Abstract Ink Blots in Water

[Murtasma]

Nutshell:
Place softbox with flash behind fish tank to create a nice white background when the flash is triggered. Turn off all the lights in the room and use BULB mode on your camera. Fire your shutter then manually trigger your flash. Release shutter cable and adjust flash power and aperture and ISO on camera to control exposer of image.

I have a ton more details on the setup and more tips when doing this type of lighting. I try to cover everything I think I could.

Please take a look at the long winded blog post I have created on this subject. If something is missed or you want me to elaborate more on it please let me know.
http://murtasma.blogspot.com/2009/03...-in-water.html

[stitchbug]

very neat!! great colors!

[Flesheater]

pretty cool.

I've always wanted to try this.

[vivala1210]

very creative, reminds me of a jelly fish.

[Hend]

this is a brilliant shot!!! i love it

[Japaslavian]

I bet if you did more and just made things like the big blue one in the middle, you could come up with some pretty impressive photoshop brushes for designers.

I would use them.

[moi]

What a beautiful result..............love it!

[Murtasma]

Originally Posted by Japaslavian

I bet if you did more and just made things like the big blue one in the middle, you could come up with some pretty impressive photoshop brushes for designers.

I would use them.

Good Idea I never thought of this. I have a bunch of images but haven't processed any except this one and an animated version. I think I have a few frames I could easily turn into brushes.

Perhaps a new tutorial is in need.

[Dayton-G]

I don't know If I have the choice of bulb on a Sony A200, but I do ask.
When you use bulb, will it tell you how long it was used, or just say bulb?

thanks

[Murtasma]

Bulb mode will keep the shutter open as long as you have the shutter button pressed down so it can vary. That's why I recommend a remote cable release that allows you to lock the shutter button down. For these images you don't really have to lock the shutter since you only need it open long enough for the flash to happen. Having a cable however will prevent camera shake. If you just hold down the button on your camera you will likely shake the camera as your holding the button down.

The reason why I had to use bulb mode was to get around the flash sync limitation.

EDIT: If you have a continuous light you can attempt to do this image but I would do some testing with other objects in the water before hand to figure out if the intensity of the continuous light is strong enough to maintain a fast shutter speed. Heat is also a problem when using lights like this since you will need to place a soft box or something to diffuse the light at the back of the fish tank. A frosted piece of semi transparent plastic may work well but you may need to have the continuous light kind of close to the tank.