Thank for all who participated our first masterclass, I think it was good, especially considering that this is my first time when I was working and talking on public:-)
I can’t say that it was an easy task for me: being born introvert and quite shy guy, I do not feel comfortable talking to more then 5 people at once. Doing a live broadcast, when I do not see immediate reaction on a people faces makes thing even more complicated for me. I was really afraid that I can’t open my mouth when time will come, but one shot of good scotch whiskey 10 minutes prior the broadcast fixed most of my emotional problems:-) And, once I started to talk, it was easier and easier to move forward.
We got about 20 attendants average, and, what most important, the number was increasing during the masterclass: a good sign indicating it was not boring:-) several people joined us after 6 PM: time zone calculation is not the easiest task, I know:-)
Now, the results:
Live masterclass water photography
Again water, again apples.. (got a nice collection of them for a stock:-)
But this time, thanks for good questions from participants, we got some interesting test, comparing canon speedlight and Paul C Buff lights. I’ll get back on this later.
August 12th, 2010 | 
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I loved your Masterclass and I’m looking forward for another one ,I have to say I was amazed at great quality of streaming and how everything went smooth.Thanks again and keep up the good work!!!
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
August 15th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Thank you, Monica! Appreciate your feedback.
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Hi Alex
Congratulation for your work , and thanks for sharing tips
You apple looks ferry good, nice shadows and really cool water.
Yesterday I tried to nail an apple
I used 2 flashes for the background (I gelled them) The Backgraud was a with paper …in fact 4 A4 from my printer with scotch tape
The apple is lit by other 2 strobes. I used YN560 and SB600 on minimum power in order to freeze the water ….I paid a big price since is out of focus . I used f5.6 and my strobes were very close to the apple and water . I had to carefully rput them in plastic bags..all my equipment was in plastic bags
I took almost 200 picture of the same apple with different shapes of water …every picture is different . I am not happy with them…I tried even milk . Know you gave me the solution I should throw the whater from down. You should post this yesterday Alex .
Please advertise your next master class…I was shooting apples when I could learn how to do it….:(
Here is my apple
http://www.dpreview.com/challenges/Entry.aspx?ID=284433&View=NewFirst&Rows=4
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
August 15th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Robert,
I think you’ve got a very nice result. Like you’ve said, throwing water from below will probably yield better splash shape.
However, you can improve your image in PS: remove a water stream above the apple and rotate apple 180 degrees: the whole picture will be quite different!
Thank you
~Alex
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great stuff again alex. I’m going to give it a try this week. I thinking maybe splashing a bar of soap or maybe some cosmetics products. Clients will love this.
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
August 15th, 2010 at 12:08 pm
Peter,
Oh, yes. They will love it!
When I’ll have free from assignments time I’ll probably will do similar setup for lotion and milk: should be a good addition for the portfolio.
Thank you and good luck with the shoot!
~Alex
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Oh, also, why don’t you pour the water from above? (You could turn the object upside down when you shoot it like you did with the fish tank shots.)
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
August 15th, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Peter,
You can try from above: there is no “right” recipe for this type of shots. However, when I’ve tried from above, I could not get that nice shape of the splash I wanted. See Robert’s image, he has a link in comments here.
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I understand the splash from below is probably superior. I was just thinking it would probably be easier to invert the product (like you did in the original fish tank “AXE” shots)and pour the water from above and then rotate the final image. But I guess it’s not such a big deal. I’ll try it both ways…
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
August 16th, 2010 at 2:38 am
@24Peter,
The main reason we pour water from below is to make the water stream to go the opposite to Earth gravitation vector..:-) Meaning water will slow down, and some point even will stop moving: this will create nice effects. If you pour it from above, it will.. well, you’ll see yourself:-)
it worth to try in any case!
~Alex
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Hi Alex -
So here’s my attempt. I had to combine multiple images since my splashes were very small (I don’t have a kiddie pool to catch the water – I was using an over-size Tupperware container.) Clearly there is an art to this. I think this is a good first effort, but the key is to create attractive looking splashes that compliment the product. My splash is kinda random and not too pretty. Yours are much more symmetrical or something and thus pleasing to the eye. Perhaps we should give your wife credit :)
BTW – I read today that there are photographers who specialize in “splash” photography and use laser-triggered, hi speed cameras and flashes to capture the perfect splash.
http://photos.imageevent.com/24peter/uploads/postuploads4/large/Splash2.jpg
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
August 17th, 2010 at 6:54 pm
Peter,
Wow, this is very nice! I like to see the real product instead of the fruits:-) I think you’ve got a good piece for the portfolio!
As for the splash photography; unless you go really-really deep specialized in splash only, you won’t need those hi-speed cameras (what resolution they have? doubt they can beat medium format) or special triggers.
All the great photographers with amazing splash examples in portfolio I know use regular medium format cameras and hi-speed power packs, broncolor or profoto. No other specific equipment is needed: short flash duration ( and 30+ megapixels for the advertisement photography) are the only true requirements when shooting water , IMO.
~Alex
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Here is my first attempt.. Had my 13 year old son throwing the water. I was using my Nikon 50mm f/1.8 and got a lot of flaring from the reflection of the light off the water. I might try with my Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 as it doesn’t flare as easy.
Thank you for your great videos, they are very helpful.. Keep up the great work..
-Jeremy
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
August 30th, 2010 at 10:27 am
Jeremy,
Great work, thanks for sharing!
~Alex
P.S I’ve used images URLs instead of the links in your comment, hope you do not mind.
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Sorry for the silly question, but how are you getting the colored backgrounds? I don’t see them in the video.
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
September 9th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Butch,
I use color gels to highlight a white background with the color Ii want:
http://www.white-lightning.com/filters.html
~Alex
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Butch Reply:
September 10th, 2010 at 10:28 am
@Alex Koloskov, Thank you so much. By the way, your work is awesome!
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Started with a tweet by GeniaLar and wound up here, had to try it:
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
September 13th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Jeff, great examples, thank you for sharing.
I’ve posted them on “You made this” post on the blog.
~Alex
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Hi Alex,
congrats, there is really a lot of great stuff in your stream — great shots!
I have found the 10 min version of the splash tutorial video on youtube and you are talking about a longer one … but it seems to me, even here I can only find the short one.
What am I doing wrong?
btw.: I am using the german Jokie light barrier for splash shots, works fine for me …
all the best
Vicco
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
November 30th, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Vicco,
A full version of the video is on vimeo: http://vimeo.com/14087323
More then hour of raw masterclass, not everyone can digest it, so I’ve removed from embedded video on the blog post. I’ll probably will add a link to a full video.
Jokie light barrier? what is that? Some sort of sensor and trigger? Google seems to give strange info…
Thank you.
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Hi Alex,
thanks a bunch, i will definitly watch the whole hour :-)
This is the Jokie: http://www.eltima-electronic.de/jokie.html
Costs around 160 USD I guess
all the best, Vicco
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
November 30th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
@Vicco, Thank you, great info, such device can be very handy.
I think Jokie will work great for a small drops, where you does not control much a shape of the splash and need to trigger camera at the right moment.
For large “slow” splashes (when you throw water up, so it hits the object and slows down), is more important to see a shape of the splash and manually trigger camera at the specific moment.
Take care, ALex
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totally agreeing with you! :-)
I am doing the “slow” splashes without Jokie, I am using it only for the fast ones like this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/galllo/4448877948
Got it tuned some weeks before, no it’s faster, should be fast enough to catch a bullet in flight (an airpressure gun bullet) – for stuff like this
http://www.flickr.com/photos/petroleumjelliffe/799273628/in/faves-galllo/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8763834@N02/3436697642/in/faves-galllo/
cheers
Vicco / Tilo
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
December 1st, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Vicco,
Yes, I’ve seen your splashes on a flick: you’ve got some really nice and clean photos! Very nice!
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Very interesting your tutorial, and the photo are really fantastic. I Like very mutch your work.
It is possible to do this same splash photo with a Studio Flash, Bowen 500. I try to do it but the drop are not in focus.
Best regards from Spain
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
January 4th, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Leon,
Thank you for kind words about my work:-)
I am not sure about flash duration of Bowens 500 you have, but most likely it is not short enough to freeze the action the same way I had with canon speedlites. You need to have at least 1/2000 t.1 or shorter flash duration to stop such splash movements, otherwise it will have motion trail, like the one made with Alien Bees 400 monolight…
BTW, being out of focus has nothing to do with the flash, you may simply not get it focused right. make sure you use manual focus.
Wish you good luck with the shot, please share the result here, if you’ll like it:-)
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@Alex Koloskov,
Thanks for your mail for sure when I will give good result I will show you.
Best Regards
LEON
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Dear Alex
I show you the photo mentioned in my last mail. The question is : the problem is the speed or the focus ? because the water is not in a good focus.
Best Regards
LEON
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Sorry I forgot the link of the picture:
There is :
Regards
LEON
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
January 8th, 2011 at 11:13 pm
Leon,
It looks like you have a slight motion blur, it clearly visible on the tip of the water splash. The stream at the bottom might be a little out of focus, but motion blur present there as well.
Boween is little slower then need for this job. BTW, you can try this trick:
to shot with speedlite flash attached in FP more (hi-speed), set shutter to 1/2000 (or whatever is a max on your camera) set on camera flash to a lowest power setting: the flash it will be used as a trigger for your bowens, whihc will fire at much higher power rate. Shoot, and you may get interesting result :-)
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Thanks for your help. I will try with the Canon Speedlite.
Best Regards
LEOn
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Hey Alex,
I really appreciated your walkthrough. I’ve been experimenting with some mixed results. I can get the water to freeze pretty well, but for the diffuser screen in the background, I’m getting a “hot-spot cross” on the diffuser from my speedlight. I’ve got it snooted (tried with a reflective snoot, as well as a black one), as well as adding a diffuser over the flash inside the snoot.
I was wondering if you had any tips for getting the perfectly even colored circle on the background. Thanks for the great walkthrough, and in advance for your response!
Cheers,
-Mike
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
February 16th, 2011 at 11:01 pm
Mike,
I’ve made a speedring-like attachment for PCB light modifiers to canon speedlites. The key is to use a soft diffuser on your strobe so it will spread the light beam evenly to all sides.
See how I’ve made mine, from plumber’s pipe:
As you see, I can use any softbox or snoot, etc with this speedring, and the light is pretty much the same as with a tubular bulb
Hope this will help.
Alex
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Thank you so much for your postings. I have been a portrait photographer for 10+ years and am trying to develop my skills in other areas. Your master class and Q&A sessions are always so informative. I hope to put together my own site soon with some non-portraiture work. Thank you again :)
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Thanks so much for sharing your techniques and knowledge! I really liked the look of your fruit splash shoots so I gave it a go. Initially I had the same problem as Mike above, a cross light instead of a smooth transition. I ended up putting the strobe in front of a white background instead of behind a diffuser which worked. I will try tonight again with a diffuser between my home made grid and speedlite like you suggested above. Thanks for that tip too!
Thanks for a great site!
I posted a couple of shots from my first try :)
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
April 21st, 2011 at 9:01 am
Johan,
Great results, thank you for sharing!
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First, thanks Alex, this was a fun way to learn about lighting and motion. Also background coloration.
I’ve got a question if you’ve got the time. I was very happy with some of the images that I captured. Others, less so. A few of my favorites, well, I don’t think they were supposed to turn out like they did. The water looks more like liquid metal. I like the effect but I’m curious how I did it.
I’m not sure if I’ll manage to get these images in-line. If not, they’re just a Flickr link.
Thanks, again. Loved the entire tutorial.
http://flic.kr/p/9G1Wqh
http://flic.kr/p/9FKwbT
http://flic.kr/p/9FKvmK
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
May 9th, 2011 at 9:28 pm
Tim,
I can’t attach them from flickr directly (need to look for a plugin), so I’ve changed images to links.
Funny splashes you’ve got:-) The metal look probably came from the way you was dropping the water: from the bottom to top? When water moves up, slowing down, it forms sort of large drop. same as it would in no weight environment. So, to get more watery look the drop should hit object at higher speed, and break apart to smaller particles..
Something like that:-)
Thank you for sharing!
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Tim Reply:
May 10th, 2011 at 10:16 am
@Alex Koloskov, thanks for the reply. You may be right about the speed of the water. I’m doing this in my living room at I’m a little hesitant when I toss the water. Amusingly, I am doing this by myself as I have no pretty wife/water-tosser to help out, so half the time I miss the fruit entirely. It is a little tricky throwing and snapping at the right time. And it does nothing for my aim.
I am tossing the water from below and tried many angles. I’ve got one that was so bizare that I will try to post it here.
My setup was almost identical to yours. The only difference was that I was using the PCB beauty dish but with a sock as I didn’t have the grid yet. Oh, and your camera is much better than mine.
I thought maybe it had something to do with my lighting or even shutter speed. I was shooting at 1/250. I’ll have to give it another shot as soon as my camera comes back from Canon. It had some kind of spot on the sensor. I’ll try tossing the water with a bit more vigor.
In looking at most of the shots that I kept, many of them do have the “metal” water. It seems the only time the water isn’t shiny is wheen it hits the fruit, like on that first shot where it is wrapping around the apple.
Anyway, here’s one last one. I found this peculiar simply because of the trajectory of the water. I’m throwing this from the far side of the object towards myself. For reasons unknown to me the water makes an abrupt turn in mid-air without striking anything. It is curious.
Again, thanks for the reply and, more, thanks for the lessons. I am looking forward to more of these tutorials if you choose to do them. I liked the long form video best. While it was a little more rough compared to the edited version all of the details were great.
This time I’m going to try a little html to see if I can display in-line. I noticed when I did yesterday it seemed to show up for a seccond until it was marked for moseration.
http://flic.kr/p/9GjPJ9
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Hey, I was one that asked that yahoo answers question the other day. Thank you for your answer and inspiration. Check out my attempt…. any advice?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/billyjames/5936167420/
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
July 14th, 2011 at 11:18 am
William,
Thank you for stopping by. Funny lemon, looks like it got little legs:-) As for the splash itself, i think you need to catch the moment what there are more water around.. Keep it going!
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arjun v Reply:
September 1st, 2011 at 12:12 pm
@William James, it looks like a snail.
funny lol :D
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thanks alex this is really informative …
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Hey Alex,
I’ve got a question, which might sound stupid :p) Let’s say i have Nikon SB-900 (2 items) and one Vivitar (285HV). I also have a flash commander unit for Nikon speedlights. Will Vivitar see the Sb-900 and react to them, when they are triggered with a Nikon flash commander? I have Vivitar 283 for my Hassleblad and it doesn’t have a sensor, seems like they’ve improved 285 but I’m not sure if it works ok, when there is a mixture of speedlights. Thanks again for your wonderful blog. and as i told you ;) you are becoming more and more popular. That’s definitely the right track
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Chris Reply:
October 12th, 2011 at 10:08 pm
@Lucy, I’m not Alex but maybe I can help. The commander won’t be able to trigger your Vivitar – you need to attach some sort of optical trigger (peanut, or hotshoe with sensor) to it. You won’t be able to control the Vivitar’s power from the commander either – you’ll have to set that manually on the flash. I’d recommend, if you want to make use of all three, using the SB-900′s in manual mode rather than TTL. If your camera has a built-in flash (ie not a pro body) I’d skip the commander unit and set the power of the built-in flash as low as it will go. Set the SB-900′s manually on each flash, and put them in SU-4 mode (http://www.nikoncls.com/SB-900/sb900_su4.html). Once this is done, all three of your flashes will be responding to the built-in flash. Try them one at a time to be sure each flash is working as expected. Good luck!
-Chris
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
October 12th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
Thank you Chris! You did it better that I could do:-)
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Hi,
I was wandering this: what if one used continuous lighting (with all required light modifiers) instead of speedlights and, to avoid the recording of the motion blur, used a very fast shutter speed like 1/8000 of a second. Would it produce acceptable results or would it still be motion blurred?
Probably a newbie question, but that’s what I am, a newbie, at this point, sorry…
-JF
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Alex Koloskov Reply:
October 3rd, 2011 at 10:04 am
JF,
Yes, continues light + 1/4000 or faster shutter will work. The light should be really powerful though. Direct sunlight may work:-)
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