Mission Impossible? Take a sharp photo of action that’s so incredibly fast, the human eye can’t see it. That’s the assignment photographer Ben Clay gave himself. (Click on any image below for an enlarged view.) |
Topics Covered:
- Stop-Action Photography
- Shutter Speed and Flash Duration
- The Lighting Setup
- The Pop
- Timing and Exposure
- Adding Some Color
- Half Empty?
- A Small Window
- The Drop
- With and Without Lighting
- Digital Fine-Tuning
- Summary
Equipment Used:
Camera/Media
- Olympus E-5
Lighting Equipment
- Accessory: GripSwivel
- FirstStudio®: BackDrop Support Kit
- LiteDisc accessory: LiteDisc® holder compact
- LiteDisc® accessory: LiteDisc® holder
- LiteDisc®: 42 inch black/silver
- LiteReach Kit
- LiteStand Accessory: Boom
- LiteStand Accessory: BoomStand
- LiteStand: large
- LiteStand: medium
- RockSteady Bag
- The TritonFlash™
- TritonFlash™ Lithium Strobe Kit
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Stop-Action Photography |
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The main light consisted of an Extra Small OctoDome®mounted to a TritonFlash™ head, all mounted to a lightweight boom. Since the TritonFlash™ head and OctoDome® were so light, I didn't need to use the traditional Boom and Boom Stand. Instead, I just secured a LiteReach™ to a Large LiteStand by way of a 2.5" GripSwivel. As a precaution, though, I weighted down the LiteStand with a Rocksteady™ weight bag. [Figures 3 & 4] |
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The TritonFlash™ has an FP (Fast Processing) mode that allows you to shoot at a fast rate of speed, which I decided to test out for this shoot. I set each of the three heads to FP mode and placed 20-degree Grids on the rim lights to keep the light focused and help prevent lens flare. [Figure 5] |
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The Pop |
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We started off by filling a black balloon to a moderate level and then clamped it to the LiteDisc® Holder. I set my camera to the following:
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After a good laugh, Francois filled up the next balloon with considerably more water and we tried again. This time, however, our collective timing was off and we were a little too late to capture the bulk of the water. [Figure 10] |
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While Francois made another trip to the bathroom sink, I made adjustments to my aperture setting: from f/4 to f/8. Once everything was in position, we made another attempt, and this time our timing and exposure levels were right on. [Figure 12] |
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Adding Some Color |
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Next, I added two different shades of blue gel to each of the rim lights for a color-mottled effect. I kept the main light with the OctoDome® and the light on the background un-gelled, though, as too many gelled lights can be overkill. [Figures 17 & 18] |
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Finally, I set up two 42" Black/Silver LiteDisc® reflectors (Black side facing the balloons) on LiteDisc® Holders and LiteStands and angled them on either side of where the balloons would be to absorb light and add contrast to the water droplets. Here's how the final setup looked. [Figure 19] |
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A Small Window |
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After a few more tries, we captured one where the shape of the balloon was still intact and where the water was unobstructed by the balloon. I really liked the variation in color but felt that the hand was a little too distracting. I wanted the frame to be as simple as possible and didn't want have to crop the image at all, so I rethought how we would puncture the balloon. [Figure 23] |
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The Drop |
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After a few more tries, however, I was able to capture a stunning shot of a balloon a millisecond or so after it had popped. [Figure 28] |
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With and Without Lighting |
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Digital Fine-Tuning |
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Summary
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