IHSAN KHAIRIR

I was alone in the office (yet again) a few days ago so I hunted on the net for some photography ideas. Then I came across a forum that was discussing waterdrop / droplet shots, so I decided to try my hand at freezing falling drops of water.

So here they are, numbered and titled. I think that I should start titling my shots to give it more value and meaning, and also to make it easier for people to refer to.

Which ones do you like the most?

#1 – The Sinking Bowling Pin

#2 – The Young Thought Bubble

#3 – The Dying Maelstrom

#4 – The Bigheaded Chess Pawn

#5 – The Hungry Water Hole

#6 – Casper Looking for a Friend

#7 – The Suicidal Obese

#8 – William Tell’s Target Practice

#9 – Nessie Comes Out to Play

#10 – Tilt Twenty-Three and a Half Degrees

#11 – Bob Wins an Award

#12 – Flaring Cold Fusion

Titling these shots was much harder than taking them!

EDIT:


Taking these shots require good timing and definitely a DSLR. This is because a DSLR have less to no shutter lag so you can time your shots right. Using a compact point and shoot camera is still possible, but you have to really know the timing of your camera’s shutter lag and take the picture a bit earlier than the water drop.


I used small apertures (f/11, f/16, f/20) for these shots for larger depth of focus. All of them were shot at 1/200s shutter speed. Slower shutter speeds will result in blurring due to subject movement (the water drops and splashes) and camera shake (unsteady hands, unless using a tripod). Since the fastest response time for my flash is 1/200 seconds, I had to use that shutter speed to freeze the shot. A faster shutter speed will result in the flash firing after the shot was taken , which serves no purpose.


A pro would use manual focus and a tripod but I used AF (autofocus) and handheld the camera. I held a plastic spoon at the exact location where the water will drop and lock the AF, remove the spoon and timed my shot and pressed the shutter exactly when the water drop reaches the pool of water in the mug. It took quite a number of shots, and the 12 shots above are the ones I really liked.

Looking at the photos in my previous post (CLS at the Beach), I realized that this photo of Hisham jumping…

Image courtesy of productwiki.com

Last week a few friends of mine from back in college decided to have a small picnic together by the beach in Bagan Lalang.

Of course, for me it’s another excuse to take more pictures.

The evening sky that day was not too bright with lots of thick clouds and the sun peering in through random patches of sky. Occasionally some sprinkles of rain came down, no more than mere 5 to 10 minutes of light sprays, and the weather was nice again. Perfect for an evening picnic.

The tide was ebbing that day so there were no waves or deep water for almost half a mile out. Close to sunset we walked out to the water to get our feet wet and take some pics. I was more interested in the silhouette figure I saw standing in the shallow water just looking at people, as if he was guarding something precious in between his feet.

Later when it got a bit darker I set my camera for CLS shots. I took a couple shots of my friends just talking and drinking before Zul asked me to take a picture of him being the ‘model’ for Seasons’ canned soy drink.

Hisham was our guest of the day. He flew back to Malaysia from the States for three weeks just to visit family and friends. It’s been a while since we hung out with him so any chance we got to chill out together with him was indeed treasured.

And of course, Hisham was ecstatic to get to see us too!

We decided to do some jumping shots before it got too dark. Being an amateur, it wasn’t easy for me to set up the shot with off-camera flash synchronized with ten people jumping at the same time. This shot was taken with the flash not firing, resulting in a very dark underexposed photo. Using Adobe Lightroom, I turned it into a black-and-white photo with grains not removed to get that ‘vintage’ feel. There are advantages to not delete failed shots. There are certainly ways to salvage them and turn them into something wonderful.

Finally after quite a few tries, the flash fired in-synch, and I was able to capture this photo of everyone having a wonderful time, albeit some shadows falling on some of their faces.

We finally separated and went our own ways after having some ghost stories and lame jokes told around an imaginary (read: non-existant) campfire.

To be very frank, I am not a seasoned camwhorist, nor do I indulge in the narcissistic enjoyment of adoring one’s own physical attributes. I usually stray away from having myself photographed, especially by myself; for one reason I do not consider myself physically attractive, for another I most of the time end up being behind the lens than in front of it. A few nights ago, I had the chance of being alone in a hotel room with nothing better to do and a camera with accessories that permit me to capture photos using off-camera flash. There was a mirror in the room and seeing that I wanted to test my newly procured camera accessory (and having the newly-acquired ability to trigger an off-camera flash) and found no other subject of interest beside yours truly, I proceeded to my first official self-in-mirror CLS camwhoring session. 



 

That’s generally how I look in the mirror (flip the picture horizontally and you’ll see my real self). And that’s how I took the photo — camera towards the mirror, eyes looking at camera in the mirror (to establish proper eye contact with the viewer). You can see where my shadow is at the back — from the position of the shadow you’ll know that the flash was positioned at the lower left side, aimed to the upper right.  


 

I wanted more shadow contrast on my shirt so I changed to a stronger flash setting.  

 

Changed pose and angle of the flash. I lost detail in this shot, there was little shadow contrast to communicate shape and depth. 


 

Harder shadow on the neck. Notice that since I have black hair, the dark background made my hair lose its detail. For this reason, I need a second off-camera flash aimed at the back of my head for backlighting.



 

Held the flash pointed upwards from below the face. Some harsh shadows communicate shape, but the angle of the flash needs improvement I think.  


 

My favorite photo of the set. Some shadows on the shirt and face, although the flash direction could be improved. As with previous photos, the hair seems blended into the background, therefore a backlight is needed. For this reason alone, I might consider purchasing a second smaller (cheaper) speedlight.  



Creating the above pictures would not be possible without my latest procured camera accessory, the Phottix Tetra wireless flash remote trigger. 

 

Looking forward to more CLS (not necessarily camwhoring) photos with this gadget! 

By the way, which of my camwhoring photos above do you like best?