Strobist Strawberry Splash

[landosharkie]

this video is very helping me to learn photography... thx

[salsero206]

nice video man!!

[liahglask]

Really an inspiring video for me who is also dreaming of taking such a shot. Thanx a lot. Post more setup videos.

[bobsizzz]

Wow, thanks for the video, it looked like it was lots of fun to do :) at the end of the video I was almost thinking you wernt going to get the shot you wanted but you did :) thanks again

[droppingcoconuts]

why not use a shorter lens?

nice shots tho!

[digitalportugal]

Thanks Tanaka, you rock.... But... I would ike to see your post production Techniques... You obviously know a lot about that. Thanks again. Keep up the good work.

[ozakiyuyu]

Thank you so much for sharing your settings with us!!

[global001]

Very well done. Just to let you know instead of having the delay of triggering from LR you could have used a infra red remote for the Canon. They're only about £15. Of course it cool to be able too see it in LR though.

[dieselrich81]

Dan Durocher, lives in montreal.

[520menace]

Nice vid. Forrest.

[GingerSnapsPhoto]

tidy work, great fun project. thanks for sharing



[TheOneGrungelife]

thats very nice ! i love the light on it !

[ItsAllGoingMad]

Sweet, Good work

[gtrrockz84]

what software do u use to post process? thanks

[ColorfulPhotography]

Very Nice, I did the same.

[curt300s]

Thanks for posting.

[aquaphotoboy]

very nice mate! Thanks for sharing it

[westcoasthaase]

Damn it man! You make good videos. Don't stop... THANKS!

[maxpayne2323]

Waaay to complex setup, mate!

And u can get away with two flash units - one for the background, and one for the strawberry , but with a reflector on the oposite side (or just white piece of paper... it can do the job as well!)

No need for remotes, no need for a MAC... You just need someone to drop the fruit for you!

[JoeCubicle]

Good job Forrest, hard work paid off here.

[ucws]

Awesome Job!!

[positive9198]

awesome.. .. now i need to find a fish tank than :p

[ghristospa]

great shot!!!

[RMO6701]

Looks like a lot of time, but its worth it. Great Shot.

[Morningsidenursery]

very nice! Thanx for posting.

[demonfrog1776]

run forrest run

[Slyder0244]

nice video i tried this same kind of shoot before and it came out awful i could never get the timing right and after 80 or so shots i just gave up and never tried it again heh

[MudBarf]

Superb!

[demonfrog1776]

great vids

[joshuad2d]

Very cool when I get more speed-lites I am going to have to give something like this a try

[setosail]

How bad would the photo be with only one flash?/;

I only have one, but could I use like a lamp as a backlight to make it loook almost as good as this?

[kiashadowwave]

@setosail If you used a bright enough lamp yes, you may need to turn up your ISO to get a better exposure from the background. Also, don't be afraid to experiment with black backgrounds (no light at all, use a black piece of fabric). With one light coming from the side and a poster board (cheap reflector) on the other side you will get very dramatic shots. The trick with this kind of photography is to keep the flash power as low as possible, also.

[jaggtmolina]

lol nvm, i asked too soon

[jaggtmolina]

are you using a 7d for this video?

[stewiek]

great! all u need to do to improve the shot is to change the water to soda and walla! bubbles delight! but for a fun shoot, tts well done!

[SopuchLoveHardrock]

yo got sub, coz you are creative! ; )

[davidsahlo]

NICEEE

[krusboda]

coll video // Tomas sweden

[TheConnyB]

Great! you did a great job, and the result was excellent :) 5/5!

also you have a very good way of taking us through the whole process.. Awesome

[CardboardStories]

Stroberry..get it? ;) Nice video!

[OneFrame66]

Loved it! Thank you.

[maltijien]

great job man. I have the 40D too. and next on my list is the canon 70 - 200 F2.8 L USM lens.

I'd like to try this :)

[1mill2]

thanks again! Keep up the videos, this is great.

[akulovemu]

Congratulations! I really like photographers like you.

[asigravitate27]

Awesome video, 43 shots later, that was funny

[brilliantboy88]

Cool video. Thanks for the techniques.

[Mexico911]

Neat, can I ask how you wired your flash guns to the radio poppers? I have both the 430ex and the 580ex (not ex II) and neither one of them have PC sync cord outlets? did you modify your flash guns or something?

[ForrestTanaka]

@Mexico911 No modification. I use PC sync cord adapters from Paramount. One end has a hot shoe that the strobes fit into, and the other has a male mini jack that plugs into the Radio Poppers. Go to paramountcords and look for PW-MHSF1 in the Pocket Wizard section.

[julikust]

your camera is very good about your camcorder is awful xD good pictures

[ForrestTanaka]

@julikust Yeah, I know. The only camcorder I had at the time was my iPhone. My more recent videos use my new camcorder, so they're a lot better.

[julikust]

@ForrestTanaka no problem one can recognize it nevertheless

[MajorXV]

Hey Forrest, I really liked your video. I just wanted to give you a quick suggestion if you ever do this photoshoot again. If you put a drop or two of food coloring in the water beforehand, the splashes can come out differently, or if you put a gel or colored saran wrap over one of your flashes, you could get some funky colors :-).

[ForrestTanaka]

@MajorXV Thanks! I never tried food coloring; that would look cool on a white background. I do use gels for different effects. Gels for small strobes are surprisingly cheap too. I get the sample pack from MPEX.

[stayinert]

Great video! Thx for share.

[SenoreQueso]

What sort of cam are you using fr the video? The quality and DoF is excellent!

[ForrestTanaka]

@SenoreQueso I filmed the intro scene with the 5D Mark II. I think I probably used a 50mm f/1.4 for the lens; that's what I usually use for video.

[SenoreQueso]

@ForrestTanaka Thank you for the response. I had actually posted the comment before you mentioned you were switching to the iPhone. I thought I had cancelled the post, but I guess not!

I was curious, though, why you didn't use the 5D Mark II for the actual still images as well?

[ForrestTanaka]

@SenoreQueso The main problem with the 40D is poor low-light sensitivity, but with close-in strobes like here, it's fine. I mostly switch to the 40D for these videos because it's a bit underused for everything but these demo videos. At real photo shoots, it mostly just sits there lonely. Also, I just got a real camcorder, so the iPhone is retired from that duty thankfully. I'm planning the next video to be about interior real-estate photography. Not sure when though.

[olimurugavel]

Thanks a lot ForrestTanaka! Like to see more of your videos! :)

[olimurugavel]

Wow... Really a great video.. I am gonna try this for sure! Could you please tell me the shutter speed?

[ForrestTanaka]

@olimurugavel Thanks! My 40D was at 1/200s--nearly the max sync speed of that camera. The shutter speed doesn't matter for this shot much since it's the strobe that freezes the action, but a fast shutter does keep ambient light from having any effect.

[Matz20Rios]

thanks for this sir! You gave me inspiration! I might try this too

[teksTomme]

ordered my first flash today, cant wait !! ( 430ex || ) .. great video

[jonnyXrice]

So what kind of light do you use for the spotlight?

Its cool how it's perfectly round and everything,NEAT!

[ForrestTanaka]

Thanks! Do you mean for the blue background? That's a gridded 580EX set back a couple of feet shooting through a translucent blue screen towards the camera.

[OffRoadNorthEast]

great stuff!!! you can do the same with lamps on the left and right instead of flashes so no fancy flashes needed ;)

[ForrestTanaka]

Thanks! With lamps, you'd need to set the shutter speed to, maybe, 1/4000s to freeze the water. The lamps would then have to be very bright, or the ISO set quite high, or both, to make up for the fast shutter speed. I think it should work though. Thanks for the tip!

[OffRoadNorthEast]

@ForrestTanaka

with lamps you can use the camera light meter and place an odject or strawberry in the water with a piece of string and take the light meter reading and the set the camera on manual mode. This also allows you to set your focus on the berry on the string and swtich to manual focus to hold the focus at that point. this ways is a little cheaper than buying 3 flashes and 3 remotes etc.

[Ballboy2010]

Great tutorial!

[felipe88rl]

nice video, like how you explain the shots in the end.. helpful :)

[One808]

Great stuff! Now I need to go try this too. :-)