Galic

Decided to play with the Lensbaby on a tabletop exercise with some garlic.

 

Frozen Flowers

For our Camera Clubs Wednesday Workshop in January I have been playing with freezing flowers in water and then photographing the result. Still early days. These have all been frozen in distilled water. Our Group Leader Paul gave us some interesting facts about how water freezes. Still taking in. The initial concept was to create clear, bubble free water but the way the bubbles create interesting patterns and abstract 'wave' I find very appealing. I have also been playing with 'automating Photoshop' to create an output file that adds a pleasing border and text. This is my first post. The photoshop 'Droplet' and Lightroom Export almost worked. Still some work to do but that is the pleasure of life and learning

Sunflowers - Beauty in Decay

One of our cats (Oreo) died a couple of weeks ago at the ripe old age of 17. Sue brought a bunch of sunflowers to cheer us up a bit.

I did not get round to taking photos when they were in their prime but as I was throwing them away I could still see the beauty

Inkdrops

I thought I would try a bit of Water Drop Photography. We ran a session last year at the Cambridge Camera Club Wednesday Workshop. I borrowed the Ink Dropping 'Rig' from Ann (an upside down foot stall with a wooden ink guide held in place with duck tape - see photos below)

I set up using water and then switched to Acrylic Ink. The most dramatic pictures are when the 'first drop' causes a splash upwards and hits the next drop coming down. With the 100 or so photos I took this only happened a couple of times. Still I got some nice abstract images of moving water. Further research has found quite a bit on this subject on the web and to get the collision photos I was after not easy. There are kit on sale that allow a stream of drops to be dispensed from a solenoid valve and a given speed and duration between drips.

The SetUp. MKi

Canon 5d mkiii with 100mm Macro Lens for most of the photos. Yongnuo Flash and Transmitter. Camera Tethered to the Laptop.

'Ann's' Stool

Pipette in the guide

Bend Paper Clip at the point of drop to aid focusing

Remote Flash Gun on Manual

The Set Up Mk2:

I gave Ann her furniture back and then had an idea to use my retort stand and a wooden insert. So I tried again. With this setup I used the Olympus OMD EM1 mki with 60mm macro lens (120mm full frame equivalent). Nissan flat triggered by the small on camera flash which in turn triggered a second Yongnuo flash. 

The Photos

 

This was the first 'real' collision in the air.

Rotated - Looks like a clowns face !!

 These next two photos where taken with the Olympus on the second set up rig.