MAKE A SPLASH
WHY PATIENCE IS KEYMISSED MOMENT
In this shot, the
shutter was fired just
a fraction too late. It
can be useful to have
a wider composition
to give yourself more
space to get your
piece of fruit in the
frame. We reset and
kept taking more
shots until we caught
the perfect moment.UPSIDE-DOWN
The whole strawberry
is inside our framing
here, which is great,
and it’s sharp too.
The downside with
this image is that it’s
pointing downwards
so it looks a little
odd. To eliminate this
problem, you could
use round fruit like
blueberries that don’t
have a right way up.GET SET UP
1
We set up a
large clear glass
jar on a blue vinyl
background, which
was curved and
taped to a tripod to
some light stands to
create our backdrop.
We then set up our
camera on a tripod
and positioned our
flash with a softbox
attached to one side
pointing down at the
jar by 45º, and set
to fire remotely with
some flash triggers.PRO TECHNIQUE CATCH
THE PERFECT MOMENT
PRE-FOCUS
2
Half-fill a vase
with water and
put a wooden spoon
inside it. You can
then focus on the
spoon, lock off your
focus, and remove
the spoon. Your
fruit will fall into the
same zone of focus
when you drop it in.SHOOT!
3
In Manual mode,
set the shutter
speed to 1/60 sec,
the aperture to f/11
and ISO to 400.
Connect a shutter
release cable and
drop the fruit in,
firing the shutter as
it impacts the water.
Keep trying, and
hone your timing
until you get it right!58 DIGITAL CAMERA^ FEBRUARY 2022 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com
FRESH PHOTO IDEAS FOR 20225
Make a strawberry splash
with off-camera flash!
Use an external flash unit to freeze the decisive moment when a strawberry is
dropped into water, to add some dynamic action to your photographic repertoirehere are few
shots as vibrant
as a perfectly ripe
red strawberry
crashing into
a glass of water, with a zingy
blue background to set it all off.
This shot can be a little tricky
to achieve, but as long as you
follow the steps and have
patience, it’s just a matter
of perfecting your timing.
It won’t be long before you’re
onto a winning image!
Flash is essential for this
technique, as we’re relying onthe bright burst of light to
freeze the strawberry still
and make sure it comes out
pin-sharp. A softbox helps
make the flash less harsh and
cuts down on reflections in the
glass, too. We used a tall glass
storage rice or pasta jar, which
was ideal, although you could
get even better results with
a small fish tank.
We also propped up a blue
background behind to add
extra colour – and as it’s a vinyl
backdrop, it was easy to clean
up the water splashes, too!T