Impermanence...

[jiro]

Thank you very much for viewing.

And this is how it was done:



- 2 table lamps with 60 watts incandescent bulbs in it.
- 1 large white foam core material to act as a reflector
- 1 tripod
- 1 suction rubber to act as the water dropper
- 1 basin to hold the water (in this case a regular frying pan).
- water (of course. )

Camera was set to manual mode at an exposure setting of f8 at 1/125 of a second. Flash was fired with a flash compensation of -1 flash exposure value. A pencil was positioned first on the center of the pan to aid in camera focusing. Once the camera lens was in focus on the target water area, the lens (or the camera) was set to manual focus to keep the focus intact, then the pencil was taken out of the scene.

[rob marshall]

Very good, Jiro. I'm surprised the water is so 'frozen'. You shouldn't need the table lamps. If you turn the flash output power down it doesn't actually reduce the power, it just fires for a shorter period. Obviously, it needs to be enough to illuminate the main water area, but just place the flash as near to the droplet area as possible. The camera shutter may be open for 1/125s but the actual flash duration will be sub-1/1000s. For the rest of the 1/125s exposure nothing will be recorded if you are in a darkened room without other lamps. They say that milk is better as it has more viscosity than water, so you get better shapes.

[jiro]

Thanks for the technical input, Rob. I just copied a setup I saw at youtube for this. Hehehe. He used strobes (of which I don't have) sans the table lamps. I used the small built-in flash on my Nikon D70 on the setup. I'm testing a lot of new ideas. I guess being unable to shoot outside makes me try anything I could get my hands on for now. I'll try your recommended setup next time. Thanks again.

[tihsgod]

yes thats nice..
what lens / length was this?

[jeeperman]

Cool shot Jiro. It is kind of interesting seeing the things we will come up with when life puts restrictions on us. I have yet to try this but have shot many a running faucet. Keep'em coming.

[jiro]

yes thats nice..
what lens / length was this?

I used my 50mm f1.8D lens for this Neil. Then I heavily cropped the RAW file to concentrate on the central area only. It'd be nice if I have a Macro lens but still saving for it. Thanks for the nice comment.

[jiro]

Cool shot Jiro. It is kind of interesting seeing the things we will come up with when life puts restrictions on us. I have yet to try this but have shot many a running faucet. Keep'em coming.

Thanks, Paul. I'm glad you like it.

[rob marshall]

I used my 50mm f1.8D lens for this Neil. Then I heavily cropped the RAW file to concentrate on the central area only. It'd be nice if I have a Macro lens but still saving for it. Thanks for the nice comment.

Jiro

You may not have any macro extension tubes, but almost by accident I discovered last week that if you attach them to the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens it makes a very good macro lens - and of course, it's very sharp on detail. I took this one with the lens and tubes. My tubes cost about £100. I'll try shooting some more later, and post them. http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5201/...c53e9362_z.jpg

[jiro]

Thanks, Rob. I tried the 'reverse the lens method' and it works. Unfortunately, I don't have that much control on the lighting since the reversed lens is almost 1/2" only away from the object I'm shooting! They say the nicest macro would be the 105mm Macro lens. The lens is considerably far from the object so you can properly light up your subject without concerning yourself a lot with the shadows from the lens itself. Extension tubes are also great. I hope I can find a used macro lens dirt cheap at ebay soon.

Btw, your sample shot is very detailed and very clean. Nice work!

[rob marshall]

Thanks, Rob. I tried the 'reverse the lens method' and it works. Unfortunately, I don't have that much control on the lighting since the reversed lens is almost 1/2" only away from the object I'm shooting! They say the nicest macro would be the 105mm Macro lens. The lens is considerably far from the object so you can properly light up your subject without concerning yourself a lot with the shadows from the lens itself. Extension tubes are also great. I hope I can find a used macro lens dirt cheap at ebay soon.

Btw, your sample shot is very detailed and very clean. Nice work!

Jiro

Yes, you do get more distance, especially for close-up shots. I use the Sigma 105mm, which I have found to be excellent. It's very sharp and has a good solid build-quality, and you can use it on full-frame as well as ASP-C. It always seems to do well in reports like this one, and it's quite a bit cheaper than the Canon 100mm. And some reviews claim there is no real difference in optical quality. Here in the UK the Sigma is about £400, and the Canon is £700. Not sure about Nikon.

[jiro]

The 105mm Micro Nikkor lens sells for around $1,000.00 here. I could buy 3 units of used D70 with that money. Just kidding. It'd be good for portraiture, too as this is a prime lens set at a max aperture of f2.8. Oh well, better wait til the budget is OK.

[djg05478]

Well done..and thanks for taking a picture of the set up. I need to stretch my imagination a bit more and try some of this stuff. Pretty sure I have all the necessary equipment.

Did you manage this all by yourself or did you have someone else drop the water or use a self timer?

Debbie

[jiro]

Well done..and thanks for taking a picture of the set up. I need to stretch my imagination a bit more and try some of this stuff. Pretty sure I have all the necessary equipment.

Did you manage this all by yourself or did you have someone else drop the water or use a self timer?

Debbie

I did it alone, Debbie. One hand is dropping the water via the dropper while the other hand is working on the shutter button. Out of the 35 shots that I took this one is the most promising. Have fun and good luck! Thanks for viewing, btw.

[Steve S]

Nice shot jiro, i don't have the patience for that kind of stuff.

[jiro]

Nice shot jiro, i don't have the patience for that kind of stuff.

That's OK, Steve. I just got curious how others did it so I gave it a try. The good things is - I learned some new stuff about reflections and light control. Thanks for the compliment, Steve. Your bird shots are awesome!

[mythlady]

Great work! I really like it.

[jiro]

Great work! I really like it.

Thanks for the nice comment, Elise. I am glad you like it.

[Skitalez]

Nitrogen is necessary to create effect of a smoke! Great

[Pohled]

Hi,
Jiro, congratulations for the picture and thanks for the class. This kind of thing is nice because it shows even without good weather or heavy expensive, with some patient and ideas we can still make nice images

[jiro]

Thanks, Jonathan. I am glad you like the experiment.