My Oil and Water Cosmos :)

IanClark

IanClark

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Well, I decided to finally have a go at oil and water. Very pleased with the results.

Focal Length: 105.0mm
Aperture: f/2.8, Exposure Time: 0.100 s (1/10)
ISO equiv: 200, Exposure Bias: -2.00 EV

980217122_oGALf-O.jpg


Focal Length: 105.0mm
Aperture: f/2.8, Exposure Time: 0.100 s (1/10)
ISO equiv: 200, Exposure Bias: -1.00 EV

980217221_M6y4o-O.jpg


Focal Length: 105.0mm
Aperture: f/2.8, Exposure Time: 0.100 s (1/10)
ISO equiv: 200, Exposure Bias: -1.00 EV

980217124_DH32S-O.jpg


Focal Length: 105.0mm
Aperture: f/2.8, Exposure Time: 0.100 s (1/10)
ISO equiv: 200, Exposure Bias: -2.00 EV

980217340_6QFAP-O.jpg


Focal Length: 105.0mm
Aperture: f/5.6, Exposure Time: 0.200 s (1/5)
ISO equiv: 200, Exposure Bias: -2.00 EV

980217208_vARc2-O.jpg
 
love the last 3, really nice work, may i ask how you went about lighting these?
 
Thanks guys and I'm certainly happy to provide the method.

Well, I have to say, our own resident Mr CReid provided the basis of the setup (Cheers). So as you know, it's Oil and Water. Both in a jug with a DVD resting underneath.

The DVD was placed on our cooking hob with the jug resting on top. Lighting was provided by the extractor hood above :D as well as the spotlights in the kitchen and any ambient light coming through the window.

You'll notice I was at F2.8 for 4 of these images simply because I still needed as much light as I could get (being at approximately 1:15 mag) to give me a faster shutter speed because the oil was still moving very slowly. Shallow DoF (as a result of mag and aperture) didn't seem to be a problem as the oil bubbles were small enough.

I intend to do this again with a couple of lamps nearby as opposed to the extractor hood lights. That way I'll be able to reduce the aperture and still maintain a decent shutter.
 
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thanks for that i just had a go at it with a 60mm macro i have been lent but my results are not worth showing lol maybe il have better luck next time ;)
 
Cracking results Ian, my new top tip is to use holographic paper (wrapping paper, gift bags etc, Tesco have a great selection) and off camera flash. If I had to pick some faves I'd say 2, 3 and the last shot stand out for me.
 
I would have struggled to work out what that was unless I read the description!

Great shots, wierd how perfect the circles are the oil forms
 
CReid said:
Cracking results Ian, my new top tip is to use holographic paper (wrapping paper, gift bags etc, Tesco have a great selection) and off camera flash. If I had to pick some faves I'd say 2, 3 and the last shot stand out for me.
Click to expand...

Thank you Carl. I've seen the paper you mean and I'll definitely be picking some up. Can I ask where you would position your flash and what kind of output power you use? When I was doing these I tried bouncing the flash and it just seemed to wash out the image.



Chris, it is very cool the way perfect circles are formed. When I initially agitated the solution, there were some wonderful swirls and one that almost looked like the red spot from jupiter. Just that I needed a fast shutter speed to get it and I wasn't quick enough hehe. With a better setup for next time, hopefully I'll get some really crazy ones :)


Mark, keep trying :). Make sure you have a good solid tripod. Use a remote release and mirror lock up. Next time I'll be using my macro rail and getting the camera positioned the correct height is very important. I wasn't using the rail yesterday and as I was using the tripod with the adjustable pole in horizontal mode, my method of adjusting the camera height was to adjust one or two of the legs. Of course this altered the position of the camera so I then had to move the tripod. Macro rail will remove that problem :)
 
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Ian, those are absolutely fabulous! What a brilliant collection, love the sharpness and colour in all of them, they look so much like fractals.

Well done on what is excellent work!
 
Thank you Ian, I have to admit, I'm very pleased with them and I can only see more of these coming with different backgrounds as Carl has suggested. :)
 
IanClark said:
Thank you Carl. I've seen the paper you mean and I'll definitely be picking some up. Can I ask where you would position your flash and what kind of output power you use? When I was doing these I tried bouncing the flash and it just seemed to wash out the image.
Click to expand...

I usually use around 1/8 to 1/4 power and just play with the angles, I usually try and get as much light into the side of the container at 45 degrees to hit the holographic paper but not the water surface, effectively backlighting the oil on water.
 
Thanks Carl. Will give that a go. :)
 
Good stuff mate(y) You'll be suprised at the different results that can be had just by changing the BG paper!
 
They're really pleasing shots. Will have to give that a go myself soon. Thanks!
 
Cheers Rhod, James.

Well, it was Carl Reid who inspired me to have a go so if I can help inspire others then that's a good thing in my opinion :)

Look forward to seeing your attempts.
 
Yup, that would work nicely :)

I've also just purchased a lamp with a bulb that puts out a very nice white light which will be of great assistance when in doors.


Ps, Cheers Sarah, Ceri. :)
 
Really love the first, sorry if this sound daft, but to me looks a little like space.... planets and then the white dots for stars (hopefully those white dots aren't from my dirty laptop screen
 
Cheers Jenny. It does look very space like which was my reason for calling the thread my Oil and Water cosmos :).

..and yes those white dots aren't on your monitor :D
 
Thanks Jenny :)
 
Thanks Paul, Keith.

The shadows are the result no doubt of the inch or so of water I had in there but going to try a much more shallow depth like you did to see what I get too :)

Must admit, I do like the textures the shadows have given. :)
 
Thanks again all :)
 
very nice indeed (y) its a great thing to do so much fun, must have another go now the winter nights will be here soon
 
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