Fire & Water II

[Loose Canon]

Thank you everyone for having a look at this and for the kindest of words. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.

Hi Terry,

As I am a complete novice in this field, well in most photography disciplines actually , I am very curious about your set-up. Can you reveal some secrets with 'behind the scenes shots' & explanations ??

Sure Rudi! Be glad to. Let’s break it down shall we?

First things first and before the Mods close the thread because we have settled the issue! The most important thing Mike Buckley has taught us is that without exception, the studio shooter absolutely must get their cup holder properly positioned, lit, and equipped before you even think about anything else.

If you don’t get this right you might as well pack up and take a nap because everything else will fail miserably! That is really all that needs to be said about this shot. But I’ll add a couple of other stray thoughts anyway!

Here are the BTS (behind the scene) shots.







One gelled light on each side and slightly behind the candle. The strip softbox is overhead and feathered slightly forward. Two flags in front of and to each side of the camera. These to block light from hitting the lens. I was getting some lens flare with this set-up so I had to add these. I did not use a sweeping background as pictured in the diagram. My background went straight to the floor and stopped there. Amber gels in an attempt to mimic candle light.

This shot was not done by dropping the candle into a pool. Instead I wrapped some tie wire around the candle, hung it from a boom arm, and then tossed water at it from underneath.

I took some shots of it lit (and lit with the lighting) because I was going to composite the flame to an unlit candle I was splashing. I could have done this with a lit candle but its such a pain to keep lighting a wet candle so I went for ease instead of a one-frame shot.



Before I started splashing the candle I took some shots to check the lighting.

Once everything looked good I starting tossing water at it. I tossed up from below the candle to hit the bottom of the candle to spread the splash.

SOOC (sort of):



Now this is critical and you can’t get the shot (in a studio anyway) without observing this caveat.

You absolutely must use speedlights or studio strobes that provide a short enough flash duration to freeze the splash. The shutter alone won’t do it at your camera’s sync speed.

You will need, at a minimum, a t.1 flash duration of 1/8000 sec. for studio strobes or set your speedlights to 1/16 – 1/8 max. power manually. Not many studio strobes are capable of this duration. All of your lights must be set to at least this setting or the shot will fail. In other words if you have three lights and two set short enough, but one isn’t, the slow light will cause the splash to have motion blur visible in your shot.

You could, however, shoot this in bright sunlight such that you can get a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the splash. I like the studio because I have complete control of my lighting.

Be patient because unless you get lucky or are way better at this than me it will take a lot of tries to get the shot you are after and get the timing right! Experiment to get the results you are after.

Shoot wide for cropping. You never know what shape or how large a splash you will produce or how much of it you may want to keep in post.

I shoot with a wireless trigger for my camera so I can do all of this myself and tethered to a laptop so I can immediately check to see if I am getting what I want.

Post production for my shots of this nature is very involved. I get down to the pixel level for a lot of the retouching. This is very important for me to try to get the “look” I am after. It is also another topic!

The blue color is the kiddie wading pool on the floor reflecting on the clear water. The pool is used to catch the splashes. I liked the blue with the amber gelled lighting. Blue looks good with water. I have a piece of gray, a piece of black, and a piece of white tarp I line the pool with when I don’t want the blue color effecting the shot.

Finally, have fun making a mess!

[Mike Buckley]

Very cool setup, Terry. Especially the incandescent light bulb in the ceiling.

[Loose Canon]

Thanks Mike!

That is the dedicated All Important Cup Holder bulb I custom installed to light the All Important Cup Holder!

Since Mike brought it up I might add that at my camera's max sync (1/200 sec) I can have the All Important Cup Holder bulb on properly lighting the All Important Cup Holder, take a shot without firing the strobes and get a black frame.

The All Important Cup Holder bulb can remain on at all times lighting the All Important Cup Holder without affecting the shot. In other words ambient light (All Important Cup Holder bulb) will not affect the lighting on set.

[Donald]

I just want to know where, what looks like, the front for an open fire that's sitting on the floor behind the strobe, fits into the set up?

Fascinating and brilliant Terry. Thanks for sharing in such detail.

[Mike Buckley]

I just want to know where, what looks like, the front for an open fire that's sitting on the floor behind the strobe, fits into the set up?

I think that's a saw horse made out of black plastic. Terry is the only person who would have only one saw horse.

[rudi]

Thanks Terry for the fascinating detailed explication.

Maybe one idea: instead of wrapping a wire around the candle, I would try to put a pin in the back
off the candle (pointing away from the camera), maybe this will give you a more stable set-up with less
retouching afterwards, just a thought....

Otherwise, I can only echo Donalds comment,

I wish I had the sort of creative mind that could envision making an image like this, never mind the knowledge and skill to be able to execute it.

so I stay with bugs and flowers right now...

[Loose Canon]

Thank you Donald.

Mike is correct, what you are seeing is indeed a plastic saw horse. It gives me the greatest of pleasure to be able to disappoint Mike by telling you that while I am the only one on the Planet that would own just one saw horse, there are two there. One behind the other!

Funny you should mention that idea Rudi!

I tried heating the end of the wire with the intention of poking it into the candle much as you suggested. It didn't hold well enough to support the candle when I hit it with water. Maybe a long screw screwed into the candle might work?

[JBW]

I have been wondering about setting up a studio and after seeing this shot the thinking has been nudged into planning. One day if i work real hard and get very very lucky I may have a shot this perfect.

[Loose Canon]

Brian, thank you sir.

Very cool that you are thinking about making the move.

It is kind of hard work, but it is a Labor of Love. It involves a degree of luck. The harder you work the luckier you get!

But it is outrageously fun and rewarding. It opens up a whole new world. I know you are familiar with alternate universes and how one gets lost in them as a macro shooter!

You have the eye for detail. You have the patience. This is obvious by the body of work you have presented here.

I have one word and one word only for you Brian!

Go for it!


(um, was that one word??? )

[JBW]

Brian, thank you sir.

Very cool that you are thinking about making the move.

It is kind of hard work, but it is a Labor of Love. It involves a degree of luck. The harder you work the luckier you get!

But it is outrageously fun and rewarding. It opens up a whole new world. I know you are familiar with alternate universes and how one gets lost in them as a macro shooter!

You have the eye for detail. You have the patience. This is obvious by the body of work you have presented here.

I have one word and one word only for you Brian!

Go for it!


(um, was that one word??? )

My fmous ey7e for detail says three words.

[Loose Canon]

My fmous ey7e for detail says three words.

uh,... I may have to rethink! (lol)

[JBW]

I wish I had the sort of creative mind that could envision making an image like this, never mind the knowledge and skill to be able to execute it.

I would put your black and white salmon leaping shot in the same category as this shot.

[Loose Canon]

I would put your black and white salmon leaping shot in the same category as this shot.

I would put it a couple of notches up.

That shot of Donald's is one of the all time Great Shots.