Buckster
In memoriam
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2009
- Messages
- 6,399
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- 2,341
- Location
- Way up North in Michigan
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About 25 years ago, I picked up a book on lighting techniques made by Kodak. Lots of terrific photos, explanations, and the lighting diagrams that went with them. The one on the cover was of a red pepper splashing into water with a blue background, and I always thought it was just a killer shot and something I'l like to try to shoot myself some day.
A few weeks ago, I picked up an aquarium to shoot photos of a tree frog that hopped into the house I'm renting and, after turning it loose, I thought about what else I could do with the aquarium. That's when that cover shot of the pepper came to mind.
I already had everything I needed but the pepper. How hard could it be? Off to the local market I went.
I started with the background. Held up a white background and saw that window light behind it would mess with me, so added a black one behind it and all was good.
Next I set up a 200 w/s studio head with a blue gel and barn doors to control spill. At 1/200 shutter, I dialed it in at f/13 to get the vibrant blue background I was looking for.
Next I dangled the pepper off a fishing line into the aquarium that still had no water in it, and arranged two 580EXII flashes into reflector umbrellas, and came up with -2 on both for even lighting, then applied a 2:1 ratio to get some depth.
Light from the umbrellas was spilling onto the background, so I set up flags next to the tank to kill it and get back my rich blue background.
I could see the entire room behind the camera reflected in the face of the tank, so I hung black felt as flocking behind the camera on a makeshift background stand (two tripods with a broomstick gaffer's taped to the top). Light was still coming in and lighting the camera and tripod from another window to camera right, so I blocked that off with more of the black felt. One last reflection was of the tripod head itself reflecting light from the flash. A bit of gaffer's tape hung in front of it killed it nicely.
Next I filled the tank and tried a drop. I remote triggered while dropping the pepper. My timing was off, and I wished I'd brought the IR trigger I left at home on the shelf (I'm on the road in Alabama presently).
More importantly though, it was immediately evident that I'd need to work out a splash guard to keep my gear dry, not have to deal with water drops and drips down the back and front of the tank, and not have to clean up a big mess.
I pulled out another light stand and set up an illuminator arm sticking out straight over the tank, about a foot or more higher than the tank. From that, I arranged a framework made of 4 frame rods from a softbox and a wire coat hanger, using gaffer's tape to hold it all in place. Attached to that, I used tall kitchen garbage bags, gaffer's taped to the inside of the tank top and up the framework. Splashguard in place!
After hours of setting it all up, test shooting my way through the process, I thought to myself again, "How hard could it be?"
Finally, I was ready to capture the moment. At least a hundred shots later, I had three that I deemed "keepers".
A few weeks ago, I picked up an aquarium to shoot photos of a tree frog that hopped into the house I'm renting and, after turning it loose, I thought about what else I could do with the aquarium. That's when that cover shot of the pepper came to mind.
I already had everything I needed but the pepper. How hard could it be? Off to the local market I went.
I started with the background. Held up a white background and saw that window light behind it would mess with me, so added a black one behind it and all was good.
Next I set up a 200 w/s studio head with a blue gel and barn doors to control spill. At 1/200 shutter, I dialed it in at f/13 to get the vibrant blue background I was looking for.
Next I dangled the pepper off a fishing line into the aquarium that still had no water in it, and arranged two 580EXII flashes into reflector umbrellas, and came up with -2 on both for even lighting, then applied a 2:1 ratio to get some depth.
Light from the umbrellas was spilling onto the background, so I set up flags next to the tank to kill it and get back my rich blue background.
I could see the entire room behind the camera reflected in the face of the tank, so I hung black felt as flocking behind the camera on a makeshift background stand (two tripods with a broomstick gaffer's taped to the top). Light was still coming in and lighting the camera and tripod from another window to camera right, so I blocked that off with more of the black felt. One last reflection was of the tripod head itself reflecting light from the flash. A bit of gaffer's tape hung in front of it killed it nicely.
Next I filled the tank and tried a drop. I remote triggered while dropping the pepper. My timing was off, and I wished I'd brought the IR trigger I left at home on the shelf (I'm on the road in Alabama presently).
More importantly though, it was immediately evident that I'd need to work out a splash guard to keep my gear dry, not have to deal with water drops and drips down the back and front of the tank, and not have to clean up a big mess.
I pulled out another light stand and set up an illuminator arm sticking out straight over the tank, about a foot or more higher than the tank. From that, I arranged a framework made of 4 frame rods from a softbox and a wire coat hanger, using gaffer's tape to hold it all in place. Attached to that, I used tall kitchen garbage bags, gaffer's taped to the inside of the tank top and up the framework. Splashguard in place!
After hours of setting it all up, test shooting my way through the process, I thought to myself again, "How hard could it be?"
Finally, I was ready to capture the moment. At least a hundred shots later, I had three that I deemed "keepers".
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