makes some good suggestions in his post. He's quite right that there are better ways of getting the water drops happening, but when I started I though it wouldn't be too hard and I only needed a few tries, so what would it matter if I didn't have a particularly reliable water drop source. Hours later, it became obvious that I'd underestimated the need for a better system. :rolleyes:

[JDUPhoto]

:eek: *gasp* the "N" word. ;)

Worse than the KM word(s) I take it? :rolleyes: Let's all have a moment's silence for KM, or should that really be for M? :(

[JDUPhoto]

those pictures are insane.. talk about a setup and a half wow..

Greg, I think you're right. Who in his or her right mind would do this kind of thing ... without revisiting it with improved setup and technique?! :twisted: Gotta have another go some time to see what I can come up with.

[melvynyeo]

What excellent piece of work ! I love them alot. Thanks for sharing :D

[JDUPhoto]

Hey John,
Good to see you on here
Quite the splash you made ;)
No surprise to me .
Love this image. Outstanding

Dennis, well technically, not much of a splash at all. ;) Actually, that's what I'm missing. Falling and splashing together would be good, but that would be harder and would mean a wider frame so that the drops would be smaller. Hmm .. thinking, thinking .. :confused:

Doesn't take long to stop being a junior member, does it? :cool:

[JDUPhoto]

Very clean, and well done John. :D Thanks for sharing your settup as well. :cool:
BTW, My very first SLR was a Minolta 370, or 700, I think. ;)
-Bruce

Bruce, so you'll be in mourning too for the demise of Minolta. Not to worry, luckily Canon makes cameras too and from what I can tell, they're pretty useful tools as well. :D Actually, I decided to move to Canon some time before the KM annoncement was made, but I hope for the sake of others who have stayed with Minolta/KM that Sony makes a go of pushing forward with the technology to build on what Minolta/KM started. In the end, having another capable camera manufacturer out there must be good for competition and the industry. One reason I changed was the ready availability of equipment. This forum now seems like a good thing too.

[JDUPhoto]

a ha
here I see new challengers .. the race will go on :lol: though my 4th part is still under preparation .. :cool: the refractions are planned for the 5th ..

Welcome in here John. Excellent shots , simple and effective setup.
Glad you seen that the backlight is much much better than forelight. Hint: try to have the flash light reflected from sides as well.

Still dropping one by one, keeping one hand busy all the time?
To you and Athena, well I can't wait to see her output as well, here's a clue: have a small x-section flexible tube, and make the water (liquid) be dropped by a siphon action from an upper container. you can adjust the flow by necking the tube as you want , and click the button or fire the flash by synchrinizing your finger with your eyes to the steady falling drops. HERE'S A FREE HAND :lol: , more freedom to move and no refocusing everytime..

Come on guys, warm it up ... :lol:

Regards

Ahmad, aha back at ya. I tried to see some of your work, but for some reason images are not displaying in the posts I tried. Not to worry. Thanks for your comments here. I'm always interested in suggestions and comparing notes.

I focussed manually and left it there. The camera was fixed and so was the syringe, so everything stayed in alignment at the right distance. Still, I really like your idea for making a more reliable 'stream' of water. My method was very much hit and miss, with only a fine line between a constant stream and only having one or even no drops of water falling through the frame at the time I fired the flashgun.

I don't know what you mean about trying to have the flashlight reflected from the sides as well. As you know, the illuminated umbrella provides all the light for the water drops to focus for the camera. The umbrella is the only place I want any light. Do you mean trying to backlight the umbrella more evenly? I had one flashgun at the time, but I now have more. I suppose I could even use reflectors for well-diffused, multi-source lighting of the umbrella. Is that what you mean?

I just had a look at your Flickr site to see what macro work you have on there. Your water drops are cool, but I don't see any with the drops focusing their backgrounds (eg umbrellas or whatever). Is that what you mean by refractions and you're still planning to do it? From your comment about backlighting, it sounds like you have some experience with this kind of thing, but I don't see any evidence of it on your site, so I can't learn anything there.

[Athena]

Hours later, it became obvious that I'd underestimated the need for a better system. :rolleyes:

Perhaps several of us should set a time/location for a brainstorm session and then a marathon water droplet shoot. :lol:

I don't have a photo to show, but here is a brief explaination of how I did it.
1. I had my medicine dropper (holds 1 teaspoon) suspended with my Photoflex reflector holder, a strobe with a brollie on the right side and a reflector proped up on the left.
2. The colors come from a piece of fabric below and behind the small (full) fishtank I had the drops falling into.
3. Camera on tripod with cable release.
4. Focused on the point of entry by placing a pencil with writing on it across the tank and moving it around until the drops hit a letter spot on and then focused on that letter.

I am actually trying to mentally think of a time that I can set this back up and have another go at improving the system. :)

71968

[kallousa]

Thank you for your thorough readind John, here it is

I suppose I could even use reflectors for well-diffused, multi-source lighting of the umbrella. Is that what you mean?

Yes, exactly , may be with the presence of another flashgun.


I just had a look at your Flickr site to see what macro work you have on there. Your water drops are cool, but I don't see any with the drops focusing their backgrounds (eg umbrellas or whatever). Is that what you mean by refractions and you're still planning to do it?

Yes that's part 5, part 4 will be the liquid umbrallas, but in better focus than the oned in my Flickr.


From your comment about backlighting, it sounds like you have some experience with this kind of thing, but I don't see any evidence of it on your site, so I can't learn anything there.

I had a problem that my pictures uploaded from that site were all deleted, so , here's my setup again, and this is how I reflect the light from all sides.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/kallousa/Picture57_filtered.jpg http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/kallousa/Picture59_filtered.jpg


Best Regards

[JDUPhoto]

I had a problem that my pictures uploaded from that site were all deleted, so , here's my setup again, and this is how I reflect the light from all sides.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/kallousa/Picture57_filtered.jpg http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/kallousa/Picture59_filtered.jpg


Best Regards

Thanks Ahmad. Useful to know for that kind of shot. Not really applicable to umbrella shots or others where they are backlit to focus through water drops, but handy for the right application for sure.

[JDUPhoto]

Perhaps several of us should set a time/location for a brainstorm session and then a marathon water droplet shoot. :lol:

I don't have a photo to show, but here is a brief explaination of how I did it.
1. I had my medicine dropper (holds 1 teaspoon) suspended with my Photoflex reflector holder, a strobe with a brollie on the right side and a reflector proped up on the left.
2. The colors come from a piece of fabric below and behind the small (full) fishtank I had the drops falling into.
3. Camera on tripod with cable release.
4. Focused on the point of entry by placing a pencil with writing on it across the tank and moving it around until the drops hit a letter spot on and then focused on that letter.

I am actually trying to mentally think of a time that I can set this back up and have another go at improving the system. :)

71968

My wife would not rejoice if she thought I was thinking about more time-consuming activities like this. Sounds like fun though. Maybe some time.

[kallousa]

Thanks Ahmad. Useful to know for that kind of shot. Not really applicable to umbrella shots or others where they are backlit to focus through water drops, but handy for the right application for sure.

You are absolutely right. I still need to plan for the lighting of the refraction shots ( good it's still over the coming part :lol: ). may be a large scale box will do the job ;) .

regards

[Athena]

My wife will not rejoice if she thought I was thinking about more time-consuming activities like this. Sounds like fun though. Maybe some time.

Yes, I can relate to the spousal misunderstanding of photographic obsession. ;)