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Showing posts with label Studio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Studio. Show all posts
20 Nov 2013
Abstract Photography with Paper

My nieces were folding origami over the weekend, and the idea of doing some abstract photography with the colorful papers struck me. Here's how I created some of these abstract pieces ...

Materials that is needed

  • Papers - A stack of colorful papers, preferably 100-120 grams types, is needed. Avoid getting papers that are too thin as it is more difficult to sustain the form and shapes when trying to mould them. If the papers are too thick, moulding them would be difficult as well.
  • Stapler or Metal Clips - These are needed to hold the various shapes of paper that I'm moulding into. If you do not want to leave stapler holes on the paper, metal clips can be used but make sure that they are strong enough to hold the paper in the shape.
  • Transparent Scotch Tape - Standby some scotch tape which will be handy in helping to hold the paper into the shape that will be moulded into.
  • Weights - Various sizes of blocks of relatively heavy weights would be helpful in holding shapes that the paper will be moulded into. I'd quite a dozen of chicken essence pack which I wrap them up with white A4 size papers and turn them into handy block of weights.

Equipment and Settings

  • Digital camera & lenses
  • Flashes (or light sources) - Besides from the digital camera, 1-2 off-camera flashes is preferred to create different lighting effects. If you do not have off-camera flashes, couple of white fluorescent lamps (preferably 100 watts or higher) should provide sufficient lighting power.
  • Remote trigger (if necessary) - May be required when you cannot be at your camera, if one of your hand is needed to hold onto the papers.
  • Tripod (if necessary) - Required for the same reason on using remote trigger. In addition, it would be better to use a tripod to avoid shakes if you are using a slow shutter speed due to insufficient lighting.

Camera Settings

There is no one fixed setting as it depends on the shape of paper being mould into and the angle that they will be photographed. Experiment with various settings on the camera and different angles of shooting them for creativity.

You may want to play with different settings of the the flashes or light sources as well, as placing them at different positions creates different lighting effect and ambience.

Shaping the Papers

This is the part which requires a little bit creativity, and this is also the part where moulding them into the shape will take up most of the efforts and time. Here are a few examples I created:

Spreading the Papers like a "Palm Tree"

First, I use a metal clip to hold a stack of colored papers on one edge of the paper. Next, I placed 2 weights (i.e. my chicken essence weights) about 10 cm apart and hold the papers in a vertical position in between the weights (i.e. with the edge held with metal clip on the table). This will allow the colored papers to start spreading (or falling) to the left and right where the weights are.

Make use of the weights to hold the edge of the paper into the shape just like the diagram below. Use scotch tape to tape the paper to the weights if necessary.

You may want to use odd number of colored papers so that you can have even number of "leafs" on both side and one standing in the middle.

You can try arranging the papers in different color tones (e.g. from light to dark tones) for different visual effects, taking it from different angles.

"S" Shape

Simply bend the paper into an "S" shape and use the weights on both sides to hold the shape (see picture below). Holding the paper in "S" shape is a lot more difficult as the papers will tend to "spring out" from the shape, so you may want to use some scotch tape to help holding them in the shape.

Roll A Bunch of Papers

This one is fairly simple as all you need to do is to roll a bunch of paper, strap them together with a rubber band and hold them in between the weights or leave it on the desk. The picture below would give you an idea.

You can try taking pictures of the folds when the papers are rolled together ...


Please visit http://jefzlim.smugmug.com/Studio-Works/Stationery for more photos ...


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12 Nov 2013
Light Painting: Creating Light Spirals ...

  • at 9:18 pm
  • 1
In this project, I played with more examples of light painting by creating different spinning light spirals at home by making use of a torch light. There are a few ways that spinning light spirals can be created at home.

Spinning Light Spirals from a Suspended Torch Light on Ceiling


Torch Light + String

Besides from the torch light, a string with considerable length will be required. One end of the string will be used to secure to the torch light (note: I also use masking tape to 'double' secure it), while the other end will be secured to the ceiling or ceiling light. 

The string needs to be tightly secured on both ends, otherwise the entire torch light may be sent flying off and hit someone or break something. On the torch's end, I had use masking tape to 'double' secure the string to it even after tying it. On the ceiling light's end, I simply wrap the string around the ceiling light and make a knot.

Note: How far the torch light is suspended from the ceiling will determine how big or small the spinning trail is, as well as whether the camera lens is wide enough to capture the spinning trail.

Camera, Tripods and Settings

Have the camera mounted on a low tripod and pointing directly upwards towards the suspended torch light. It would be better if an wide angle lens is used, considering the distance away from the subject and the width of the circular spinning path that the torch light would make.

Pre-focus the camera on the suspended torch light in the air using automatic-focus before switching back to manual focus. 

Depending on the strength of the light from the torch, the aperture and shutter shutter speed would need to be adjusted accordingly. Start with an aperture of F/8 and stop-down the aperture if the spinning trails are overly-exposed. An exposure time of 20 seconds is good as a start - the exposure time will also depend on how long the torch light can be sent spinning in a smooth circular motion.

Spin and Take the Shot

Turn on the light of the suspended torch light and send it swinging in a circular motion. Remember to switch off all other lights in the room before taking the shot (note: best to be done in a dark room without other ambient lighting).

Try other modifications like:
  • Different color gels over the suspend torch light.
  • Instead of circular motion path, try sending the suspended torch swinging in erratic patterns.
  • Try attaching additional colors of light sources to the suspended torch (note: need to make sure that the string can take the weight of additional light sources and they are all properly secured.)

Spinning Light Spirals with Hand (Light Orbs)


Torch Light + String

Same as the 1st example, the torch light needs to be tightly secured to the string on one end. The other end needs to be hand-held as we will be spinning the suspended torch light.

Note: The spinning force can be quite great even for a small torch light. It is best to wear a glove to prevent the string from cutting your hand or causing blisters. I had blister from it for not wearing a glove :)

Camera, Tripod and Settings

The camera and tripod should be a distance away, enough to capture the entire spinning motion. If the house is not big enough, take it outdoor.

The camera settings is pretty much the something that have to be experimented with. For this particular setup, it might be good to set exposure time of 1minute so that sufficient light trails can be captured to give a nice looking orb.

Technique in Spinning

To create a nice looking light orb, it is best to spin and rotate about the same axis on the ground - do so by moving your body in a circle around the axis of the spin. Alternatively, you can try spinning the torch light with the body as the axis to create a different looking pattern i.e. rotate your body on the same spot while spinning the torch light.

For best effect, it is best to do it in a dark open space where there is no nearby objects where the light would fall on. Make sure that you are dressed in dark colors (i.e. best to be in black) from head to toe so that your image will not be captured in the frame causes by light falling on your clothes.

Note: The above light orb is shot in my room, which is a little bit cramp. Not a nice looking orb as it was my first time doing it :)

Spinning Light Spirals with USB Fan (Light Orbs)

I have also tried creating the light orb using an small USB fan (see picture below). Basically, I secured a mini Maglite (torch light) to one of the soft foam blades of the USB fan. When the fan is turned on, I simply rotate the entire USB fan in circle while the blades are rotating.

Although the spinning speed of the USB fan is relatively slow due to the weight of the torch light that is secured on the blade, the fan will still vibrate quite violently due to the unbalance weight on the blades. So make sure that the USB fan is held on tightly while rotating it.

Important: It is quite dangerous, and never try this on an electrical fan as the moving speed of a blades is so fast that it might throw the entire torch light flying, which could be fatal if it hits you.




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5 Nov 2013
Bacteria on Extreme Macro Photography

  • at 11:34 pm
  • 2 comments
Exactly a week ago, I started cultivating some bacteria using agar-agar in a petri dishes. Originally, I had wanted to take time-lapse photographs of the bacteria growth over time but gave up after 3-days when I did not see any progress. I had then chuck the petri dishes into the corner of my drawer.

So today I actually wanted to throw away the petri dishes and try cultivating the bacteria again for my time-lapse photographs, but noticed that are small colonies of bacteria growing in the petri dishes - I was thrilled. Having tried out extreme macro photography yesterday, I thought this might also be a good subject for it.

So here are the beautiful (or disgusting to some) extreme close-up photographs growing on the agar-agar in the petri dishes which you typically will not see with naked eyes. Pictures is at 25% magnification only. Please visit http://jefzlim.smugmug.com/Studio-Works/Extreme-Macro-Photography for the higher resolution and magnification of the photos …


The bacterias were cultivated based on sampling from 3 areas: (1) Car Steering Wheel, (2) Keyboard and (3) Rubbish Chute.

How I Cultivated the Bacteria ...

I must state clearly that cultivating bacteria is very dangerous as we definitely do not want to be infected by unknown bacterias. I'm not a scientist and whatever I'm experimenting with is based on what I'd had research and read from Internet. So if you are interested to also experiment with it, please make sure that you do sufficient research on the steps and risk involved, as well as all safety measures to protect yourself!

Items You Need

1. Petri dishes - you can get a dozen from ArtFriend at somewhere around $10.

2. Nutrient Agar - According to what I researched, all agars are actually gelatinous substance obtained from algae found in seaweeds. The difference of a "nutrient" agar is that it contains some percentage of beef/yeast extracts. As I could not find "Nutrient" Agar in supermarket or anywhere, I had used the normal agar-agar which we used to make desserts. 

3. Cotten Bud - For swabbing on areas where you want to sample the bacteria growth.

4. Sealing Tape or Masking Tape - this is to seal off the petri dishes.

The Steps to Cultivate

1. Mix the agar powder with water and cook to boil. Once boil, fill the petri dish to the mid-point with the liquid-form agar. Leave to cool down and solidify. They should be solidify within half an hour.

2. Take a cotton bud and swab around a target area which you would like to sample the bacteria (e.g. keyboard).

3. Once the agar is cooled down and solidify, take the cotton bud that has been swabbed and swab it across the surface of the agar. (Note: You may want to label your petri dish if sampling on various areas.)

4. Close the petri dish and seal it off with the sealing tape. Never to be opened again.

5. Bacteria grows in warm, moist and dark areas. So, store the petri dish in places such as the top of the refrigerator. Places the petri dish in turn-over position will help to keep the moist within. 

6. According to what I know, the bacteria should start growing in 2-3 days. In my case, nothing was found growing on the surface of the agar after 3 days which I'm suspecting could be due to the use of normal agar versus nutrient agar.

7. Dispose the entire petri dish after you have done your experimentation.



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4 Nov 2013
Trying Out Extreme Macro Photography Using Still Life Object

  • at 10:13 pm
  • 0 comments
Today, I took on extreme macro photography at home since it was raining for most part of the afternoon. Although I've a brief idea on how it works, I've never try it before.

What is Extreme Macro Photography?

One should know that macro photography is a close-up photography of tiny subjects to reproduce life-size magnification using macro lenses. However, if there is a subject which is so tiny that even the best macro lens cannot produce a close-up life-size magnification, then extreme macro photography could help to do so.

Uses of Extreme Macro Photography

Many uses extreme macro photography on insects and bugs. This YouTube video will show you how this guy makes use of it to produce beautiful, breathtaking and amazing close-up pictures of insects and bugs.

While I'm inspired by him to also take pictures of insects/bugs using extreme macro photography, I wanted to understand more about the challenges and trade-offs by experimenting it on static objects first.

How to Take Extreme Macro Photographs

Based on my knowledge, there are typically 2 ways on how extreme macro photography can be done:
  • The 1st method is to attached a prime lens in a inverted manner to the camera using a reverse ring with filter threads i.e. the typical front of lens will be mounted onto the camera instead.
  • The 2nd method (which I've used) is to stacked 2 lenses together. The 1st lens will be attached as per normal to the camera, while the 2nd lens will be inverted and attached to the 1st lens using reverse ring with filter threads.  The shorter lens is typically used as the inverted lens as the magnification factor is equivalent to the focal length of the 1st lens divided by the focal length of the 2nd inverted lens.

Focusing Using Inverted lens?

Based on 2nd method, both the inverted and non-inverted lenses will be set to Manual Focus (MF) with a focusing distance set to infinity. To focus, simply move/adjust the distance of the entire camera nearer or farther away from the subject by looking through the view finder.

What are the Challenges and Trade-Offs?

#1: The magnification will be so amplified with the inverted lens that the focusing distance to the subject is only about 2-3 cm from the tip of the lens. At this point, I really wonder how to take extreme macro photography of insects/bugs without them fleeing away at such a distance. In fact, I really admire those who did it.

#2: With such magnification, any slightest movement and you could be out of the point that you want to focus on. This however can be overcome if the camera is using a macro focusing rail on tripod.

#3: The Depth of Field (DOF) is very shallow. Even going on small aperture like (F/16), the DOF is probably about 1mm only.

Results of My Extreme Macro Photography Using Static Objects

So I had my camera and lenses setup on a tripod (without macro focusing rail). To focus, I had to manually hold the object with one hand at a 2-3cm distance from the tip of the lenses, and adjusting the distance of the object while looking through the view finder for the focus point that I wanted. I had the other hand triggering off the shot using a remote trigger.

The following pictures are my results - each picture is equivalent to a width of 4mm in real-life at only 50% magnification. See if you can tell what are them :) (Tips: Move mouse over image for the description of image.)

Toothbrush
Blades of Philips AquaTouch Shaver
Thumb wheel of a Lighter
Old Earpiece
Scotch Brite Sponge
Pen Tip of Blue Highlighter
Zipper of a Wallet
Grains of Ginger Tea Premix Pack
Band-Aid (or First Aid Band)
Edge of a Fruit Knife
Surface of Cream Biscuit

Please visit http://jefzlim.smugmug.com/Studio-Works/Extreme-Macro-Photography to see a large view and magnification of the photos …



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3 Nov 2013
Upside-Down World In A LightBulb

  • at 11:37 pm
  • 0 comments
I had a late night wedding event yesterday and was feeling a little bit lethargic to go out for photography despite good weather today. So I was thinking is there any photography ideas that I can take on at home without the need to setup any studio strobes, background, etc.

Just when I was thinking desperately, an idea struck me while watching the movie "Upside Down" with the lightbulb in front of the TV (note: I've left the lightbulb in front of the TV after my post yesterday on "Photographing Lightbulb with Reflections"). I thought why not an upside-down world in a lightbulb?

I recalled that when I was a kid, my dad used to remove the filament of lightbulbs and reared little guppy fishes to make me happy. Back then (and now as well), I was always amazed with how everything was looking upside-down from a water-filled lightbulb before he put in the fishes.

Hollowing the Lightbulb

So I took on the daunting task to stripe off the filament inside a lightbulb. I am not very good with such handy fix work, and so I googled "How to hollow out a lightbulb" … which gives me plenty of results to study how the filament can be removed. After going through a couple of videos, I buck up my courage and spent almost an hour to finally hollow out the lightbulb.
(Note: I'm not posting the instructions on how to hollow out a lightbulb as there are many videos out there in the Internet. Do take extreme care and not to cut yourself when doing it.)

With the lightbulb hollowed and cleaned-up, I filled it with water. Then, I tie a thread to the metallic base cape of the water-filled lightbulb and hang it on the windows in my living room. The prop required is completed :)

Experimenting with Different Angles

From the water-filled lightbulb, I was able to see how the multi-storey carpark and flats in front of my living room were looking upside-down in the lightbulb. I took a couple of shots and experimented with different angles.

I noticed that I had to photograph from a position slightly lower than the hanging lightbulb in order for the buildings and sky to appear dramatically in the lightbulb. However, this could be due to the reason that I'm staying at mid-floor level.

After taken the shots that I wanted at my house, I hurried to my parents' house which is on high-floor to try out. This time round, I noticed that I could photograph the lightbulb at angle almost perpendicular with the lightbulb. I was also able to get more of the sky appearing in the lightbulb as well.

To add a little more drama to the landscape inside the lightbulb, I did a HDR with +/- 2 stops bracket shots. Also note that I have actually flipped the lightbulb to show the landscape inside in a upright position, which means anything you see outside the lightbulb is actually upside-down.

In both cases, I noticed that the extreme round top as well as the curvy "waist" of the lightbulb is actually reflecting more of the interior environment of the house. Perhaps next time, I should bring the lightbulb to an open-space environment and try out if it is the same.

Other Things to Note

  • When filling water into the lightbulb, air bubbles will then to get trap inside. What I did was to gentle clean up the bubbles with a cotton bud.
  • Finger prints and fine dust will tend to appear on the lightbulb's glass surface. You need to take care of them before photographing otherwise they will just turn up in the photo. While it may be totally impossible to clean up all the fine dust, at least clean away the finger prints :)
  • Take extreme precaution when hanging lightbulbs on windows. Make sure that it is tightly secured. Otherwise if it drops off the window, you might fatally injured any passerby. (Note: In Singapore, even if the falling lightbulb did not hit anyone, you can still be charged for high-floor littering.)

Please visit http://jefzlim.smugmug.com/Studio-Works/Still-Life/ for more photos ...


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2 Nov 2013
Photographing Lightbulb With Reflections

Today let's look at how to photograph a lighted lightbulb that is laying down with it's reflection on the glass surface. 

Some time ago, I had actually tried photographing it but was unable to achieve the right results that I desired. Somehow recently, I stumbled across a YouTube video by +Gavin Hoey from adoramaTV and tried out his method.

The picture above is the end result of my work on the lightbulb following pretty closely to what Gavin Hoey has shown in his YouTube video.  I was very satisfied with the results produced by following Gavin Hoey's video, as compared to my earlier attempt by just laying down the lighted lightbulb on a black glass surface (see below). Let's look at the key differences ...
1. It is more difficult to achieve an interesting perspective with the lightbulb laying down on the black glass surface as it is almost impossible to have the base insulator cap touching the glass surface due to the lightbulb holder.

2. I find that it is harder to achieve the glow around the lightbulb even having used the same technique of wrapping a white cardboard around the circumferences of the lightbulb.

3. There appears to be more noise from the light in the reflection which will make it harder to clean away using photoshop.

4. There are double reflection which is caused by the glass surface from the table top as well as the lightbulb.

5. As seen from the image, the reflection of the lightbulb is not clearly defined enough. Although this is real but it does not provide a picture that is surreal enough from photography perspective.


For those who are interesting to try out, I suggest referring to Gavin Hoey's video before doing so. Sometimes the best way to improve and learn is to learn from others :)

I'll just briefly provide a key summary on what is done as watching his video will give you a clearer idea:

Taking the Pictures

  • A clear lightbulb with the lighting power controllable through a dimmer is required.
  • A picture is taken with the lighted lightbulb standing vertically on a holder. 
    • The lightbulb is dimmed down to a fairly low level that is sufficiently bright enough to illuminate surface of the lightbulb and yet the lightbulb filament is not too overwhelm by the light power.
    • A piece of white cardboard is placed around the circumference of the lightbulb in a position slightly behind the lightbulb. This is to provide illuminated glow on the circumference surface of the lightbulb.
  • Another picture of the lightbulb's base insulator cap is taken using a 2nd unlighted lightbulb in a vertical position. The 1st lighted lightbulb will be left laying down to illuminate the picture taken.

Post-Processing Using Photoshop

  • The 1st picture of the lighted lightbulb: Light noise around the lightbulb filament and outside of the lightbulb are cleaned up.
  • The 2nd picture of the base insulator cap is cropped and patched onto the lighted lightbulb of the 1st picture so that a complete picture of the lighted lightbulb with the base insulator cap.
  • The completed picture is then rotated to a lying down position and a copy is duplicated.
  • The duplicated copy is then shifted to a reflection position below the laying lightbulb. Gaussian blur is applied to the reflection and partial of the reflection is erased for more realistic reflection look.


Please visit http://jefzlim.smugmug.com/Studio-Works/Still-Life to see the higher resolution of the final lightbulb picture …



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1 Nov 2013
Light Painting Photography: Steaming Hot Effect

  • at 10:23 pm
  • 0 comments

Doesn't the "Chee Cheong Fun" looks hot with the steam? Actually, the dish is not hot at all and the "hot steam" is created using light painting effects.

In my earlier post of light painting, I've tried painting alphabets using a laser pointer. This time round, I tried light painting on still life objects (such as bottles, bulbs, tea cups, etc.) with different light sources (e.g. laser pointer and torch light). It was really fun to see different results as I tried various light sources and position of the light sources.

(Please refer to my earlier post on the setup required and camera settings.)

The "Hot Steam" Effect

This is a simple "trick" by using a white rope (.. not thread as thread is too thin to reflect light) and a torch light. Simple hold a white rope dangling above the object (i.e. where the hot steam to appear) with one hand. One the same hand, also hold a torch light point downwards to the object.

When the shutter opens, simply start rotating the wrist of the hand that is holding on to the white rope and torch light. To achieve the right effect, the wrist should be rotating fast enough by pointing the light around the object circumference. The whole idea is to get the light to be reflected by the rotating and dangling rope which will create the "hot steam" effect.
I had tried with various intensity of light source and noticed that a lower intensity light source appears to work better in creating the "hot steam" effect.

The settings for my shots were ISO 100, F/13 and 20 secs exposure. I had spent the first 12 secs doing the wrist rotation with the white rope, and the remaining time just pointing and painting on the tea cup (or the chee cheong fun picture above) using my torch light (without the rope).

You can also try spinning a torch light above the tea cup to see how it appears.

Note: I did not invent this technique - I had seen this done by someone else in a YouTube video sometime back (let me see if I can find it later).

Nice Internal Reflection Within Lightbulb

I've tried the light bulb and it produces a nice reflection internal within the light bulb with it's shape. With the light bulb held standing upright, I simply run through my torch light around the circumferences of the light bulb to and fro.
Camera settings: ISO 100, F/20 and 15secs exposure.

Laser Pointer Works Well with Sticks

I've tried using laser pointer on the reed diffuser on my desk and it turns out great. The reed sticks appeared to be glowing from within.
Camera settings: ISO 100, F/20 and 30 secs exposure.

Reflective Surface Matters

I've used a reflective black surface for the background and table top while playing with laser pointers on one of my decoration/ornament. Because the decoration/ornament is also a reflective surface, the reflective background and table top further bends the reflected light causes it to look magically nice.
Camera settings: ISO 100, F/20 and 30 secs exposure.

Rotating Light Source

Try tying a small torch light and rotating it around the object (e.g. a bottle).

Moving Backlight Behind Object

Also try moving the torch light behind the object (e.g. a bottle).

There are simply too many ways on how light painting can be applied on the objects that you are painting. Each way produces different artistic results and mood of the picture. It is really fun to try out!

Please visit http://jefzlim.smugmug.com/Studio-Works/Light-Painting for more photos ...



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27 Oct 2013
Light Painting Photography: Writing with Laser Pointer

  • at 10:43 pm
  • 1
While I was clearing a box "useful" junk in my room. I found my old laser pointer. It was more like a laser gun as the green laser beam emitted is so strong and powerful that the beam can be seen on the wall of a flat that is 100m away.

As I sat down at my sofa playing with it, the idea of light painting photography struck me. Quoted from lightpaintingphotography.com … "light painting photography is a photographic technique where the artist opens the shutter of a camera for an extended period of time and uses various light sources to create color and design with in the frame...".

Although I am  not an artist that can paint well, I am keen to explore the different types of light painting techniques. With only a laser pointer on hand, I wanted to start off with something basic and simple - writing and drawing with laser pointer.

Easy and Simple Setup for Light Painting

No extensive setup or flash required is the beauty of light painting photography. The following are basic setup required for any types of light painting photography.
  • A dark location - If experimenting at home, you will require a dark room that is without any source of direct and indirect light (e.g. ceiling light, table lamp, monitor light, etc.) that could be affecting what you are painting - the darker the room the better. If experimenting it outdoor, then the location must be dark enough - street lights, lights from car headlight, etc. should be avoided.
  • Tripod - As long exposure will be used, a tripod is definitely needed so that you do not end up with a bad picture due to shakes.
  • Various Sources and Types of Lights - These are the "paint" that you will be painting with, e.g. laser pointers, torch lights, light sticks, sparkles, etc.
In this particular exercise that I'm doing, I am using my laser pointer as the only source of light. I also had a black background, which is the "blackboard" that I will be writing and drawing on.

Camera Settings

Small Aperture with Long Exposure Time

In light painting photography, a small aperture is typically used as it allows lesser amount of light to pass through, which will help to create a dramatic light effect as the subject is painted with light when exposed over a period of time. The amount of exposure time varies depending on how the subject is painted.

Pre-Focus Beforehand

As the shot is taken in the dark under long exposure time, a pre-focus on the subject is required. At home, simply do an auto-focus on subject using the room's ceiling light or table lamp, and switching it to manual focus once is pre-focus is done (note: remember to switch off light in the room before taking pictures.) If outside, use a torch light to shine on the subject so as to allow pre-focusing to be done.

My Results of Writing Using Laser Pointers

I wanted to create a set of handwritten A-to-Z using the laser pointer on the blackboard. 

Initially, I set my camera to bulb mode to capture my writing, however I find that it is really difficult to align the written characters properly if I do so. Furthermore, I cannot gauge the edge of the camera's frame in the dark which makes writing really difficult.

So I ended up taking taking a set of 26 alphabet photos, each with an exposure time of 3-seconds (just sufficient time for me to finish writing a character). After which, I combine all the alphabets together into a simple picture. As you see from the alphabets written above, it is actually not that easy to write neatly using a laser pointer!

I look forward to try out the other types of light painting techniques and share is with everyone when I've done so.



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19 Oct 2013
Product Photography of Rolex Explorer II

I had seen several YouTube videos and read various articles on how watches are beautifully captured under studio lighting. Most of these videos and articles have one thing in common, which is the extensive hours needed on the setup and control on the lighting, and the post-production work to touch-up.

I had an everyday Rolex Explorer II which I've not worn for about a month, and this gives me the perfect opportunity to try out and experience on my own.

Choice of Watch Affects Composition of Photograph

From the start, I had a clear idea on how I want my Rolex watch to look like in the photograph - upright, standing and with white gradient background. However, problem is that I don't have a watch that could "stand upright" as the metal wrist strap of my Rolex watch is the soft and flexible type (so is my other AP watch).

I ended up spending almost an hour making the metal straps oval in shape (i.e. looks as though it is worn round the wrist) and then of course standing upright with the watch bezel facing at 45-degree angle. I do so by twisting and bending a bunch of metal wire and attached them behind the wrist strap.

The Watch Hand Should Not Be Moving

As I will be focus stacking a couple of shots to ensure a sharp end-to-end picture, the watch hand should not be moving at all. Since my watch has already stopped moving, I was extremely careful in not to accidentally shake it and cause it to move again.

Accident does happen - the watch was waken up by minor accidental "shake" while trying to attach the wire frame behind the wrist strap. Since it was just a minor movement on the watch, I know the watch will stopped moving again in less than an hour. While waiting for the watch to stopped moving again, I proceed with lighting setup and test shots.

Note: I'd noticed that most watch pictures have the hour and minute hand at around 10 past 10, with the seconds hand at around 25-seconds position. I do not know how to get the seconds hand to stop exactly at 25-seconds position, and thus have to do with where it had stopped.

Diffuse Light Reflection on Watch

My initial setup produced a disastrous outcome with the test shots. Lights were bouncing unevenly off either on the glass surface, the metal bezel and the straps. It was lucky for me that Rolex Explorer II has a relatively matt metal bezel and strap surface, but there are still a lot of efforts to control just the sufficient and even amount of light falling on them.

I had to do major shifting of my lighting at least 3 times into the right position that I wanted before starting to fine-tune them. I had to use a lot of diffuser (e.g. translucent papers) to stop-down (or eve block) some of the lights falling on the subject and reflectors to illuminate areas that strobe lighting could not reach. Some of which I had to self-made on the spot by cutting both white and black cardboards, and placing them in different positions around the watch.

I take test-shots as I fine tune the control on the lighting. I zoomed in at 100% on every single part of the watch to look at the details of the lighting. Special attention were paid on bent surface (e.g. the area around the turning knob) as I find that controlling lights on bent surface were the hardest.

The entire lighting adjustment took me around 4.5 hours with about 50 test-shots taken before I ended up with the final one where I think it is the most satisfied and best I can do with the lighting equipment that I have. This is the most extensive studio lighting setup that I've done so far.

Cleaning the Watch (It's Not a New Watch!)

While zooming in at 100%, I noticed there were dirt stains on the watch and glass surface had my fingerprints! I cannot described how disgusting it felt to see dirts collecting at places that are not visible to the naked eye. There were also couple of minor scratches.
I took out the watch carefully from the shooting position and tried my very best to clean it with cleaning agent a couple of times. Obviously I will not be able to clean off all the dirt stains in the small little edges and corner which will appear in the photo which I have to live with it - after all this is a everyday watch which I've worn for years.

I'll keep in mind to photograph my next new watch (hopefully I get it as a Christmas present ^.^) before wearing it.

Post-Processing

In my post-processing, I did almost no adjustments - just the curves to give it a little bit more contrast. I could if I want but chosen not to clean up the scratches or dirt stain on the watch and leave it as it is.


After about 6+ hours of hard work, I finally had my very own product photography of a Rolex watch! No words can describe how I felt seeing the final picture given the amount of efforts that I've put in. Perhaps, it may not be the greatest Rolex watch picture to you, but it is definite a great experience for me.

At this point, I think that those professional product photographers had really done a great job behind the scene with their pictures to bring out the branding of these luxury watches. Each time, you walked past a watch poster ads, you should stop by for a minute to enjoy the amount of details that was captured in the picture :)


Visit http://jefzlim.smugmug.com/Studio-Works/Still-Life/ to see a higher resolution of the photo ...


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18 Oct 2013
Using Focus Stacking in Product Photography to Get Sharp Pictures

  • at 11:39 pm
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Recently, I have been reading quite a fair bit on product photography and one of which involves a technique called the focus stacking which will enable the entire product to be sharp in focus. There is an excellent YouTube video by +Forrest Tanaka on Focus Stacking which has given me the inspiration to try it out on my own.

Why Use Focus Stacking?

Have you ever tried taking a real close-up picture of an object (like 30cm away) and the object does not turn up to be sharp from front to back due to the Depth of Field (DOF)? Changing to a smaller aperture is unlikely to help much as the distance away from the subject is too short. Try moving further  away and end up getting the object to be smaller in your frame which is not what you want.

This is when Focus Stacking is useful. Focus Stacking technique involves taking multiple shots from the front to the back of the object where each shot is manually focused at the different points of the object i.e. from the head to tail of the object.  Each shot should be taken at a consistent distance apart using the same aperture and and the distance apart should be within the depth of field.

These multiple images are then taken into photoshop, stacked and blended together to give a perfectly sharp image from front to back.

What I've explained is just a summarized version, and you should really take a look at Forrest Tanaka's video to fully understand it - he has illustrated it so clearly that it is well worth the time watching. (Note: There is also another focus stacking technique slightly different from what was mentioned above that he has also illustrated in his video.)

My Results

Today, I started off with a small object (i.e. a dutch wooden shoes) which is about 10cm in length. Given the a 100mm lens on my 5DM2 and focusing at a distance of about 30cm on F11, my depth of field is about 4cm.

True enough, I tried focusing in the middle of the shoe and both ends of the shoe is out-of-focus (blur). Given a 4cm depth of field, this means that I would probably need 3-4 shots covering the front to the back of the shoe. Being a "kiasu" Singaporean, I took 10 shots starting from the head of the shoe with 1cm apart each shot to ensure that my depth of fields are overlapped for every shots.

With the 10 shots, I went on to stack and blend them using Photoshop and I get a perfectly sharply focused dutch wooden shoes from head to tail. It was cool ^.^

[Updated on 19-Oct-2013]

Here is another successful one that I've done using the focus stacking technique. This time round, I have used a much bigger subject which occupies a depth of about 50cm when placed diagonally. Although I used a shorter 70mm lens, but I also have to stand further away from the subject (~140cm) since it is bigger. It took me about 15 shots to cover the entire subject from the nearest to the farthest spot.
Please visit http://jefzlim.smugmug.com/Studio-Works/Still-Life to see the high-resolution picture ...


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14 Oct 2013
It's Magical - Color Explosion on Milk

  • at 10:47 pm
  • 0 comments
I stumbled upon an amazing science experiment article on color changing milk, and I was rather surprised with the colorful patterns that it created. Since it was raining outside today and the experiment was fairly easy to setup, I decided to give it a try and take pictures of the colorful patterns that it can create.

What Materials are Needed?

  • A disposable plate - I used a paper plate but I think plastic disposable plate would be better choice as the paper plate would be difficult to disposed after soaking with milk for some time.
  • Milk - If I'm not wrong, milk with high fat content works best.
  • Food Coloring - Can have as many color as desired. I have used 4 colors: Blue, Red, Yellow, Green.
  • Dish Washing Liquid

How to Create an Explosion of Colors?

Step 1: Pour enough milk into the disposable plate. Leave the milk to settle down in the plate. (Note: While waiting for the milk to settle, I went on to set up my camera, tripod and lighting equipment.)

Step 2: Add 1-2 drops of the each food coloring into the center of the milk. As the food coloring is less dense than milk, they will remain saturated at the place where it dropped onto the milk.

Step 3: Pour 1 drop of dish washing liquid into the center of the milk and watch the food coloring "explode". While it is "exploding", you can also try pouring drops of dish washing liquid at the edge of the plate and watch how the "explosion" collide with each other.

(Note: The explosion will happen the moment the dish washing liquid is dropped into the milk. You should standby to start triggering your shots.)

Why the explosion of colors?

Based on my understanding it is not the food coloring that "exploded". The dish washing liquid actually breaks up the fat molecule structure in the milk, thus causing movement in the milk which carries the food coloring with them. 

Just google if you are interested in the scientific explanation - I'm more interested in the colorful patterns it creates :)

Lighting Setup

Basically only sufficient light is needed to illuminate the milk surface so as the capture the "explosion" of colors. I had used an off-camera flash that is placed on the right side of the plate, and a white reflector on the opposite side to fill up and eliminate any shadow.

My camera is mounted on a tripod, facing down and perpendicular to the surface of the milk. I also had a wireless trigger for the camera so that I can trigger the shoot immediately after the dish washing liquid is poured in. All shots were taken at ISO100, F9 and 1/200s.

Try it out - Simple to setup, Fun to Watch and Gives Different Exciting Pictures




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