Thursday, September 30, 2010

Still life

I'm not usually a big fan of photographing stuff sitting on tables.

In an attempt to make my most recent assignment a little more fun, I made it halloween themed.


The drink is called "True Blood," it's a seriously disgusting energy drink. I got the props at the Spirit Halloween store that shows up in Flagstaff every September. The syringe doesn't have a needle - it's actually designed as a "syringe shot," for sucking back alcohol at those crazy all hallows eve parties. The eyeball is a ping pong ball, for those deadly beer pong games. I dont think any of my props will ever get used for their original purpose, but I've got them laying around regardless.


This is regular water, with one or two drops of red food dye. 

To come: some new portraits from my color portrait class. Would you believe it, they're actually in color!

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

High Key

The most recent "high key" image I posted was a little iffy. I'm pretty sure this one counts. Dahlia was assisting me by holding her scarf-thing over the model in the post from yesterday. This provided much-needed shade on his face in the mid-afternoon sun. After I got "the shot," I stood up and found her like this. Without adjusting my exposure, I fired 5 or 6 frames. All overexposed like this. Totally an accident, but a happy accident.


If your monitor sucks, this image will probably look terrible. It looks pretty good on a calibrated screen. Perhaps I'm biased by the content...

Looks like I've posted most of what I shot from last weekend. Don't worry - I'm constantly making new material - especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when I have my photo classes.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Something to say

My problem with a lot of photography is that it has nothing to say.
It might be a pretty picture - but if it doesn't really get across any idea or emotion, a lot of the time it really is just another pretty picture.

In an attempt to make a photograph that says something about something, I made the following image.



I think the image is fairly self-explanatory. It would work a bit better if I had a dark-skinned model, but I worked with what I had on hand. For the record, the model has no intention of killing America or American citizens. He's just a model crazy enough to go along with my crazy ideas.

Of course, I could put any flag I want in the sights. I probably will in the future, with a different setup and with a different gun. Of course, I have the same image in color. I like it just as much in color as in black and white.



Anyone else have an opinion? Color vs black and white?

Monday, September 27, 2010

D300s and 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II

I spent the weekend out in the middle of nowhere, Arizona. I brought along my brand new D300s body and, more importantly, my new AFS 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II ED.

I had an absolute freaking blast with both new pieces of equipment. Here are a few photos I got and my opinions of the new gear.


The AWB on my D300 has always been excellent. The D300s does a pretty good job, but I did find myself overriding it more often than I am used to.




The focus on the new lens is amazing. I'm used to using a 1993-1997 version of the 80-20mm f/2.8. That lens is fairly slow to focus and nowhere near as accurate. The new lens blows it out of the water.


I very much enjoy the "virtual horizon" feature of the D300s - though I don't think I'll use it much




Colors are great straight out of camera - very little tweaking required, though I did make more contrast adjustments than I used to. I'll probably bump up the contrast in-camera with Picture Control.


Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't discuss the video capabilities of the D300s. It shoots video at 24fps at 720p. Not quite HD, but good enough to get the point across. Video is a great way for me to show the difference between shooting with VR and without, since Vibration Reduction lends itself extremely well to shooting video.




Big difference. I shot both handheld at 70mm. I know - I suck at keeping it steady either way. The VR helps a lot!

I was pretty excited to be able to get screen-grabs from video, so while we were out shooting, I took a couple videos. Below is the "JPEG from frame" courtesy of Aperture. That's a block of fat from the meat we cooked the night before. Not too shabby. Weapon is a .223 rifle.


The bullet is LONG gone by the time this frame was taken, but the after-effects linger quite nicely.

I don't think I'll be getting big into video, but it's nice to know what it can and can't do.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with my new gear! I have a couple more frames to show off, but they'll get their own post soon. Here are a few more random photos from the weekend.


The high ISO performance + VR rocks!




Have a great Monday! I know I am!

Friday, September 24, 2010

iPad: changed my mind!

As you may remember, I did a series of blog posts about the iPad and its uses. If you haven't read those, you may like to take a few minutes and read through them.

iPad: for college students?
iPad: one week
iPad: final review
iPad as a professional tool

Ok. Now that you're caught up, let's see what has changed and why I didn't end up selling mine.

First off - it's addicting. I feel cool with an iPad, so I didn't try very hard to sell it. In fact, I didn't even put it up on craigslist.

Because I kept it, I tried to find ways to make it more useful. I caved and actually bought a few books from the iBooks store. Old people and screen-haters beware: it is exactly like reading from a computer screen. I have no problem with that, so I've purchased and read 5 books on my iPad. The books are inexpensive (compared to hardcover) and I can carry a whole library worth of reading material. Awesome.



Without much of a delay, textbook publishers caught up to the iPad. The books for my classes run about $150 to $200 each in hardcover from the bookstore or amazon.com. I'm not ok with that. A company called CourseSmart sells electronic versions of all the books I need for class. They run about $75 each. This semester alone, I saved $300 on textbooks. Considering I only spent $500 on the iPad, I'm doing pretty well.
Add to that the convenience factor of carrying a device that weighs 1.5 pounds instead of 4 books at a few pounds each. (Sidenote: since when do college students carry textbooks to and from class? That is SO middle school.)

Assuming you're lucky enough to get all your books online for your entire college career, you're saving at least $1000. With that you can buy the iPad, a nice leather case, and still have plenty leftover for cheap beer and pizza!

As far as design, the textbooks-on-iPad aren't too bad. They aren't as great as the iBooks experience with a built-in dictionary and selection tools... but they don't suck too bad.



Those are examples from my Finance textbook. Full color pages, a ruler you can move with your finger as you read, previews of upcoming pages, search function, etc.

The major bummer about this is: the books are all stored online. I do NOT have the option to download them to the iPad. Not a big deal if I want to do reading anywhere that has internet. Big problem if I want to catch up on reading whilst on a bus or in a car or something. Lucky for me (and most college students) Wifi is everywhere. Plus, if you want to splurge, you can get the 3G iPad and you'll be good to go, on the go.

In addition to reading, the iPad is still great for showing off my photography. I've taken to downloading images from this blog to the iPad when I want to show them off. It's much more simple than convincing iTunes to sync just a few pictures from each folder (which is impossible). Photos on this blog are automatically resized to a max of 800px in their longest direction. They also have a 1 pixel stroke around them, which shows up really well on the iPad and helps to define the boundaries of an image.

Overall, I've decided to CHANGE my recommendation on the iPad as it concerns college students.

Get one.

It sucks to take notes or write papers on, but man it works really well as a textbook-reader and internet-cruiser. Plus, it's freaking cool.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Camping: ashurst

This was the last portrait I shot with my D300 as its shutter was on the way out.
Early morning, getting our camping gear out of the tent and ready for a walk around Ashurst Lake.


Definitely my favorite portrait from the trip. I'm a huge fan of the whole backlit/lensflare combo, especially in warm tones or in black and white. It's something Chase Jarvis does a lot, and its something he does really well.

I also got a couple non-people shots  - a real surprise for me.

one of the few spots with no real footprints
This was the last good frame I got before the shutter died all the way.

I can't really decide between the next two frames. I like the color... but I like the duotone-ish look as well. What do you think?




I think it looks almost tilt-shift-ish, which it definitely isn't. Just a good ol' 28mm wide open at f/2.8

Last night I got my new camera gear from Amazon.com.
A brand new D300s and (finally) a 70-200mm f/2.8 VR II to go with it. I've wanted that lens for approximately forever. I'm guessing it was a damn good investment, and I'm excited to test it out and see what I can produce with it. Probably spent an hour going through the menus and setting things up the way that I like.

I'll do a post in the next week or so with my first impressions about the new gear. It will include a comparison between the D300 and the D300s.

Sure Happy It's Thursday!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Watermarks Suck

I'm going to be direct. I hate watermarks. I don't care where on the image you put it, I don't like it.

I can understand the reason behind watermarking your pictures to a certain extent - but there is a right and a wrong way to do it. Allow me to illustrate.

Many photographers add a big freaking watermark across the whole photo. Like so.


It doesn't matter what level of transparency you're using. You might as well make it big, black and bold because you can't see what is going on in the image!

You might as well use this:


Because that's pretty much all the viewer gets anyway.

Are there acceptable ways of putting a watermark on your photos? Sure!
Continuing with my example, here's something that's at least bearable:


Of course - you can also make yourself a pretty little logo and use that instead.

image courtesy of Jenn Hilderbrand

Jenn uses a cute J and H for her logo and she sticks it somewhere unobtrusive.
Do I like it? Nope. Can I live with it? Absolutely.

On to a more famous example: Douglas Sonders

image courtesy of douglassonders.wordpress.com

Again: Do I like it? Definitely not. Can I live with it? Sure.

When you boil it all down, watermarks are ugly. They get in the way of the image. So why would anyone ever watermark their photos? Security? To show ownership?

Anyone with even the most basic skills in Photoshop or Gimp can remove any but the most heinous watermark. If it takes up the whole photo (like the examples at top), then nobody can see the image and it isn't worth stealing to begin with.

So, we find ourselves in a bit of a pickle. Watermarks that allow the viewer to see the photo detract from the image and are easily removed. As such, they work poorly to show ownership or to provide security. While huge watermarks provide security and proof of ownership - nobody wants to steal your image because it looks like shit.

What's the solution? How can you make your images pretty and safe at the same time?
It depends on what you're afraid of. If you think your photos are going to get stolen and printed, all you have to do is resize them to 72dpi at say, 600 pixels or smaller at the widest. Nobody can print that and make it look good. Problem solved

If you're afraid of someone stealing your images and using them on the internet - this won't help. You can, however, embed metadata that shows YOU own the photo! That way, when some asshole steals it and puts it on his website, you can say "Hey, you've got my photo without my permission. Pay me $1000, or remove it or I'll take you to court." If you do go to court, you can download the image off the asshole's website and pull up the metadata that proves you own the photo.



You also have to be careful about specifically which actions are protected under copyright. I can steal Jenn's and Douglas's photos for use here because I'm using them in a form of critique and as educational examples. Totally legal. If I was printing them and putting them on billboards - not so much.

Whew. A fairly long post for me. What do you think about watermarks? If you use them, why? What did I miss?
As always, comments are appreciated.

One Light: Christie

I spent some solid time assisting my buddy Jenn last week. She's an awesome photographer and her focus this semester is sports portraits. Our model for the day, Christie, was a (really tall) NAU basketball player. She tore her ACL, as I understand it, and can no longer play - but we got some great photos of her nonetheless. Jenn used mainly a three and four light setup, so I decided to simplify my shoot and just use one light with a narrow grid. It came out just like I hoped.



We'd already been shooting for two hours or so and we were all getting tired. I asked her to close her eyes for a moment, snapped a couple frames, and went on my way. I think over the course of 30 minutes I maybe did 85 frames of 4 or 5 different poses.

It's definitely not a very flattering photograph, but my hope is that it conveys a feeling of peacefulness and loneliness.

My new camera gear will arrive today - according to UPS "Sometime between 8am and 7pm." Gee that's helpful.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

High Key?

Shot this the other day in my color portrait class. I think this is the only portrait I've done in color so far for that class. The prof doesn't seem to mind, so I'll keep doin' what I do.


Much more high-key than my usual photos. Shot from a different angle with a different light setup. Just one strobe with a grid coming from above and directly camera right. I toyed with removing the line in the sidewalk, but I think it provides some good balance. Don't take my word for it.


What do you think?

Have a great Tuesday!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

D300 shutter failure

Two days ago I was the proud of owner of a D300 that finally crossed 100,000 actuations of the shutter.

Now, I'm effectively the proud owner of an expensive paperweight.

The shutter died on my D300 after 100,549 frames (as best as I can count). Now I have to find a place to service it other than Nikon. Why other than Nikon? Because they took nearly two months the last time I sent them my camera for "extensive repairs." I won't be making that mistake again.

My only real hope is to get it down to a shop in Phoenix, get it repaired in under a week, and get it back before October. The reason this is important: I need a functioning camera for my job. If I don't have a camera, I can't do my job and I get fired. Not ok.

For the near future I'm borrowing my good friend Jenn's D300s... but I dont expect to be able to do that for long. In a perfect world I'd be able to borrow a $2,000 to buy a new D300s and a 35mm f/2.8 lens. It would be smart of me to have a backup camera body, and at that point I'm still only spending $2,000 for a year of college tuition (instead of the $8k I should be paying each year).

All I have to do now is work on a source for $2,000 or so. Anyone?

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Get in my way: Soccer

This post is the second in a series about people who get in my way. It's my outlet to vent.

Today's subject: Media Nazis.
No, they don't have swastikas and they dont march in a supremely ridiculous fashion.

They do, however, discriminate against a group of people with extreme prejudice. Sometimes it seems like given the opportunity, they would do away with the media, the spectators and pretty much everyone else.


Ok, ok, they aren't really that bad. I know they're just doing their jobs and all, like I'm trying to do mine. I honestly don't mind until The Confrontation occurs. Invariably, one of the media nazis will impede me in doing my job. I'm one step too close to the field and suddenly I'm accosted by some self-important rule-enforcing guy in a "uniform" who informs me that he needs me (oh baby) to step back behind the line.

Why? "For safety reasons." Puh-lease. They're freaking women's soccer players for crying out loud. They aren't going to hurt me, and chances are really quite slim that I'm going to go crazy on them. Besides, with my monopod, I could probably beat a soccer player to death from behind the media line, while she stood on the field. I wont - I promise. But with the way they make monopods these days, I probably could.

Basically, these rules are full of shit. I'm calling them out on it. During football it makes sense. They're big guys and they would crush me. I accept that. But soccer? Really? Honestly?

I hereby warn the media nazis out there: I will abide by your ridiculous rules because I have no choice. But when you accost me, you're gonna get photographed. I think that's a fair deal.

Especially when you consider the kind of shots that I can get when I'm within a reasonable distance of the field.

Whew. End Rant.

Have a great Weekend!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Bare strobe

Getting back into the swing of things with flash photography recently has been a blast.

My classes are starting us out with all bare flash, mostly because my profs assume none of us have any experience lighting our own photos.

No matter that I've been doing it for a few years, I take it as another fun challenge. I help out my amigos who ask for help and I try to make an original photo or two.

I got a few minutes the other day with an AB800 strobe while my class worked on "daylight-sync," which is just firing a strobe with ambient light. I learned how to do this from www.strobist.com. David Hobby's writing should be required reading for all photographers as far as I'm concerned. No joke.

Anyway. Collin modeled for me for a bit and here's what I got.


Lit with one AB800 and a sketchy spot grid. Ok, so I guess it isn't technically bare flash. It is what we call "harsh" light though, and that's the goal for the intro to flash in my studio class. At least for now.

I've also got it in color - though I don't like it nearly as much, I'll post it for you color people.



This weekend I'll be shooting like crazy. Soccer, Golf, a portrait project, and probably some images whilst camping up in Lockett Meadow.
I also have another couple frames from class that I'll end up posting eventually.

TGIF!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Sinister motives

Yesterday evening I sat down with my buddy Christina (who inspired the post on Quality v Quantity) and we did some portraits.

My cover reason was because I have an assignment due today in my color portrait class on basic lighting technique. The real reason I photographed her was much more sinister.

bare SB600 bounced off the wall

That reason being: She's gorgeous! 

I think a lot of people have a hard time realizing their own self-worth. If you aren't told regularly how beautiful or (for the gentlemen) how handsome you are, you won't believe it when you do hear it. 

Part of my goal as a portraiture photographer is to uncover the hidden beauty in everyone. Yes, I'm artsy fartsy enough to believe that the human form is beautiful by definition. At the same time, I'm willing to admit that some people are more beautiful than others. My goal is simply to show that beauty to the subject and to the world. It's important that the subject/client knows what my goal is. I think a lot of the reason people get so nervous in front of the camera is that they don't understand the photographer's intentions. My sinister goal is: to make my subject feel beautiful.

There you go. I said it. Cat out of the bag and all that. Whenever someone is in front of my camera, my goal is to (in my own way) make them feel beautiful. A lot of the photography I do is pretty dark/moody/creepy. My goal doesn't change - it just takes a little bit to see around/through the mood of the photograph to see the beauty hidden within.

Originally I intended to have her portrait in color - but at midnight last night I didn't have the patience to work with color. Besides, regular readers here will know I'm a sucker for black and white. Perhaps if I get some time in the next few days I'll work on the color version of this shot.

Have a fantastic Thursday! You are beautiful today and don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Quality v Quantity

"Do you have any more pictures?"

Ugh.

Photographers hear this all the time. The client always wants more more more. Your buddies on Facebook want more more more.

I understand - when you get pictures that look good, you want MORE pictures that look good. That's only natural. The problem comes when you attempt to compensate for the lack of quality by increasing the quantity. That's never good.

1/9 in a series of Case's birthday. I think this one photo gets it across - but I did nine anyway.

I've come to realize that I shoot to get "the shot." I photograph from a bunch of different angles and pick the one frame that I like. I try a bunch of different crops and exposures and pick the one frame that works best. Getting a series is great - but in my opinion a series should be short. As the viewer, I should be able to get the story or the emotion or whatever from 5-10 frames. Any more than that, and you risk repeating yourself and focusing on QUANTITY instead of what's really important - the content of the image.

I understand you want more - but you aren't going to get it. Instead of whizzing through all the photos in an album or a series, take 30 seconds for each photo to really look at it. Explore the photo in detail. Assume the photographer believes the image is perfect - ask yourself why some things were included or excluded. Try and figure out what the image is trying to say. Decide what you like about it and WHY you like or dislike the image. I know time is money - but if you're going to appreciate the photos, take your time.

9/9 in the same series


Thus endeth the rant.
Thanks to Christina for inspiring me.

Sunlight

My Color Portrait class learned how to use a strobe on location last week. I'd been doing this for a while so I stood back and allowed my classmates, many of whom had never done it, to play.

Towards the end of class when most of them had figured it out, I grabbed a light and a PocketWizard and slammed out a few portraits of Taylor.


The instructor had most of the students put their subject in the shade. I decided that looked boring and asked Taylor to set up in the sun. It turns out using the sun as a rimlight is awesome, and I got great detail on his hair from it. Not to mention the lens flare that couldn't be better.

Strobe is 1 AB800 at 1/4 power, modified with a spot grid. Not too shabby if you ask me.

Have a lovely Tuesday!

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Tow me

Disclaimer: Not even one bit of this post relates to photography in any way.
Disclaimer: Quotes below are as I remember them. Parties may be mis-quoted.

Last night I headed over to my buddy's party on University. He lives right across from the apartment complex my girlfriend lives in, so I parked in their lot. Having spent all afternoon working on her computer, I figured I would drop it off at her place, grab a guest parking pass, and head back to the party.

I did just that - minus one very important step. 

Of course. I forgot to grab one of the guest parking passes.

The party started around 10pm. I parked and got into the house around 10:30pm.

I figured I'd stick around for an hour, smoke some hookah, and head home before anyone knew where I parked.

Wrong.

I was there until 12:30. When I left the house and saw the empty spot where my car was, I knew instantly that I'd been towed. 

I found one of the (many) signs informing unfortunates like me that violators would be towed "at owner's expense."


 Upon calling the appropriate number, I found out that they had indeed towed my 2002 black VW Jetta. To the opposite side of town. 
"Your total comes to $175.00"
I crashed for the night on my girlfriend's couch and awoke at 6 this morning in hope of contacting someone who would ferry me to the other side of town.
My phone battery died overnight.

Through the miracle of Facebook, I found a caring soul willing to drive me to other side of Flagstaff to get my car. I showed up at US Metro Towing around 10am - 12 hours after discovering my car had been towed.

Photo: usmetrotowing.com

They aren't normally open on Sunday, so we called and asked if someone could head over and help me get my car back. I sat in the driveway for 20 minutes before Brian showed up. Brian is a 2-tour veteran of the Iraq war. He owns and runs the business. 

I stand up, ready to make nice. My goal for the experience was to be positive and easy to deal with. Something I usually excel at, even in less-than-desirable situations. He hops out of the truck

"What car are you here for?"
"Black Jetta" I reply.

His demeanor instantly changes from pleasant to pissed. 

"Oh really?!" he says, "we're prosecuting you - I'm calling the cops right now."
Brian then marches next door to Katt's Towing company and yells out "Hey Randy, your buddy is here!"
Randy comes sauntering out all sorts of pissed off. 
"I'm calling Flag PD right now" he says. Brian chimes in "they're gonna take you and your dress to jail." I was wearing a kilt. 

 I'm confronted with two guys, one of which is an experienced warrior. I'm not gonna get all pissed off at these guys because there is precisely NO chance I can win. I am carrying the empty holster for my gun. I'd taken the gun out and locked it in the car the previous night. I cross my arms and attempt to ask why.

I get a lot of "you think you can cuss me out," and "you're going to jail" and stuff of that nature from both men.

"WHY am I being prosecuted?" I want to know what to expect from the police, and whether I have the funds in my bank account to get myself OUT of jail once I'm in.

"You own the black Jetta, right?"
"yup."
"name's Adam, right?"

....

"no."

That stops both of them. Double take. Just like in the movies. I nearly laughed out loud.

"you know a guy named Adam?"
"No. I don't know any Adam."

Randy is still on the phone with Flag PD. Brian hesitates and asks me the same questions again. 

"No. My name is MATT. I called around 12:30 in the morning."

"You called this morning at 2am and cussed me out on voicemail!" Randy isn't ready to give up. He's sure I'm the biggest asshole who ever walked the earth and he intends to punish me for it. Satisfied an officer is on the way he hangs up.
"I'll play the voicemail, here, listen!"

He plays the voicemail. Some dude named Adam clearly cusses him out on voicemail. Threatens to sue him. Says he owns a 2006 black VW Jetta. Doesn't give plates of VIN #. His car was towed from the same apartment complex. It's the same color, make and model. Different year. Different engine.

I point out to Brian and Randy that my vehicle is a 2002 DIESEL Jetta, and that I was towed before midnight. To top it off - I called the right company. Katt's towing (Randy's company) didn't even tow a black Jetta that night.

I offer to have the cops come out and run my plates to verify the ownership and year of the vehicle.
That stops them again.

Brian immediately apologizes profusely. As he opens the door to his office, he offers me a discount. Once he sees my ID he apologizes again and again. He knocks my fee from $175 down to $150. 

I tell him it's ok - I understand nobody likes getting towed and people are generally pissed about the experience. This was my first time getting towed. To be honest, I kind of enjoyed the experience. I wont be repeating it anytime soon, but I'm glad it happened.

I also make a BIG point to thank Brian for his service to his country. I respect the men and women who serve in all the armed forces. I respect the police officers who risk their lives for traffic tickets. I respect firefighters and medics who keep us healthy. I figure anything I can do for these people, I'll do.

I tell him that. "Thank you for your service. If paying $150 for towing supports you, I'm happy to do it." Not only do I say it, but I mean it. He can see that and he's speechless for the second time in 20 minutes.

He still charges me the $150. I gladly pay it. It means one less AB800 strobe for me (finally - something photo-related), but I don't care.

Without further ado, he opens the gate and lets me get to my car. I thank him again for everything he has done for this country, he thanks me for being understanding, and I go on my way.

Overall, I'm happy with the experience. Brian was very professional after realizing his mistake. Sure, I could have probably gone after him and Randy for assault or something. Waste of my time. He apologized and that's all I care about. I called Randy back and he apologized as well. Turns out that this Adam character was drunk. His car hadn't been towed. It was parked right where he put it.

Lesson learned: Keep the F&^*%ing guest pass in the car.



Friday, September 10, 2010

Orange

I'm taking two photo classes this semester. One is studio - still life on tabletops. The other is color-portrait, where the color part is optional.

My first assignment for studio is a fruit or vegetable, using only available sunlight.


This is the result.

Not a composite, not much post processing either.

The water is from a squirt bottle. My original concept involved stopping the water much like this shot that I did last year. It appears this particular professor has a thing for starting off the year with fruit.


For this strawberry shot I used a single White Lightning strobe on a black background. 

For the assignment I shot yesterday, strobes were not allowed. I figured the sun would be plenty bright and I could still get some wicked water-freezing action. Unfortunately, the available sunlight I had to work with sucked so I wasn't getting shutter speeds anywhere near fast enough. I boosted my ISO significantly (from 200 to 1250) and got a shutter speed about 1/100 sec at F/4. 



Back to the orange.
My custom white balance gave me a reading pretty close to "shade" which made total sense, considering I had a big ol' diffusion screen above my orange. The fruit rendered a decent color, but because I had daylight spilling in and lighting the background - I get blue instead of black. I'm quite happy with that.

Over the course of 141 frames I sprayed it from a bunch of different angles and intensities. I shot into LightRoom3 tethered to one of the school's 27" imacs. Not a bad experience, and definitely helpful for deciding which frames had the best water spray.


The image you see on screen was my fall-back shot in case I couldn't get the water shots to come out correctly.

Post production was simple.
Decrease the brightness, warm the whole thing up, sharpen, saturate, crop.

That's that! Have a great Friday!