6. Wet - July 21-27, 2013
Kevin-
I am embarrassed to admit how much time I spent trying to capture this image. I figured this would be simple really. Capture raindrops on glass. I even had a piece of plexiglass stored in my garage that had been there for years. Perfect!
Nope. The Plexiglass still had the original paper covering on it, and it had been there for so many years (decades) and the the only way to remove that covering scratched the plexiglass completely. So it was off to Home Depot to purchase a small sheet of actual glass. I put up a couple of light stands and hung the glass from a crossbar with large clamps while I worked to test the water drops. A moment later the plexiglass slipped out of the clamps and crashed to the ground, shattering of course.
So back to Home Depot again. This time I covered the top of the glass with gaffer's tape before clamping it to the crossbar. Now it wouldn't slip! I experimented with spraying water onto the opposite side of the glass from the camera, but it was barely visible. Darn, that's not going to work! Michelle suggested that I apply Rain-X to the glass first. Perfect! Now I could see the drops I was expecting. The next thoughts were about where to shoot the images. I was visualizing out-of-focus lights (streetlights, stoplights, etc.) behind the in-focus "rain drops" - so I I spent some time driving around past closed malls and businesses late on Tuesday night looking for the perfect location. At best I found a couple of so-so locations. Argh. So late last night I loaded everything up in the car and headed a different direction. This time I found a place to set up in a parking lot with some store lights and a stoplight visible in the frame. I set up the light stands, the crossbar, the glass, brought out a spritzer bottle full of water, the tripod and the camera. I'm still not thrilled with the shot (because of the composition of the lights mostly being in the bottom of the frame) but it's the best I can do at this point.
Nikon D3s, 70-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor zoom lens set to 140mm, 1/13 of a second at f/2.8, ISO 200.
I am embarrassed to admit how much time I spent trying to capture this image. I figured this would be simple really. Capture raindrops on glass. I even had a piece of plexiglass stored in my garage that had been there for years. Perfect!
Nope. The Plexiglass still had the original paper covering on it, and it had been there for so many years (decades) and the the only way to remove that covering scratched the plexiglass completely. So it was off to Home Depot to purchase a small sheet of actual glass. I put up a couple of light stands and hung the glass from a crossbar with large clamps while I worked to test the water drops. A moment later the plexiglass slipped out of the clamps and crashed to the ground, shattering of course.
So back to Home Depot again. This time I covered the top of the glass with gaffer's tape before clamping it to the crossbar. Now it wouldn't slip! I experimented with spraying water onto the opposite side of the glass from the camera, but it was barely visible. Darn, that's not going to work! Michelle suggested that I apply Rain-X to the glass first. Perfect! Now I could see the drops I was expecting. The next thoughts were about where to shoot the images. I was visualizing out-of-focus lights (streetlights, stoplights, etc.) behind the in-focus "rain drops" - so I I spent some time driving around past closed malls and businesses late on Tuesday night looking for the perfect location. At best I found a couple of so-so locations. Argh. So late last night I loaded everything up in the car and headed a different direction. This time I found a place to set up in a parking lot with some store lights and a stoplight visible in the frame. I set up the light stands, the crossbar, the glass, brought out a spritzer bottle full of water, the tripod and the camera. I'm still not thrilled with the shot (because of the composition of the lights mostly being in the bottom of the frame) but it's the best I can do at this point.
Nikon D3s, 70-200mm f/2.8 Nikkor zoom lens set to 140mm, 1/13 of a second at f/2.8, ISO 200.
Byron-
Wow, Kevin put a lot of effort into that photo and it shows! That is really cool. I shot mine this morning with Erleen's help. she did get all wet in the process. My technicals are ISO 400, 1/1000 sec at f8. The focal length was 175mm. The background is a blue closed cell mat (Kevin- it's the one that I used to protect your subwoofer). I shot the picture on the edge of my patio. Erl held the apple, I sprayed it with a hose and I tripped the shutter with the remote.
Wow, Kevin put a lot of effort into that photo and it shows! That is really cool. I shot mine this morning with Erleen's help. she did get all wet in the process. My technicals are ISO 400, 1/1000 sec at f8. The focal length was 175mm. The background is a blue closed cell mat (Kevin- it's the one that I used to protect your subwoofer). I shot the picture on the edge of my patio. Erl held the apple, I sprayed it with a hose and I tripped the shutter with the remote.
Deron-
Okay, this probably wasn't my best shot, but is probably the most interesting... I had eggs making a splash, a potato splashing into a mason jar of water and a trio of wet cherries presumably hanging from a tree (actually they were paper clipped to the clothesline).
Anyway, I waited until night fall, then backlit the red glass with my hiking headlamp, then shot the picture as I dropped the egg. This one just so happened to be breaking the surface. Kinda neat.
Okay, this probably wasn't my best shot, but is probably the most interesting... I had eggs making a splash, a potato splashing into a mason jar of water and a trio of wet cherries presumably hanging from a tree (actually they were paper clipped to the clothesline).
Anyway, I waited until night fall, then backlit the red glass with my hiking headlamp, then shot the picture as I dropped the egg. This one just so happened to be breaking the surface. Kinda neat.