Water melon Heaven
A concept image of a water melon fitted with a tap
A concept image of a water melon fitted with a tap
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Jan, 2014Views
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Awards
Lucky 3 Award
Staff Winter Selection 2015
Well Done
Outstanding Creativity
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Superior Skill
Top Choice
All Star
Virtuoso
Emotions
Impressed
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Behind The Lens
Location
This was taken in my very small home studio in South Wales. i.e. A small room 10'x8' in which this simple set up was squeezed in. I guess it's the same for many of us trying to create in tiny spaces, but if you have an idea it has to be "created"Time
It was mid afternoon in the summer months I believe. I'd so wanted to do this image for a such long time. It took me most of the morning to set everything up and then by about 4 in the afternoon I was ready to flick the switch and take some frames. I had to be super quick to take some shots, as with having running water I didn't want it to pour all over the floor! Well that was the plan anyway....Lighting
Lighting was quite simple. When I took this image I only had a very basic £99 studio flash lighting set bought from an online auction site. This set up consisted of 2 sofboxes placed either side and slightly in front of the melon, and a speedlight with a green gel on it pointed at the backdrop to the left of the melon, to add just a little colour in the corner. The lights were metered for f9.Equipment
My equipment for this shot was a Nikon D800 and a Nikon 28-300 lens @ 40mm. I used my old Slik 88 tripod from back in the day (I still love that tripod) and the basic triggers that came with the £99 studio flash kit. The additional speedlight on the background was a Nikon SB910.Inspiration
I had an old catering water boiler that was dead. I loved the little tap that was on the front and asked my hubby to remove it for me as I had an idea for it. I like quirky images, out of the ordinary pictures that you want to look at for more than a milli-second. I'd been practicing water drops and water splashes, but they weren't exciting enough and so I wanted to do something a bit more arty farty.....The thing that stumped me with this shoot was what to put the melon on. I tried a few things but it didn't look rustic enough, and the melon was a bit heavy with all the plumbing lol. In the end I made a small hay bale by sticking hay from my rabbit's supply onto a cardboard box. The box also hid the tubing through the melon quite nicely.Editing
To be honest, I made a boo boo and didn't make sure that the black backdrop was super clean, so I had to spend a good half hour using the healing brush getting rid of dust caused by the hay, and some other bits n bobs like small pet hairs. I was so annoyed with myself over this , but you live and learn. I adjusted colour and added a little sharpening using the highpass filter (my preferred method).In my camera bag
Oh dear....here goes. My Nikon D800 and 28-80 lens is my go to combo for digital. I find that this covers most of what I need to do these days. I have lenses I rarely use, like a Sigma 50-500, which only comes out for wildlife shoots. Depending on subject matter I'll take my 100mm macro which is great for portraits too, and a 14mm wide angle which I find great for architecture and quirky angles. I still love shooting film and developing it at home, so a Bronica ETRS could sneak in there somewhere or a Mamiya C3 and a 35mm for good measure. I constantly carry a small Fuji X10 in my pocket just incase I come across something and I don't have my main gear with me.Feedback
Just have a go, get those ideas out of your head and onto a memory card or film. I laughed like a drain doing this, oh and plenty of towels. I can't tell you how much pink water I got on the carpet. I used a 12 pump to feed the water through the melon and it came out way faster than I anticipated. As I mentioned above, I planned the shoot and took a few hours to set it up. It was a one shot deal really as I had to flick the switch for the water to flow and take some shots before switching it off not to flood the floor (which I did).......... exciting!
