Cool Drops (CD) with two light techniques..

Winter is almost started in Green Bay and shooting table top shot is best idea when you don't find more opportunities to shoot outdoor. So this weekend I tried to shoot water drops on the CD/DVD.

I used two different lighting techniques to get the exposures and both have different results. The first one I used a slow a shutter speed and did a light painting to shoot the drops. Its simple, easy and fun to try the various lighting angles to paint the water drops. I used LED flash light in a dark room with a shutter speed of 10-15 sec. 

Set up is very simple, you need:

• Tripod to avoid camera shake  
• A flash light   a dropper/syringe to put the water drops on CD/DVD   
• CD/DVD - I found DVD gives better results as the light reflected from DVD surface is more dense and cool than CD surface.  
• Use self timer so as to avoid shake due to shutter release pressure.

For below shots I used my Vivitar flash (Vivitar DF383) with 1/16th power and a shutter speed between 1/160-1/200sec. I wanted to get the bouncing water drop but it was not as simple as I thought because on DVD surface water do not bounce it just splash. In this case, I used shutter release cable to avoid camera shake. Hope you enjoyed the pics.

Here is the setup shot:

Fire is life !

Its been for a while I took these pictures but didn't get good time to post on the blog...so lets start with this nice quote...


A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.-Benjamin Franklin

Ok let me admit here, its not my own idea, I see this on the net and inspired to try it myself. Its good exploring what other photographers do since it helps me to learn more more and more........

I used Lighter Fuel to get the flames on the glass top. As usual the complex part was achieving "correct" exposures. I started with 'Program' (P) mode to understand what camera thinks about shutter/aperture/ISO to get the correct exposures, obviously the 'correct' was not so correct since it was little overexpose due to low light, but at least I got some reference to start with. After some more attempts I settle down at f/11 at speed between 1/10 to 1/30 and ISO 200 to give me the so called correct exposures.


After the some plain flames shots I tried playing with different objects, the natural choice was Ice but an Egg also came into the frame which I theft from kitchen as my wife was about to prepare egg omelet for my daughter.... needless to say I end up eating this half boiled egg to avoid any further consequences ;)

Cannon T1i with 18-55mm kit lens on tripod

Low light is not so bad....

On last Friday (08/12) my colleague (Scott Thomson) told me that he is going for moon ling Kayaking in Fox river. I thought its a good opportunity to shoot some of his pics in Kayak.Unfortunately the weather was cloudy and rainy....but the light was perfect to get some magic exposures.

By the time Scott arrived on the bay it started raining and I was in a dilemma whether I should take some strobist shot or wrap up the idea. Thanks to Scott who cooperated and I got few shots which I took with two off camera flashes (Vivitar DF383), one kept in his Kayak facing on his face and other I was holding in my hand to lit up the kayak. I  wish, if there was little more ambient light, the shots would have turn differently...anyways I enjoyed the shoot :)

My Valentine...

On this valentine day I dedicate this post to my greatest supporter, best friend, and wife Kamakshi. I believe any hobby to continue, you need a great support from your near ones and someone should understand how much you are into it...Kamakshi motivated my photography hobby by always saying yes to the things I do, the things I buy, assisting me in photography set ups, by giving me various suggestions, telling me where I am wrong & most important is sparing time whenever I need it...what else I want ?? My blog is a outcome of her suggestion..she wanted me to record my experiments and she believe this way I will not lose the traction on my hobby.... trust me that’s a "BIG" support and motivation.

Many a times I feel guilty that I am so much obsessed with my hobby, I just don’t give attention to her likes and wishes. I am very poor in getting any kind of gift to make her happy...so thought of expressing my feelings to her through this post… Kamakshi you are my Valentine.. J

The Moon ...

Hi,

The first posting of my blog – the Moon which implies to my name- Shashi.

Like many of us I always had a wish to take a detailed photograph of moon in which I could see the craters on the moon. Since the time I bought my first DSLR (Canon T1i), I was eager to photograph a moon but the challenge was to go near as much as possible....without a space ship ;-). With the kit lens of 18-55mm it was too difficult to get the close enough capture. To overcome the problem I had two options, either take the picture at the moon rise or have a telephoto zoom. Thanks to Santosh Abhyankar from whom I got the Canon 55-250mm lens and then I chase the moon rise in a city called De Pere (Wisconsin, US) where I am staying..... I think the photo has come near to my expectation, what do you think ??

Canon T1i

f7.1 - 1/230 - ISO100 @250mm