Yes, I actually do...
Okay, rough and tumble walk-through...
You first need something for the glass to slide on, but if given enough thought I imagine you could get similar results simply by sliding a glass on the table and abruptly stopping it. I used the sliders from the keyboard shelf of an unused computer desk. You know, the keyboard shelf that always flies out of the desk and falls on the floor when you pull it out. If you have the wood to do it you can just screw the sliders that go on the desk walls to two pieces of wood, then screw the wood to a base piece. I used 1"x2" pieces for the sliders so I had to design it kinda backwards, put the drawer sliders on the mount and the wall sliders on the sliding part.
But anyhow, however you put it together all it needs to do is slide free. You then put something in the way at the end of the travel to stop the platform, not only to give you the splash but also to keep the platform from flying off the tracks, which it will do.
My setup is basically just the platform on the sliders, and a 3" drywall screw wrapped with electrical tape to act as a stop. To attach the glass I originally used double-sided foam tape, but after a while the glass cut loose and almost hit the floor. Now I use the double-sided foam tape to mount the glass, and then I use two pieces of electrical tape to hold it down secure. So far this has worked perfectly, even for the bigger slams.
Sorry, shot these with the Fuji bridge camera...
Setup from the left...
| HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE |
Setup from the right...
The sliders and platform...
And a shot to show that there really is not much of a mess created. Most of the water stays in the glass, but on the harder slams some of it flies over the glass and hits the platform. So far nothing has even come close to hitting the floor. The platform gets wet, and so do the sliders, but it's easy to pull the platform off and wipe everything down.
Don't ask about camera settings or flash power, so far I've been back and forth with different settings trying to keep the background white and the glass from getting blown out. I would bet if I had a decent softbox that I could light the background perfectly without losing the glass. But, I'd say most of the time camera settings are ISO200, f/8, 1/250 or 1/200 exposure. Flash power has gone from 1/16 to 1/64, still haven't quite nailed-down the best approach with the flash. If my other flash unit would refresh fast enough I wouldn't have any problem at all.
That was copy-pasted from the write-up I did on our local forum, so there's a little bit of extra info to add...
Today I was testing out a few things, checking to see if I could use a softbox to light the background. I made a decent-sized softbox and aimed it at the background, hoping to keep the background white without blowing out the glass. Worked decent, but I had to keep flash power up around 1/4, and my flash wouldn't refresh fast enough at that power to pop every time the shutter tripped. I wound up taking the make-shift softbox off and just aimed the bare flash again, but put the glass and slider contraption a little bit farther away from the background.
Seems that a good distance from the background and a good amount of light hitting the background makes it possible to keep the background white without blowing out the glass. I'm about to take another run at some shots, so I'll let you guys know in a bit how it works out.
