Helpful Posts Helpful Posts:  0
Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Liquid Sculpture

  1. #1
    JK6065's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    610
    Real Name
    Jeroen

    Liquid Sculpture

    I let Martin Waugh's work inspire me to try something similar. Of corse mine is absolutely nowhere near his beautyful images but I like my attempt. What do you think?

    Liquid Sculpture
    1/2000s F/4.5 ISO-800 @38mm

    The challenge for me was getting the right amount of light for this shutterspeed and getting the camera to focus at the right spot.
    Last edited by JK6065; 16th February 2010 at 07:24 PM.

  2. #2
    rogerb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Plano, TX, USA
    Posts
    121
    Real Name
    Roger

    Re: Liquid Sculpture

    Quote Originally Posted by JK6065 View Post
    The challenge for me was getting the right amount of light for this shutterspeed and getting the camera focussing at the right spot.
    Great timing! I see you had to use a wide aperture to get the shutter speed up which resulted in a fairly shallow dof. It's a little soft and probably could use more color but I think it's an excellent attempt nonetheless. I wish mine would be this good

  3. #3
    JK6065's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    610
    Real Name
    Jeroen

    Re: Liquid Sculpture

    Thank you Roger,
    F/4.5 was the widest aperture I could use with my lens at this focal length and ISO 800 was about the highest I could use.
    Yours can definitely be like this one. Make sure you have enough light available and you have enough time to take shots over an over again so the 'perfect one' is among your shots .
    Have a look at liquidsculpture.com to see how it should be done

  4. #4
    Moderator Dave Humphries's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Windsor, Berks, UK
    Posts
    16,748
    Real Name
    Dave Humphries :)

    Re: Liquid Sculpture

    Quote Originally Posted by JK6065 View Post
    ~ and ISO 800 was about the highest I could use. ~
    Hi Jeroen,

    I think I would be tempted to use a higher ISO (to allow smaller aperture for increased DoF) and use a Noise Reduction plug in to deal with the extra noise - the fortunate thing with this subject matter is that if you over-do the NR and lose surface detail, it looks even more smooth and glossy "win-win"

    I think you get a few free goes with the say, Neat Image (my favourite) demo, just use them wisely but then, once hooked, you'll need to find about 30 USD for the Home Edition (well worth it IMHO).

    Cheers,

  5. #5
    JK6065's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    610
    Real Name
    Jeroen

    Re: Liquid Sculpture

    Hi Dave,
    This shot at ISO-800 already has been treated in Neat Image for NR (a very useful tip you gave me before). So that's why I insisted on staying at 800. I'll try to find some extra light to work with on my next attempt. Nevertheless thanks for your tip.

  6. #6
    Jim B.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    West Virginia
    Posts
    1,222
    Real Name
    Jim

    Re: Liquid Sculpture

    Hi Jeroen,
    Nicely done.I like to shoot water drops also.Here's a video on the technique I use.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwExpFDUC9Y It will show you how to get near perfect focus.
    I'm getting very good results.I have a few pictures in my Macro gallery, if you care to look.

  7. #7

    Re: Liquid Sculpture

    The challenge for me was getting the right amount of light for this shutterspeed and getting the camera to focus at the right spot.
    mmm.... dip a pencil or ruler in the liquid where the drop will land auto focus on that and then switch the lens to manual focus mode. As for light...speedlite is your friend just make sure you illuminate the background that you want represented in the water. No direct flash, diffused and FEC to taste. Aperture priority mode set to around 1/125 sec. The flash will act as your shutter, many many times faster than your mechanical shutter and allows you low ISO and smaller aperture. It also helps to darken the room (after the focus is fixed obviously)

    I admire you for trying this with natural light. It just would not have occurred to me

    Steve

  8. #8
    JK6065's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    The Netherlands
    Posts
    610
    Real Name
    Jeroen

    Re: Liquid Sculpture

    Jim, thanks for the tutorial. I'll watch and learn.



    I think you'll find this very interesting: Martin Waugh in Discovery's Time Warp. I never realized how beautiful an drop of water could be.

    About the speedlight: I just ordered a new lens, so for now and don't want to spend that amount of money on photography (cheap ass student I am ), though it wasn't all natural light. I put some white lights on it.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •