Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

[carregwen]

You will need...

1. Blue bottle with screw top.
2. Large bucket (I used an old bird-feed tub)
3. Measuring jug
4. Water
5. 1x Studio flash head
6. 1X flash gun
6. A towel
7. A day when the wife is out
8, A reflector
9. Roll of plastic insulating tape
10. Some kind of boom arrangement (I used a reflector boom on a light stand)
11. Black back-cloth (for some of the shots)



Here's what I did.

1. Cut about 15 inches of tape and fold in half (sticky side to sticky side) to make a strap for the bottle. Tape the strap to the base of the bottle (see image).
2. Fill with water and screw cap on. Then hang bottle on boom.
3. Set up your lights and do some test shots. Get this right before releasing water as it's time consuming to refill.
4. Tip bottle up while still on boom and undo cap. Place the palm of your hand over opening and let bottle relax down to resting position with your hand still on opening.
5. Release hand, pick up camera, and shoot. You will probably only get one shot per refill, so make it count. If you have an assistant, get them to release the water, and you may get two shots.
6. For subsequent refills, pour from bucket into measuring jug, and from there back into the bottle.
7. In Photoshop, rotate the shot to suit, and edit in normal way.

I used 1/250s which is the limit of the 50D flash synch. Any faster and you get the shutter curtains showing. The studio flash was on the left of the bottle, and the flash gun was bouncing off a reflector on the right.

Here's the first one I did with a white back-drop.




And the second one (which is my favourite)



Here's a 100% detail blowup...

[Petros]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

Hi rob, another interesting idea with a great outcome. Probably right, my wife would like the result - but go bananas over the method!

No 2 shot is showing as unavailable though, only the detail shot displays.

Peter

[carregwen]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

No 2 shot is showing as unavailable though, only the detail shot displays.

Peter

Thanks, Peter. I edited it in Flickr and it must have renamed it.

[Copious Light]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

Great idea Rob and fantastic outcome with a detailed explanation of how you achieved the result. *mental note to have a go at something similar.

[Dave]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

Very nice Rob. I quite like the one on the grey background rather than on a stark black. Once you've perfected the technique you'll be able to do it with vino.

[carregwen]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

... Once you've perfected the technique you'll be able to do it with vino.

I think the Greeks do that, don't they?

[Rob.Richards]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

Very creative! I really like the one on an angle, but like the black backgound too! I thought had seen this somewhere online and this link was in my favourites!

Quite a useful video tutorial!

Where do you find the time for all of this?!?!

[carregwen]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

Where do you find the time for all of this?!?!

One ex-model does the ironing, another ex-model does the garden, another washes the Aston Martin...

[hotkeez]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

Re: ex models - washing, ironing, gardening, cooking, ect, maybe, but wash the Aston Martin, oh no. If I owned one, (I wish) no women would go anywhere near it, if it was ever still long enough to be washed.

[hotkeez]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

Like the first shot by way. Water going up, more effective with bright background.
Second one is good but dont like the close up in 3, not enough in the shot.

[carregwen]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

Like the first shot by way. Water going up, more effective with bright background.
Second one is good but dont like the close up in 3, not enough in the shot.

Yes, I had trouble getting the right background colour. Black shows plain water better, but the overall effect looks better with a whiter background. Shot #3 (close-up) was not meant to be an image in itself - I just posted it so you could see the detail in the waterspout. I tried adding food colouring to the water, but that made the bottle very dark.

[Manipulator]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

"Do not try this at home, children" - why ever not? Now that Canon and others are marketing compacts that go underwater they couldn't possibly do any harm. You weren't by any chance a science teacher in a previous existence? I am reminded of the task of writing up experiments in my own school days. Have you seen the recent press items on the lack of experiments in the physics curriculum leading to a disinterest in physics as a consequence of 'health and safety'?. Your write up makes me want to rush out and try it! Could you add a little advice about placing the lights/flash? Thanks for sharing. - Do I spot a Ty Nant bottle? Would a high speed continuous shooting mode with remote shutter release help at critical 'go' moment?
Gerald

[carregwen]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

You weren't by any chance a science teacher in a previous existence?

No. Software developer.

Your write up makes me want to rush out and try it! Could you add a little advice about placing the lights/flash? Thanks for sharing. - Do I spot a Ty Nant bottle? Would a high speed continuous shooting mode with remote shutter release help at critical 'go' moment?

Getting the lighting right is difficult. I faffed around with this for about 30 mins before I got it right, then filled the bottle and shot it. I'm going to try this again later this week using High Speed sync on my 50D, which allows you to shoot at much faster speeds (up to 1/8000s).

Yes, it's a Tynant bottle. They come in useful!

Thanks for the comments.

[monobrow]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

nice one carregwen.

I much prefer the shots on black background. It makes everything stand out better.
This is the kind of preparation and planning any well executed shot takes.

[Dan]

Re: Squirt! (do not try this at home, children)

Really liking shot 2! Nice work :-)

Have just started to dabble with still life and some of your pics on your website have given me inspiration - esp using the black perspex sheet in the shot of the 3 shells. Nothing to show yet though ....

Just wondering if lighting the bottle from and only the bottle base with different colour filters would change the colour of the water. Then again the bottle is already blue .. hmmm