How to create water textures? Step by steps photo tutorial.

[Balinor]

Hello friends!
I am going explain you today how to take good macro pictures of water textures. The first and the most important thing in this kind of photography are to change our mind and to start thinking differently about the whole miniature world around us. Let imagine for a while that we are ants. In this case an apple would be a luxury house for us, a glass of water would be an Olympic water pool and the room where we are now, would be a big city. Once we start thinking like a small creature, which belongs to the miniature world, we will find a thousand of interesting objects around us that could be objects of our pictures.

What are the rules which we have to follow? General rules:
1. If you use a compact camera, please use the macro option and if you use a DSLR, use the manual option, usually marked with ”M”;
2. Use the smallest ISO possible, which will allow you to reduce the noise;
3. Use a manual focus;
4. Choose the highest resolution and if it is possible a RAW format for your file. The last is allows further enlargement and other corrections of the picture;
5. Use the maximum aperture and never smaller than f8-f11;
6. Use (if it is possible) a tripod because we don’t have a big the depth of field/DOF/ in this case and even the slightest movement could reflect the focus;
7. Take the picture perpendicularly to the plane of the object to avoid the disadvantages of the small depth of field;
8. If you use a DSLR, use macro lenses because of their better optical characteristics for this kind of photography. Use macro rings as well, which will allow you to approach the object without spoiling the quality of your picture. Macro rings will allows you to go really close to the object without lose image quality. If you use a diopter lenses you should consider the fact that they reflect the quality of the picture taken.
9. You could use any kind of lighting: night table lamp, halogen; your camera flash, or macro flashes for studios. It is very important your object to be very well lit in order to be able to use the smallest ISO possible, a smaller aperture and a higher speed. Avoid frontal lighting and built-in flash.

Don’t be afraid of using different light sources having different light temperature. This is a water abstraction and you are the one who creates its colour harmony.

What kind of camera we use compact or DSLR?

Compact cameras:

* Advantages:
* Affordable price
* Integrated macro functions
* Fast focusing
* LCD display facilitating object observation

Disadvantages:

* Not changeable lenses
* High level of colour noise
* Impossible use of macro rings, macro flashes, but only of macro lenses that could additionally spoil the image quality.
* Difficult manual focusing

DSLR:

Advantages:

* Changeable lenses and possibility to use macro lenses, macro rings and flashes;
* Lower levels of colour noise;
* Easy manual focusing;
* Possible use of LIVE VIEW function of some cameras, allowing a precise focusing


Disadvantages:

* Not possible to use the LCD for focusing;
* Need of macro lenses, macro rings and flashes, in other words additional equipment
* Higher equipment price

It`s up to you to choose your camera, but on my opinion a DSLR will give you a certain freedom in your creative work, nevertheless its difficult manipulation

Examples:

Materials:

1. Liquid: some sparkling water, soft or alcohol drinks, glycerin etc.
2. A big transparent container: an aquarium, a big wine glass, made of tine glass, a big glass bowl, a piece of transparent plastic material or a glass piece, a mirror, different kind of cords, tissue, nets etc.
3. Background: a tissue, colour paper, small fruits and vegetables. Except for being a background these materials will be used as a texture which will fill the object on your picture. For example if we take a picture of a water drop on a transparent plastic and if we put underneath fine blue paper with a lemon on it, we will obtain a picture of a lemon in a water drop on a blue background.
4. Others: You could experiment with some water dissolving materials like paint, ink, pills etc., which make bubbles into the water, coloured straws in a glass of sparkling water, DVDs into the water which gives different reflections and colors etc.

Practical Example 1

Take a big wine glass /preferably made of tiny glass/. Put some coloured cocktail straws into it and fill it with soda water. Wait several minutes till the bubbles appear on the straws. Put behind the glass a coloured material which will be the background of your picture. Adjust your camera following macro photography rules and take the picture.

If you want to read more Practical Examples, just visit http://myphotographylesson.com/how-t...ater-textures/

[BuddhaPi]

4 posts & 4 outbound links..interesting concept

[Balinor]

Originally Posted by BuddhaPi

4 posts & 4 outbound links..interesting concept

Yes, but all of this article are write by me I just would like to share it and it is not good idea to write it again on the net. However the My Photography Lesson is my blog and all material on it.

[BuddhaPi]

Originally Posted by Balinor

Yes, but all of this article are write by me I just would like to share it and it is not good idea to write it again on the net. However the My Photography Lesson is my blog and all material on it.

you can always share via copy/paste...it really does appear as if you are just trying to drive traffic to your site..besides the links have been stripped out of your posts....trolls are frowned upon here..

[Balinor]

Originally Posted by BuddhaPi

you can always share via copy/paste...it really does appear as if you are just trying to drive traffic to your site..besides the links have been stripped out of your posts....trolls are frowned upon here..

Thank you very much for your advice. What is your suggestion - to delete this post or to put all article here without the link? I just would like to know.
10x

[BuddhaPi]

start by reading the posting rules for each particular forum, then go from there..lest the moderators kill your posts...would make thier lives much easier..

[Balinor]

Originally Posted by BuddhaPi

start by reading the posting rules for each particular forum, then go from there..lest the moderators kill your posts...would make thier lives much easier..

Thank you, I will take a note. Sorry If I was affect you with something. I appreciate your advise and will try to do thing right.