Normally my interests are Wildlife, Landscape and Night Cityscapes. This year I decided I wanted a winter project and my daughter had done some photo’s for school using an old fish tank so I decided to give it a go.
My set up for this is two speedlites on lighting stands that are remotely triggered. I use a cheap Yongnuo flashes and triggers for this that can be purchased quite cheaply from Amazon, for around £100 for the set.
I normally use a macro lens (Sigma 105 f2.8) for these shots, but to be honest you can do it with an 18-55mm kit lens so no special lens is required. I use the following setting F/16 ISO 200 1/160 sec shutter speed. This means the object will be sharp throughout, also I shoot in RAW. I place one flash either side of the fish tank and a black backdrop behind the fish tank. Before I fill the tank, I place an object in the tank (normally another lens) and use this to focus.
Once I have it in focus I then switch the lens to manual focus and don’t touch it again unless I decide to move the camera. The tank is filled with warm water to stop condensation. As I drop the object into the water I use the remote trigger to fire the shutter and trigger the flashes. You never get it right first time, it will take a few attempts to get your timing right.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”100%” img=”https://www.phototips.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/uneditied.jpg” alt=”Tony Hitchinson” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionposition=”left”]
Once you have your shots its over to Lightroom. At first your shots might look bad as the Speedlite will pick up every imperfection and mark on the glass.
First I normally increase the contrast a little and sometimes use the dehaze option in Lightroom 6 and then I select the Adjustment brush. I slide exposure and blacks all the way to the left so anywhere I paint with the brush will be completely under exposed. With a large brush I do all the larger areas.
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By shrinking the brush and zooming in I work around the edges of the object and the splash, cleaning up any marks until you end up with the finished product.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”100%” img=”https://www.phototips.cc/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/water-splash-2-055a.jpg” alt=”Tony Hitchinson” align=”center” lightbox=”on” captionposition=”left”]
Tony Hitchinson
Just over two years ago I got my first Nikon DSLR. I had done some very basic film photography when I was a teenager but had not picked up a SLR for over 25 years. As my children grew up and I found I had more time on my hands I decided to give photography another go. Everything I knew when I was a teenager was a distant memory and I had to learn it all from scratch. The last 2 years have been a wonderful journey of discovered success and failure all mixed up with the urge to learn more. I now run a Thames Valley UK based Photography group whose main focus is meeting other photographers and encouraging each other to try new things as well as having fun with our hobby.
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You can find more of my work on 500px at https://500px.com/thitchinson
Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/gp/techietone/49b102
If you live in the Thames valley area within the UK and would like to find out more about our photography group you can find us here.