Fun with water!

Display your photos or the photos of others here. This is also where you'll find the Monthly Photo Challenge.

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gardengirl13
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Ok I was asked by Kelly to start this post. I don't have time today to go into everything so I'll send you here for now.

http://www.kristintroosthallphotography ... -this.html

If you have any questions, or suggestions or whatever just ask away and I'll try to answer them soon.

Here was the start of it, it progressed into shooting water more, including snowflakes, then going towards the drops.
http://www.kristintroosthallphotography ... water.html

Here are some photos to start with though.
Image

Image

Image

Image
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Kelly
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Wow! I love these! So interesting!! Really glad you are back and sharing what you've been up to!
I am strong, because I've been weak.
I am fearless, because I've been afraid.
I am wise, because I've been foolish.

- Unknown

My NYFalls.com Team Page
Scenes from a Public Market
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Matt
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Great post. And thank you fro showing (on your site) how you did those cool water shots.
The second gallery is pretty awesome too.
gardengirl13
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Thanks guys!! yeah I have a ton of fun shooting these! I got such a huge response on a 4/3 forum I'm on that they wanted me to do the instruction. I bought another fish tank to use since the older one is still in use, but I haven't used it yet since this winter has gotten real cold. I'm waiting very impatiently for spring to come! The one problem I worry about is the deck railing here is a lot lower then at the other house, I worry that might affect my back. But since I use a tripod and a shutter release I think it'll be ok.

I do need some suggestions though if anyone has any ideas...

1- I need to do something different then clipping a t-shirt to the tank, it gets wet and then sticks to the glass and makes weird patterns. I'm thinking of maybe painting it black. Not sure if that will work or not? I know they have glass paint for fish tanks. I might have to research this.

2- how to get the glare off the front of the tank. the glare makes editing these take forever!! I don't use flashes or anything so doing so might make it work better. Not sure. I still need to buy that book, maybe she has some suggestions. I don't want to get as crazy as she is with her shots, I don't think I'd ever get anywhere near that complicated!!! I don't like using flashes though. If I really wanted to get into doing this more I would, but it's not really my main style so I'm not sure it's worth it. This is why I shoot outside, I tried inside with a tons of lights around the tank and still couldn't get the shutter speeds needed to do it. I had about 5 table lamps. Still not enough.
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gardengirl13 wrote: I do need some suggestions though if anyone has any ideas...

1- I need to do something different then clipping a t-shirt to the tank, it gets wet and then sticks to the glass and makes weird patterns. I'm thinking of maybe painting it black. Not sure if that will work or not? I know they have glass paint for fish tanks. I might have to research this.

They have fairly inexpensive backgrounds that tape on the back of tanks. My husband has Nimo on one tank & a swamp setting on the other. They come in a large assortment of size & styles & can be changed out.

2- how to get the glare off the front of the tank. the glare makes editing these take forever!! I don't use flashes or anything so doing so might make it work better. Not sure. I still need to buy that book, maybe she has some suggestions. I don't want to get as crazy as she is with her shots, I don't think I'd ever get anywhere near that complicated!!! I don't like using flashes though. If I really wanted to get into doing this more I would, but it's not really my main style so I'm not sure it's worth it. This is why I shoot outside, I tried inside with a tons of lights around the tank and still couldn't get the shutter speeds needed to do it. I had about 5 table lamps. Still not enough.

How I handled glare at the portrait studio was to angle either the glasses or the camera down slightly. By doing that the light being reflected didn't bounce back into the lens. Hope these help.
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Matt
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if you want to try indoors, you can invest in a large CFL bulb for a desk lamp like this one at Adorama
runs pretty cool and uses less than 100 watts to output the equivalent of a 450 watt bulb. White point is a daylight 5500k for easy processing.

I have a few and they are large, but still fit into those cheap flexible stand desk lamps.

As far as glare off of glass, you have two options, a large tarp, usually black matte cloth, hung behind you or 90 degrees from the angle shooting. these can also be used as backdrops and the price is very reasonable. Adorama has a few backdrops with rigs for a decent price. I paid like $99 for rig and one black, one green, and one white cloth.
On a smaller scale, you can use this which may solve glare and give you softer even light, get a photo tent kit (and make sure it has black backdrop included). Some have a foreground cover, with a hole for the lens, to reduce glare.
gardengirl13
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Oh thanks!! I'll have to try the black cloth. I was thinking to sewing one with a hole for the camera to just fit through, I may have to do this on my pergola and hang it from that so I don't have to worry about how to hang it. I tried 100w equiv lights and they didn't work, I'll have to see about getting that one! If I can use maybe two or three of them that might be enough to keep this going during the colder months!

Not sure if angling would help as I need it straight on to get the water/milk dropping down into the water. I thought on using those backgrounds but I'm not sure how water tight they'll be, if water gets behind them it might leave marks. Maybe electric tape at the top?
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Matt
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When I went to the Aquarium in Monterey in 2006, i was so excited to photograph into the tanks. I did research about reducing reflections. I bought a rubber lens hood. The trick is to push the lens hood up to the glass. that reduces reflections 100%, but you are obviously as close as you can get, so composition is tougher (and at the aquarium, with moving subjects, frustrating). But for a controlled environment, and if you have the right focal length, it may work wonderfully. When i think back to those photos I took, reflections were not an issue at all, but back then digital cameras didn't have great low-light performance, and that aquarium is near darkness. I don't think I got many great shots.

Anyways, I love your work, please keep us updated on your techniques and equipment, and post any new gems you shot.

I want to send links to this topic to my friends who relocated to California. Rub it in their face that we have so much water. haha.
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