Splash!

In this shoot I have set up a tablecloth in my kitchen (pinned to the kitchen cupboards and laid out over the counter like a roll of backdrop paper) then placed a bowl of strawberry milk in the centre of it. My idea for this shoot is to create a splash photograph that shows the strawberry dropping into the bowl so that the viewer gets the connotation that the milk tastes of fresh strawberries.

I am using a flash gun to light this set up, fired off using a wireless trigger so I can control it better and place it to the side (both to create side lighting and so it is not in "the splash zone") I have also set up the camera with my 100mm lens so that the camera can be placed out of "the splash zone".

My assistant will be dropping the strawberry into the bowl and I will be behind the camera.

Update:

It was a lot harder than I first thought to create these photographs as many many times (at least 95% of the time) we did not time the drop perfectly and the splash was missed so I ended up with nearly 200 photographs of just the empty bowl or with it flying through the air.

The few photographs that did capture the strawberry were not as well lit as I'd hoped, I think I have placed the flash too far back to be able to light the strawberry, so next time I am going to have to move the flash somewhat closer. At first my assistant was holding the strawberry by the stalk and dropping it the right way up, however this meant that when I did capture the strawberry it was mostly leaves and that did not give the impression I was hoping for. We changed this up after a few shots so the strawberry was being dropped upside down, this meant when I was timed enough to catch the strawberry it was showing it like I wanted.

I think I am going to continue this splash idea for my final piece in the food photography. I think I may change the container I used though and use one with a wider surface area so that less of the background and the container can be seen.


Outcomes :

These are two of the successful images alongside a close in crop of the same image. I think the close up ones are more successful as the splashes on the bowl are quite distracting.