Milk and Strawberry

D

Daz B

Messages
83
Name
Darren Brooks
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi all

just tried my first attempt at capturing a splash effect, in this case a strawberry hitting some milk. I'm pretty chuffed with the two below as this was first attempt at such an arrangement, but can appreciate these are nothing special.

So with that in mind, could anyone suggest next steps, as i'm keen to explore this a bit further.

Many thanks

Daz.

p.s. To critique my own work, i would start by saying in the first the focus is slightly out (manual) and that my framing could be more central.



straw1.jpg




straw2.jpg



Image Quality: Jpeg Basic (8-bit)
Camera Info
Device: Nikon D750
Lens: VR 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6G
Focal Length: 300mm
Focus Mode: Manual
AF-Area Mode: Single
VR: ON
AF Fine Tune: OFF
Exposure
Aperture: f/16
Shutter Speed: 1/200s
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Comp.: +3.0EV
Exposure Tuning:
Metering: Matrix
ISO Sensitivity: ISO 800
Flash
Device: Built-in Flash
Flash Sync Mode: Front Curtain
Master: ---
Group A: TTL, +2.0EV
Group B: TTL, +2.0EV
Group C: ---
White Balance: Cloudy, 0, 0
Color Space: sRGB
High ISO NR: ON (Normal)
Long Exposure NR: OFF
Active D-Lighting: OFF
Image Authentication:
Vignette Control: Normal
Auto Distortion Control: OFF
Picture Control
Picture Control: [SD] STANDARD
Base: [SD] STANDARD
Quick Adjust: 0.00
Sharpening: 3.00
Clarity: +1.00
Contrast: 0.00
Brightness: 0.00
Saturation: 0.00
Hue: 0.00
Filter Effects:
Toning:
Location Info
Latitude:
Longitude:
Altitude:
Altitude Reference:
Heading:
UTC:
Map Datum:
 
Hi Darren, welcome to the forum. I would agree with you with the first image it is slightly oof especially around the splashes. For me the framing is ok.
No:2 i love the high splash but still a little of. I am wondering whether an off camera flash would help :thinking:. not that i am an expert, there are far more experienced on here than me. Still good for a first attempt. look forward to seeing more. This is an image I've been meaning to do for a while now. Will be interesting to see what others say.
 
Welcome Darren,

HeartandSoul said:
I would agree with you with the first image it is slightly oof especially around the splashes. For me the framing is ok.
No:2 i love the high splash but still a little of. I am wondering whether an off camera flash would help :thinking:. not that i am an expert, there are far more experienced on here than me. Still good for a first attempt. look forward to seeing more. This is an image I've been meaning to do for a while now. Will be interesting to see what others say.
Click to expand...

This :agree:

Having never done splash photography not sure what is the done thing.
 
Welcome Daz -unfortunately I cant comment on high-speed photography like this although I've always fancied doing it, the strawberries in our house just get eaten before I have the idea of trying it.

I think 120th of a sec might be a bit too slow. I'd go for 400th or even 500th, drop the aperture down to F7.1 or F9 as that should be plenty - F16 might be overkill (and requires a lot of extra light) - the 2nd image looks almost bang-on, but due to the slow shutterspeed - the droplets themselves do have some blur in there so a fast shutterspeed would help. I might have to give this a go myself later, will check the fridge. Always nice to try something new - thanks for sharing fella.
 
I think a slightly lower angle would improve. Also a better conditioned ( green bit of the straw berry).

How many flashes are you using ? The flash power ( duration ) is what is going to freeze the splash. Shutter speed will have no real impact.

Suggest you make some sort of dropping point - both from where you are dropping it and in the liquid.. Mark with a matchhead where you want the fruit to hit - then focus camera on the area F11 / F16 - looks like that larger number was still getting enough light in. When you have that you can then drop with more precision.

Of course trigger kits aid in this, but by no means impossible without.
 
You're white balance is a good bit off looks very yellow, if you're using milk it's best to have that crisp white to contrast it. as others have said whole image could be sharper, speedlight and shoot at sync speed after pre focusing. With these types of shots unless you've got a fairly pricey trigger system a lot of it comes down to luck of timing so don't be afraid to cheat a bit in photoshop. Here's a blend of the 2 images using a blend if to merge them and a slight bit of sharpening and white balance corrected.

***edit***just to clarify this was a few seconds edit just to give an idea of mixing splashes for best result. so ignore the blank spots I didn't mask back

strawb.jpg
 
Last edited:
Many thanks for the feedback guys, hope to give this another go soon and put these suggestions to the test.

Daz.
 
Just had a proper read through the exif you posted and noticed a few things, focus is manual and speed is 1/200 which is suggests you already pre focused on spot and used flash sync as suggested.

The parts to improve on or at least watch out for...
  1. EXIF shows on camera flash used, If you have access to a speed light rather than on camera it'll give you more control and better results, this will be why the shadow is so harsh. For liquids side or back light usually works best.
  2. Shot at F16, not necessarily a bad thing given your focusing close in on a small object but could be getting some diffraction making it a bit softer f11 or f8 might be worth a try with more more accurate focusing.
  3. You shot a 28-300 at 300, super zooms are rarely at their best at the furthest reach, try pulling back a bit and move closer or if you have a prime lens might work better for this type of shot where you have full control of the scene.
  4. You left VR on, I'd always recommend shooting these on a tripod and looking at the two images I'd assume you have but when using a tripod you should turn off vr as it can blur the image when the camera is fixed.
  5. You've got white balance set on cloudy, having a fixed white balance is fine but it should be on flash for this shot.
  6. EXIF shows jpeg, not sure if this was shooting mode for certain but if so shooting raw will give you more room in post
  7. the exposure comp shows +3 for camera and +2 for flashes, shouldn't affect this in manual but seems a bit extreme not sure why they're set as high?
  8. ISO 800 is higher than I would use with these, I'd be 100 or 200 for optimum iq, if it was needed as flash was maxed out either opening up the apperture or reducing the focal length so your flash is closer will allow you to drop the iso, even better a an off camera flash will be more powerful and remove the need for the camera distance to matter.
one last non camera thing, if you're taking multiple shots with milk have a glass of water nearby to wash off the strawberry between shots, you can see milk clinging to the face of it on the first pic probably from previous drops. Apologies if post seems a bit critical it's not intended to be and the shot is nice but they are things to watch out for.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Craig for taking the time to give some detailed responses.

Just a few annotations to your post in blue

EXIF shows on camera flash used, If you have access to a speed light rather than on camera it'll give you more control and better results, this will be why the shadow is so harsh. For liquids side or back light usually works best.

For these I was using an off camera speedlite, and onboard flash was commander. I've noticed the EXIF is not always reporting this, unless i've misconfigured something

Shot at F16, not necessarily a bad thing given your focusing close in on a small object but could be getting some diffraction making it a bit softer f11 or f8 might be worth a try with more more accurate focusing.

Certainly give this ago

You shot a 28-300 at 300, super zooms are rarely at there best at there furthest reach, try pulling back a bit and move closer or if you have a prime lens might work better for this type of shot where you have full control of the scene.

Will give this a try also

You left VR on, I'd always recommend shooting these on a tripod and looking at the two images I'd assume you have but when using a tripod you should turn off vr as it can blur the image when the camera is fixed.

Tripod was used, will try with VR off

You've got white balance set on cloudy, having a fixed white balance is fine but it should be on flash for this shot.

My bad on this one :)

EXIF shows jpeg, not sure if this was shooting mode for certain but if so shooting raw will give you more room in post

Camera is set to Raw + jpeg. Post editing is very new to me, but a quick go of PSE lately seems to have some excellent adjustments such as white balance correction, as suggested.

the exposure comp shows +3 for camera and +2 for flashes, shouldn't affect this in manual but seems a bit extreme not sure why they're set as high?

My room was very dark, and this seemed to get the colour of the milk up to a respectable white (or near as my eyes could tell).

ISO 800 is higher than I would use with these, I'd be 100 or 200 for optimum iq, if it was needed as flash was maxed out either opening up the apperture or reducing the focal length so your flash is closer will allow you to drop the iso, even better a an off camera flash will be more powerful and remove the need for the camera distance to matter.

Cool - will try this also


Once again appreciate the feedback.

Daz
 
That makes sense about the flash, exif doesn't record external flash but saw it said onboard fired.

If you're shooting f16 @ 1/200 in all but bright sun the ambient isn't going to influence the shot so the camera exposure comp shouldn't affect the shot but as the milk is white the metering will be reading the scene under and so the flash output would definitely need pushed up. If you can trigger the flashes in manual I would use them that way. I'd setup the camera to manual with iso 100, 1/160 and start out at f11 then adjust the flash power until the exposure is where you want it, you can then adjust the aperture to where you need for the required depth of field remembering to adjust your flash up or down to compensate, I'd only lift the iso if you've moved the light in close and you still can't expose it at max flash power. If you've got 2 flashes 1 either side can be a good look with splashes else one largely side lighting with a reflector to fill the other side.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top