Brightly colored straws

[Mike Buckley]

I finally got around to making this series of photos that has been on my shot list ever since I saw the idea explained in the August 2012 issue of Popular Photography. The article is probably still online. The last photo shows the setup, which is one heck of a lot less expensive than the equipment explained in the article.

It helps to be an an expert at playing the game, Pick-Up Sticks, to make some of these shots. I'm not, which explains why the floor of Makeshift Studios Galactic Headquarters is now covered with plastic straws. It's bad enough that the game requires that you remove a stick from the top of the pile without moving anything else. I not only had to do that with the straws but I also had to occasionally move a straw on the very bottom without moving any of the other straws above it. If that had been explained in the magazine article, I probably would never have tried making these photos.

Please click to view at the largest size so your monitor is filled as much as possible with the colors, patterns and shapes.

Photo #1



Photo #2



Photo #3



Photo #4



The Setup
The bottom panel is translucent white acrylic lit from below by a large lamp with five compact flourescent bulbs. The panel the straws are on is a thin piece of clear acrylic (I think that's the material). The two lamps with diffusion socks on the sides aren't necessary but the shape of the straws was defined better at least with these particular straws. Thank goodness my wife's camera suspended above by a boom has an articulating LCD because mine doesn't have one.

[Wavelength]

Very nice set of images

[Stagecoach]

It looks fun Mike, endless scope for different patterns.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[just me]

Good idea, and very nicely done....I would like to try this out myself too, but can it be done without any set up ?

Griddi........

[ShaneS]

It does look like fun and the resulting images are great! If you aren't still crawling around on the floor picking up straws I have another idea for you...

Try a triptych of a few straws side by side as in your last image. I'm picturing something wider than tall where both the left and right panels show the ends of the straws and there is room and the top and bottom with no straws. I can see it in my head but I'm probably not explaining it well

[TobyMac]

Very interesting, nicely done.

[JR1]

Good idea, and very nicely done....I would like to try this out myself too, but can it be done without any set up ?

Griddi........

Try clear white paper, thin from craft shop, with a torch behind raised up on books on a piece of 3mm glass total cost £6

[just me]

Try clear white paper, thin from craft shop, with a torch behind raised up on books on a piece of 3mm glass total cost £6

Thank you Jeremy, I will try this out on a rainy day, perhaps worth a try too with a glass topped coffee table ?

Griddi......

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, everyone!

Shane: You explained your triptych very clearly. Thank you!

Griddi: It's a good idea to try the setup Jeremy describes with and without the elevated panel so you can see the differences and determine what you like and why. You can use any translucent or transparent objects as subjects. (I've made photos of glass using essentially the same principles and plan to eventually make more.)

Your idea of using a glass-topped coffee table will work probably better as the panel that holds the white paper; the glass in a coffee table will probably be thick enough that you'll have to deal with its green cast if you use it as the panel that directly holds the subjects. On the other hand, you may be able to use that green cast to your advantage depending on your subjects and intended outcomes.

Instead of using glass as the upper panel, you might be able to find clear acrylic cheaper, less easy to break, but far easier to scratch. Look for it at a big box hardware store such as Home Depot if they're in Australia.

It will be difficult to hand hold the camera's sensor parallel to the surface, so it might be a good idea to use compositions that are clearly made by holding the sensor at an angle to the surface.

[Mike Buckley]

For the technically minded: Do items with static electricity repel each other the way magnets do that? I ask because I would place a straw exactly where I wanted it. Upon letting go of it, the straw would sometimes literally jump to the side of my tabletop, sometimes moving the entire length of the straw.

I tried to solve the problem by rinsing my hands with water and patting rather than rubbing them dry. That didn't help presumably because of the static electricity already built up in the straws themselves.

[Rebel]

Pretty cool shots, I like the different colours when the straws cross.

[Brownbear]

Wonderful, creative and fun, and bursting with colour! My favourite is the last one for the close up view of the lines and detail, followed by the 1st image for the vibrant colour.

I wonder if you're posting your images in too large a size because when I click on them the images are larger than my screen which is fairly large.

If you were so inclined I think the reflections of these colourful straws would be especially beautiful abstracts... Suspended by transparent wire over your plexi glass?

[bnnrcn]

Very colorful and creative, I like them all Mike.

[Mike Buckley]

Continued thanks!

Christina: Thanks for letting me know about the display issue. I use a batch process to create smaller files for display on the Internet and for some odd reason three of the five files were not downsized. I have replaced those three files.

All of the files should fit on any monitor being used at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels or larger. However, if you're using Windows and that 1920 x 1080 resolution, you will need to press F11 to display the images at their uploaded size without having to scroll. Using F11 gets rid of the menus and tabs displayed by your browser. Once you're done viewing the images, press F11 to again display the menus and tabs. I don't know about Mac users.

[bnnrcn]

I didn't knoıw about F11, I have just tried and it is very useful. Thanks Mike.

Continued thanks!

Christina: Thanks for letting me know about the display issue. I use a batch process to create smaller files for display on the Internet and for some odd reason three of the five files were not downsized. I have replaced those three files.

All of the files should fit on any monitor being used at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels or larger. However, if you're using Windows and that 1920 x 1080 resolution, you will need to press F11 to display the images at their uploaded size without having to scroll. Using F11 gets rid of the menus and tabs displayed by your browser. Once you're done viewing the images, press F11 to again display the menus and tabs. I don't know about Mac users.

[Rita]

I like the idea of doing this. Very creative.

[Mike Buckley]

Thank you, Rita!

[just me]

Thanks, everyone!

Shane: You explained your triptych very clearly. Thank you!

Griddi: It's a good idea to try the setup Jeremy describes with and without the elevated panel so you can see the differences and determine what you like and why. You can use any translucent or transparent objects as subjects. (I've made photos of glass using essentially the same principles and plan to eventually make more.)

Your idea of using a glass-topped coffee table will work probably better as the panel that holds the white paper; the glass in a coffee table will probably be thick enough that you'll have to deal with its green cast if you use it as the panel that directly holds the subjects. On the other hand, you may be able to use that green cast to your advantage depending on your subjects and intended outcomes.

Instead of using glass as the upper panel, you might be able to find clear acrylic cheaper, less easy to break, but far easier to scratch. Look for it at a big box hardware store such as Home Depot if they're in Australia.

It will be difficult to hand hold the camera's sensor parallel to the surface, so it might be a good idea to use compositions that are clearly made by holding the sensor at an angle to the surface.

Thank you again Mike for your suggestions, I will definitely try these........

We do not have Home Depot hardware store here in Australia, but instead we have Bunnings, which will be the same as your Home Depot store, I guess........

Griddi.......

[Mike Buckley]

Griddi,

I was just now in a store and realized that it's actually the thin glass, not the acrylic, that is cheaper by about half. Considering that my acrylic is horribly scratched, I bought a piece of glass, not that my history indicates that I won't break it.