RockyNH's Project 365 2013
- Thread starter RockyNH_RIP
- Start date
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Day 38 Setup...
Ok, here is a bit about my setup for this project... I went back and forth and made lots of changes before I ended up with the product.. and it was actually from the early tests... I will elaborate more....
1st tests, I set up and in manual, set for a black background by camera settings... 1st couple tests, the strobes were too low to properly expose the bubbles. As I made adjustments to improve bubble exposure, I lost my blackness and my blue sofa was in my picture.. I was not able to dial it out... I then decided I needed a black backdrop. I started with it propped on a tripod but light spill was too great so I moved it back to the back of the sofa. (in the photo's is a white backdrop I tried later).
Here are the setup photo's...
Overall setup.. I was in chair, left strobe was yougnuo 560 II, right side was SB - 700. Both units were always set the same as each other (manual Mode) Note that I started with Tripod like with drops but hard to target and time shot so I switched top hand held.
View from the command Chair!
My wife blew the bubbles, starting
from my left right at umbrella. Later she was on back side of umbrella.
Target and focus was center of umbrellas and center of paper. (autofocused on
her finger than sswitch to manual focus).
Shows relative setup from lights to backdrop...
Ok, issues... major was backdrop! Once I got the black, I had trouble keeping it black, seemed like when I had my best bubble exposure black was gray (sometimes splotchy) and as I tried to get it darker there was a lot of white spots (which I supect was reflections of spill light on other bubbles and/or some flare.) Never really solved that, so I tried removing the umbrella's, thinking maybe I would get less spill... I had a dark background but lost the good exposure on the Bubbles. After playing around, I went back to Umbrellas.
Still not satisfied, and realizing I was fighting the background, I switched to a white background. a couple exposure adjustments and the background was good (a little flare to lower left but not mottled or spotty and the bubbles were super crisp. I figured I had it!!! Did a series of shots, packed up and prepared to upload and process...
It was at that point, I was back to disappointment.... I will be back in a while to wrap this up and give you the final results and whys and wherefores...
Pat in NH
Ok, here is a bit about my setup for this project... I went back and forth and made lots of changes before I ended up with the product.. and it was actually from the early tests... I will elaborate more....
1st tests, I set up and in manual, set for a black background by camera settings... 1st couple tests, the strobes were too low to properly expose the bubbles. As I made adjustments to improve bubble exposure, I lost my blackness and my blue sofa was in my picture.. I was not able to dial it out... I then decided I needed a black backdrop. I started with it propped on a tripod but light spill was too great so I moved it back to the back of the sofa. (in the photo's is a white backdrop I tried later).
Here are the setup photo's...
Overall setup.. I was in chair, left strobe was yougnuo 560 II, right side was SB - 700. Both units were always set the same as each other (manual Mode) Note that I started with Tripod like with drops but hard to target and time shot so I switched top hand held.
View from the command Chair!
My wife blew the bubbles, startingfrom my left right at umbrella. Later she was on back side of umbrella.
Target and focus was center of umbrellas and center of paper. (autofocused on
her finger than sswitch to manual focus).
Shows relative setup from lights to backdrop...
Ok, issues... major was backdrop! Once I got the black, I had trouble keeping it black, seemed like when I had my best bubble exposure black was gray (sometimes splotchy) and as I tried to get it darker there was a lot of white spots (which I supect was reflections of spill light on other bubbles and/or some flare.) Never really solved that, so I tried removing the umbrella's, thinking maybe I would get less spill... I had a dark background but lost the good exposure on the Bubbles. After playing around, I went back to Umbrellas.
Still not satisfied, and realizing I was fighting the background, I switched to a white background. a couple exposure adjustments and the background was good (a little flare to lower left but not mottled or spotty and the bubbles were super crisp. I figured I had it!!! Did a series of shots, packed up and prepared to upload and process...
It was at that point, I was back to disappointment.... I will be back in a while to wrap this up and give you the final results and whys and wherefores...
Pat in NH
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Bubbles Wrapup...
All the shooting was done with my 55-200, varied between 55 to 66 and all were at 1/200 and f/16
ISO for the early blacks was 800, then 400 for the later black backgrounds.. Both Speedlights
were at 1/2 power.
For me this was a tough one... I just could not get a good balance. The first blacks were very bad...
Later blacks were a little better, but still had issues.. This was when I tried the white background
The white was showing crystal clear sharp bubbles and I thought I had it.
For these, I had ISO at 160 and f/16 at 1/200. Focal length was 55mm for all of these.
As you can see by these 2, the bubbles were sharp and clear but also had no real color. I discovered that
when I got things back into lightroom. I could use WB to color the photo but could not get colors in the bubbles
like I did with the black background. I am guessing this is because teh black absorbed the light and the white
reflected light back through the bubbles masking the color.
So... the final result was as below. I was able to accent the color of the bubbles and clean up the background so went with the ones after I moved the black backgound back...
What would have made it better?? a larger black background that was further back... It would have stayed clean black and my adjustments could have been focused only on the exposure of the bubbles.
While tough, I learned a lot about exposure adjustments and a bit about the backgrounds. Glad that I did it!
Thanks to all who followed along...
Pat in NH
All the shooting was done with my 55-200, varied between 55 to 66 and all were at 1/200 and f/16
ISO for the early blacks was 800, then 400 for the later black backgrounds.. Both Speedlights
were at 1/2 power.
For me this was a tough one... I just could not get a good balance. The first blacks were very bad...
Later blacks were a little better, but still had issues.. This was when I tried the white background
The white was showing crystal clear sharp bubbles and I thought I had it.
For these, I had ISO at 160 and f/16 at 1/200. Focal length was 55mm for all of these.
As you can see by these 2, the bubbles were sharp and clear but also had no real color. I discovered that
when I got things back into lightroom. I could use WB to color the photo but could not get colors in the bubbles
like I did with the black background. I am guessing this is because teh black absorbed the light and the white
reflected light back through the bubbles masking the color.
So... the final result was as below. I was able to accent the color of the bubbles and clean up the background so went with the ones after I moved the black backgound back...
What would have made it better?? a larger black background that was further back... It would have stayed clean black and my adjustments could have been focused only on the exposure of the bubbles.
While tough, I learned a lot about exposure adjustments and a bit about the backgrounds. Glad that I did it!
Thanks to all who followed along...
Pat in NH
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Morning Marilynne! It was a fair amount, mostly cuz my clue level was not "clueless" but it was pretty low...
Saturday I spent a little over an hour setting up and taking some test shots...
Sunday when I did the shoot, it was roughly 2 hours from the first shot to the last shots of the setup.
So, it was just over 3 hours!! (don't tell too many people, they will for sure know I am crazy~!) :drunk:
Pat in NH
I don't know Pat, but maybe the thing that could have made it better would have been to use the straight flashes without the umbrellas.
To me, the umbrella's size give too much reflections on the bubbles. But I'm not 100% sure, so it would have to be tried. I'd keep the flash oriented the same way and maybe back them up a little and turn them toward the camera just a bit.
Trial and error will teach you much quicker than reading a book for sure.
Nice work.
To me, the umbrella's size give too much reflections on the bubbles. But I'm not 100% sure, so it would have to be tried. I'd keep the flash oriented the same way and maybe back them up a little and turn them toward the camera just a bit.
Trial and error will teach you much quicker than reading a book for sure.
Nice work.
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Marcel, good points, thank you! You may have nailed part of it for sure!
I did remove the umbrellas but had terrible exposure on the bubbles, like not enough light... as I increased exposure I made the background worse yet.... Unlike the water drops, control of the bubbles relative to the light was nil... Hindsight, I think the bubbles were not well enough in the light stream as the speedlignts were too close (especially without the "spread" of the umbrella... They were above, below or front or back...
Had I tried your suggestion: "I'd keep the flash oriented the same way and maybe back them up a little and turn them toward the camera just a bit.", I think that might have fixed my issues when I did try raw speedlights!!! I did not think of that so went back to umbrellas. This is where I need to practice/learn/practice more... I never thought of moving the lights Back. DUHHHH! Thats why I am a rookie!
Marcel, Thanks for the kind words and especially for the critique and suggestions... I think you may have hit the nail and I will try it again one day and see if I can improve...
Pat in NH
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Day 49 - 2/18/2013 - Part 1....
I was gonna do this pic on Friday after work... had been busy with nothing else really planned, then the Hawk arrived. So, I took it today before I packed all my gear up from the weekend...
I recently went shopping on Amazon... Picked up the 2 light stands with Umbrellas,
Cowboy Studio triggers and a Yognuo 560 II speedlight. (I already had the SB-700)
I had fun playing with the equipment this weekend.. Look forward to doing more things and learning.
So, why is this Part 1?? Its cold out and sitting home I saw another photo object to play with..
Coming to a forum near you real soon...
Pat in NH
I was gonna do this pic on Friday after work... had been busy with nothing else really planned, then the Hawk arrived. So, I took it today before I packed all my gear up from the weekend...
I recently went shopping on Amazon... Picked up the 2 light stands with Umbrellas,
Cowboy Studio triggers and a Yognuo 560 II speedlight. (I already had the SB-700)
I had fun playing with the equipment this weekend.. Look forward to doing more things and learning.
So, why is this Part 1?? Its cold out and sitting home I saw another photo object to play with..
Coming to a forum near you real soon...
Pat in NH
Hey Pat, you made me remember that I had a gift certificate for Amazon. Thanks to your post, I ordered the stands and umbrella kit. Let's hope I'll make good use of them.
My birthday IS only a couple of weeks away. You may want to hold on to it for a while.
What? You already used it? Can it be returned? :numbness:
My birthday IS only a couple of weeks away. You may want to hold on to it for a while.
What? You already used it? Can it be returned? :numbness:
Ted, for crying out loud… WHY, WHY didn't you tell me this before?
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Hahaha... glad that I could help... I have pretty well busted my Amazon budget.. have maybe $100 left.
Pat in NH
Pat in NH
My birthday IS only a couple of weeks away. You may want to hold on to it for a while.
What? You already used it? Can it be returned? :numbness:
I didn't see your birthday on the calendar. When is it?
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Day 49 - 2/18/2013 - Part 2....
Ok, back to photo's....
saw a candle, and it really did nothing for me lit in broad daylight.....
So... I did what anyone would do, try to make something out
of nothing!!! A litttle post processing (ok, more than a little)
and joila, we have something - maybe???
I need to try some more candles but at night....
Now, off to process the rest of the Hawk photo's from
Friday to take to work tomorrow...
Pat in NH
Ok, back to photo's....
saw a candle, and it really did nothing for me lit in broad daylight.....
So... I did what anyone would do, try to make something out
of nothing!!! A litttle post processing (ok, more than a little)
and joila, we have something - maybe???
I need to try some more candles but at night....
Now, off to process the rest of the Hawk photo's from
Friday to take to work tomorrow...
Pat in NH
Pat, you have REALLY been in a creative mood lately! Keep up the good work!!
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Jeff, thank you very much! I had a 3 day weekend with snow and freezing temps.. Gave me time to spend, practice and learn... Tomorrow, alas, back to work!
Pat in NH
RockyNH_RIP
Senior Member
Day 50 - 2/19/2013
I had a Doctor appointment after work so I drove through downtown Nashua, NH
"Main Street"
some of the may shops downtown.....
Have a great day all...
Pat in NH
I had a Doctor appointment after work so I drove through downtown Nashua, NH
"Main Street"
some of the may shops downtown.....
Have a great day all...
Pat in NH
I really like this one Pat. Great job.