Capturing the exact moment a falling object splashes into liquid can produce amazing photos, but to get good results you’ll need sound camera skills, the right kit, and a good deal of patience. In this splash photography tutorial we’re going to show you how to shoot a staple of TV cereal ads – the classic combo of strawberries and milk.
The aim is to freeze the motion of the falling strawberry at the split second it breaks the surface of the milk for spectacular close-up splash photography.
It’s not an exact science; you might nail the shot on your first try or your hundredth, but that’s all part of the fun!
As well as the strawberries and milk, you’ll need a tripod and a flashgun. Frontal flash destroys depth, and depth is exactly what we need in order to capture the contours of the splashing milk, so we’ll light the splash from the side by firing the flash off-camera.
We also need to make sure the flash duration is short, in order to freeze the motion without blur.
We need to pre-focus on the spot where we intend the strawberry to hit – this will be our ‘drop zone’. Place a small, heavy object in the milk, then focus on it and switch the lens to Manual focus to lock it.
Next we need to make sure we land precisely on this spot: here we’ve rigged a wire hanger directly above the spot, so that when we drop the strawberry through the loop it’ll land within the plane of focus.
We’ve used a Gloxy flash to light the scene, positioned to the left and angled down from above. We can trigger the unit using our DSLR’s pop-up flash. First set the flashgun to act as a slave – this means it’ll fire when another flash triggers it.
Next open the pop-up flash, go to the Built-in Flash options in the Flash Control menu, and dial in a low flash power of 1/128. Our pop-up flash will now trigger the flashgun, and it’ll also act as a fill flash to lift the shadows.
If we fire the flash directly at the strawberry it’ll create harsh shadows, so we’ve used a diffuser to soften the light.
A five-way reflector comes in handy here; we positioned the diffuser between the flash and the tray to soften the light, and placed the reflector’s soft silver case opposite the flash to bounce some of the light back into the shadows.
To capture splash photography without motion blur we need a very short flash duration. This is easier to achieve with a low flash power, so set the flash to Manual at around 1/8, set your camera to Manual and fire some test shots to determine the exposure (1/250 sec at f/18, ISO400 here).
Keep the ambient light to a minimum by turning off lights and closing curtains, so the flash alone captures the action.
When you’re ready, hold the strawberry with your finger poised on the shutter, then drop it and try to capture it on impact. Fish the strawberry out, dab it with a bit of kitchen paper so it looks clean for the next shot, then try again.
What we’re looking for is a nice clean splash, and a mostly visible strawberry. Be prepared to work at it; it took us about an hour, and 140 shots, to capture three or four good splash photography frames!
The aim is to freeze the motion of the falling strawberry at the split second it breaks the surface of the milk for spectacular close-up splash photography.
It’s not an exact science; you might nail the shot on your first try or your hundredth, but that’s all part of the fun!
We also need to make sure the flash duration is short, in order to freeze the motion without blur.
Splash photography step-by-step: 1-3
01 Set up the shot
Fill a wide tray with milk. Things can get a little messy, so lie a towel underneath, and keep plenty of kitchen paper to hand. Mount your camera on a tripod and compose the shot, using a long focal length so you can keep the camera away from the spray of milk.
It’s hard to predict how far the splash will spread, so frame the shot loosely; you can crop in tighter later if necessary.
02 Pre-focus
We need to pre-focus on the spot where we intend the strawberry to hit – this will be our ‘drop zone’. Place a small, heavy object in the milk, then focus on it and switch the lens to Manual focus to lock it.
Next we need to make sure we land precisely on this spot: here we’ve rigged a wire hanger directly above the spot, so that when we drop the strawberry through the loop it’ll land within the plane of focus.
03 Light the splash
We’ve used a Gloxy flash to light the scene, positioned to the left and angled down from above. We can trigger the unit using our DSLR’s pop-up flash. First set the flashgun to act as a slave – this means it’ll fire when another flash triggers it.
Next open the pop-up flash, go to the Built-in Flash options in the Flash Control menu, and dial in a low flash power of 1/128. Our pop-up flash will now trigger the flashgun, and it’ll also act as a fill flash to lift the shadows.
04 Diffuse the light
If we fire the flash directly at the strawberry it’ll create harsh shadows, so we’ve used a diffuser to soften the light.
A five-way reflector comes in handy here; we positioned the diffuser between the flash and the tray to soften the light, and placed the reflector’s soft silver case opposite the flash to bounce some of the light back into the shadows.
05 Control flash power
To capture splash photography without motion blur we need a very short flash duration. This is easier to achieve with a low flash power, so set the flash to Manual at around 1/8, set your camera to Manual and fire some test shots to determine the exposure (1/250 sec at f/18, ISO400 here).
Keep the ambient light to a minimum by turning off lights and closing curtains, so the flash alone captures the action.
06 Drop and shoot
When you’re ready, hold the strawberry with your finger poised on the shutter, then drop it and try to capture it on impact. Fish the strawberry out, dab it with a bit of kitchen paper so it looks clean for the next shot, then try again.
What we’re looking for is a nice clean splash, and a mostly visible strawberry. Be prepared to work at it; it took us about an hour, and 140 shots, to capture three or four good splash photography frames!
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