CLS : A Hint of Lime

[jayhan]

Shot this just a couple of minutes ago. Took me like about 30-50 frames to get this effect I wanted since I can only sync at 1/200sec and the flash doesnt recycle fast enough anyway.

Shot was, well, photoshopped to enhance more vignetting. Some levels and curves were adjusted, cropped and added frames and watermark.

Comments and critiques are very much welcomed.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/149/428713733_b52f03794b_o.jpg

[alancheong7]

hola ....
You had anyone help you drop the lime slice 50 times?!?!? :rolleyes: :? :0

Very very nice - did you try it with light focused on it instead of from behind? I'm curious how it would've turned out :D

The sides of the glass, is that natural or added on? Doesn't seem to jive with the portrait borders, but that's just me.

The green glow along the rind doesn't work for me - but a most salutable effort and piece of work! Hatz off to ya :D Shutter speed?

[qqmeng]

nice shot. i like it :)

but i would prefer if the lime can be in focus... it looks blur.

[jayhan]

nope. no help at all. all solo. one hand press shutter, the other drop the lime... was freaky cuz it wasnt water but fizzy lemonade cuz I wanted to get the bubbly effect. unfortunately, by the time I get this orientation of the lime - the fizzy's gas also "habis" already.

such shot very difficult to add another light because the glass will practically reflect EVERYTHING. And that's the last thing I would want - white highlights of reflection.

I dont really get it when you said "side of glass", but I am assuming you are refering to the blue hint. What I did was just basically drip some blue colored food dye into the fizzy and stir it up to get that blueish effect. Due to the physical shape of the glass, and the backlighting source... you can get the blueish surrounding while the center is brighter.

shutter speed : 1/200sec (max flash sync)
aperture : f10 if I am not mistaken :?

[leslie]

it is time to get a a mini studio flash with high recyc fire rate ..hehehe..Jayhan... time to go to Jessops again :D

[alancheong7]

Oh wow, double hats off to ya, jay. Hand must feel like about to drop off :D

LOL How ironic, no one can tell or would know anyway - it could have been vodka for all we know :D

Sides of the glass: plenty bold dark/black strips - mebbe it's just the light & shadow effect couple with the shape of the glass :D

[noruazumi]

jay, no photos of your setup this time like u normally did? :D
anyway, very good shot. who release the lime actually? *LOL*

[jayhan]

leslie : noooo.... pls no poison again!! *grabs own hair* grrr...

alan : bold dark strips is due to reflection of the surroundings which was obviously blacked out :P I decided not to put this setup in a lightbox since, like I said, I didnt want to have the white reflection...

noruazumi : like I said, I did it all alone... drop the lime also me, shoot the pic also me, everything also me. :P hehehe and no, no setup shot this time. Sorry. I could discuss it in Creative Lighting thread if anyone wants to know more in detail about the setup.

[noruazumi]

my next question, how many LIMES that u used? :jester: :offtopic:

[ShaolinTiger]

I want to know how many bottles of lemonade haha as the bubbles will keep disapating.

[jayhan]

Lime - one slice. keep on reusing. :P
Lemonade - also one glass full. tried out without the coloring initially... it came out pretty "water-like" in terms of the color, so I added some coloring and liked it better. When it comes to the bubbles, it's freaking frustrating... but hey I need my lemonade (its schwepppsssss btw) more for drinking! LOL! So one glass full and keep on resusing it also.

ps. my flashgun is a lil bit sticky now cuz there's droplets of lemonade that hit it :( I hate cleaning process.

[Ming]

Thumbs up Jay,

The few water droplets from around the glass fill in some space

Backlit flash is indeed hard to achieve, I've seen some people having a try at it. To me, still not enough feel or mood to it. Could be the way the lemon slice dropped into the glass? Maybe use less of the fluid?

How did you set up? I don't really know bout flash but maybe you could bounce off light by placing your flash at the back of the glass (Not to be seen) to also ensure no blown highlights but also enhancing the brightness of the lemon slice. Also stop EV down on the flash that you would want to bounce?

If that wasn't what you wanted to achieve then *claps hands* to ya

My two pence

[jayhan]

ming : what you see is what I wanted, and what you get to see. :P
all was under my control - lighting, composition, colors etc., all except for a few things and they are:
1. the way the lime drops (i've shot more then 40-50 frames, and this is the best freeze I've obtained)
2. the way the splash was captured (this isnt the best but close to the one I have imagined)

[qqmeng]

jay...

i hv tried doing this 'stun' of yours just now. and FAILED.:(

can you tell me more bout the set up? ;)

[noordin]

Looks simple but I can imagine it's tedious. Needs imagination and patience. Well done.

I've seen your work and they're great. You're very talented. Are you pursuing photography as a career or will it remain a hobby? :)

[blur]

I agree with qqmeng - I'd like to see the lime in focus as well. But this is still awesome nevertheless. I'm always impressed with shots like this, it takes lotsa patience! How do you time the shot with the dropping of the lime?

[jayhan]

jay...

i hv tried doing this 'stun' of yours just now. and FAILED.:(

can you tell me more bout the set up? ;)

This was a backlit shot QQ. light source comes from below and shoot up on a piece of white board which was placed about 1-2ft. away from the subject (glass). I then filled the glass with some lemonade and setup my camera on a tripod with a 50mm. This gave me reasonable camera to subject distance since I need to keep the shutter button depressed and at the same time drop the slice of lime. Shot was taken in multiple shot mode of course, at 1/200sec i think. Make sure your flash is fully charged and NOT IN FULL POWER so that it can recycle faster. It took me more than 50 shots to just get this one correct. Seems like the lime is dropping faster than 1/200sec :P

Good luck!


Looks simple but I can imagine it's tedious. Needs imagination and patience. Well done.

I've seen your work and they're great. You're very talented. Are you pursuing photography as a career or will it remain a hobby? :)

Thanks noordin. Yeah I do intend to do some freelancing job once I get back to Malaysia. Just on small scale on pass-time basis. What could be better than enjoying the stuff you do while making some bucks out of it. :)


I agree with qqmeng - I'd like to see the lime in focus as well. But this is still awesome nevertheless. I'm always impressed with shots like this, it takes lotsa patience! How do you time the shot with the dropping of the lime?

I guess it was my bad cuz I prefocused on the neck of the glass prior the shoot, then switched to manual focus cuz I didnt want the AF to keep hunting as I repeat the shots over and over again. Oh well, anyway... there is no timing on how I drop the lime. But basically its all : Press the button then quickly drop the lime from some height. Like you said, patience is key. :)

[qqmeng]

thanks jayhan .... your advise is better than Michael grecco :D