The frozen leaves also create interesting patterns and textures in the ice. And a bonus is that leaves in ice can be done in the comfort of your own home without having to brave the cold!

Supplies

Apart from your camera (and you could use a phone camera), you will need the following;

• a plastic container to fit your leaves
• water (tap, distilled or demineralised – all will give different effects)
• an assortment of leaves
• ice cubes.

Look for different shapes and colours of autumn leaves; you can even add some gum nuts or acorns. Both tap, distilled and demineralised water will work. However, demineralised water will be less cloudy than tap or distilled water. However, I have found that tap water also becomes clearer as the ice starts to melt.

Method

Freeze around 5cm (1 inch) of water in your container. When frozen, take the container from the freezer and arrange your leaves on top of the ice.

Next, place a couple of ice cubes on top of each leaf. This will keep them in place and stop them from floating when you add more water. Once you complete step 5, the ice cubes become almost invisible, but they add more detail to the ice block.

Note: With the flowers in 2020, I just added a couple of mm of water to anchor them, but the leaves are much lighter and float, hence the ice cubes hack.

Add a small amount of water to the container,  just a cm or so, to ‘glue’ the leaves into ice when it freezes. Return the container to the freezer

Final step – Take the frozen container from the freezer and top it up with water to cover the leaves by a cm or so. Return to freezer.

Photographing the ice block

Once your block of leaves in ice is frozen solid, it’s time to have some fun. If using a camera, you can use a standard lens or macro. The back (or bottom) of the block is the best side to photograph as the air bubbles start there; it’s also perfectly flat and smooth, and it’s closest to the leaves.

Flash really won’t work with the ice, though you can use soft boxes, paying careful attention to reflections or hot spots. However, I prefer natural light. You can set it up in front of a window with well-diffused light (or outside if you have a good, flat surface). If doing it inside against a window, you need one where the sun isn’t shining directly on the block. Take your block from the freezer, and leave it on the bench for 5-10 mins, allowing it to melt just enough to pop out cleanly or run some cool water over the back of the container, and it will pop straight out.

Setting up the shoot

If photographing inside, place a small table in front of the window, and if using a glass-top table, place a folded paper towel under the block. It will stop it from it sliding. Putting a bath towel or paper towel under the table to absorb the melting water is also a good idea. Stand the block upright on the paper towel so the block is backlit. You can also photograph the leaves in ice straight down with the block on a towel, but the colour of the towel will show through, so give some thought to that. I prefer it upright, so the light brings out all the bubbles and cracks in the ice. It also nicely highlights the leaf veins when backlit.

The weather was a balmy 30C the day I took my shots, so I stood the block on the veranda railing outside. It gave me good filtered light and no mess with the water dripping onto the garden bed below. I ran off some shots and left it for half an hour, shot some more and left it again.

Settings

F11 to F16 will give you the best depth of field

ISO 100-400

Shutter speed – watch the highlights, but if backlighting, overexpose by about 0.7 so your leaves aren’t in shadow.

You will need a longer shutter speed depending on the light in the room, so place your camera on a tripod. However, it’s more important to have a good depth of field than a faster shutter. So stay between F11 and F16 and adjust the shutter speed accordingly. For all images above, I used aperture priority.

Once you have taken enough shots with the solid ice, allow it to melt naturally or speed things up with a hairdryer. You will get different images as it melts and partially exposes the leaves. The detail also comes out in the leaves more as it melts and becomes thinner.

Editing your shots

I edit in Photoshop, but Lightroom’s slider settings are the same. Bring the highlights down to -100, Shadows +25, Texture +30, Clarity +25, Dehaze +16 and Vibrance +50. In Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw (ACR), you can synchronise the settings across all the images to save having to edit one by one.

Syncing in Lightroom

• Make the changes to your first image either using your favourite preset or the slider suggestions above.
• While the first image is highlighted, click and highlight the other images you want to edit by holding down the SHIFT key (CMD on a Mac) and then clicking on the last image you want to edit.
• Click the Sync button, which is found on the lower right-hand side of the screen at the bottom of the Develop Panels.
• A synchronise settings menu will pop up. Just click Synchronise
• The same settings will be applied to all images.

Syncing in Photoshop ACR

• Adjust the sliders using the settings above or your preferred preset/settings
• Right-click on the image in the filmstrip and click ‘copy edit settings.’
• with the first image still highlighted right, click on the last image in the filmstrip and select “paste edit settings”
• Next, click Open (or open as Object if you prefer to work with smart objects)
• from here, you can edit with your regular workflow

Frozen leaves are a beautiful and fascinating natural phenomenon that occurs naturally during the winter months in colder climates. However, they can still be photographed in warmer climates using the above method. While they may seem simple at first glance, frozen leaves are complex structures with intricate patterns and colours. Whether you’re a nature enthusiast, a photographer, or just someone who enjoys the beauty of winter, frozen leaves are definitely worth exploring and admiring.

The post Unleash the Magic: Tips for Capturing Photos of Leaves in Ice appeared first on Bevlea Ross Photography.

Types of Abstract Photography

• Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)
• Light painting
• Bokeh
• Oil and water
• Reflections
• Macro
• Double Exposure
• High-speed water/paint drops

Key Elements

Abstract photography is one where there is a complete absence of rules. Certain elements, however, will give your abstract image more appeal.

• Simplicity – aim for an uncluttered image, therefore, one without a lot of elements
• Composition – while the rule of thirds doesn’t apply, the abstract image has a clear structural design. Accordingly, give thought to the image’s shapes, patterns, textures, and colours.
• Perspective – shoot from unusual angles, flip or rotate the image to provide an exciting orientation.
• Light – backlighting, shadows and silhouettes create mystery in your image.
• Colour – vibrant colours that work well with each other

Take or Make?

While you can take an image – you can also make abstract images in photoshop. One easy and fun technique is twirls using an image you already have. A good tutorial can be found HERE

Tips for beginners

1. Start with everyday household objects
2. Try Intentional Camera Movement – trees or seascapes make great subjects
3. Macro photography works great – e.g a closeup of a petal or leaf edge
4. Experiment with different angles
5. Look for structure in lines and curves
6. Apply the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid) – minimise the elements.
7. Use photoshop or lightroom to add effects.

The post Abstract Photography – Unleash Your Creativity appeared first on Bevlea Ross Photography.

Gathering Your Subjects

A show-worthy garden is not required to photograph flowers. Look to your own or your neighbour’s garden. Pop into your local nursery and photograph their blooms (if you aren’t in lockdown). Take the camera on your walk and photograph the blossoms or wattle. Keep a pr of scissors in your pocket, and if you want to take a cutting home, you can snip a piece off from the blossom or wattle trees on the nature strips or parks as you go by. If you have no garden, a bunch of mixed flowers from the supermarket is a great place to start. Look for daises, lilies, daffodils, Gerbera, and sweet williams.

Outdoors

Consider wind when deciding what, when and where to photograph. A tripod is highly recommended using a macro lens, but this won’t help if it’s breezy and the flowers move like crazy. If your flowers won’t hold still – cut them and take them to a sheltered spot or indoors. Early morning or late afternoon will give you the best light and avoid the harsh shadows of the middle of the day when it’s sunny. Indoors you have more control over lighting.

Light

Natural light or flash? I prefer non-flash – so that the light is softer, and I prefer to compensate with a longer shutter speed on a tripod. If you use a flash (or a torch), direct the light to the background, not the flower, to reduce your shadows on the flower. Indoors, filtered side light from a southwest-facing window works a treat in either early morning or late afternoon. Lacey curtains will create exciting patterns while sheers will diffuse the light. A small reflector allows you to bounce light back to the darkest side. Don’t have one? An economical alternative is to cover a piece of cardboard with aluminium foil.

Composition

Fill the frame? Patterns, textures? Also, consider the plane of focus. For example, if you are photographing down into a flower with a deep centre, such as a lily or a rose, the stamens will focus while the side walls are out of focus.

Depth of Field

Do you want all the flowers in focus or just a part of it? If you use a macro, you will only get a narrow slice in focus regardless of your aperture; if you want more of the flowers in focus when shooting with a macro, consider focus stacking. With a zoom lens, more or all of the flowers will be in focus if using an F-stop or F7 or more. The silkiness of the background bokeh will depend on the lens utilised – and how far away from the flower the background is.

Inside or out?

With spring being windy – and lockdown limiting movement options – this is my preferred go-to at the moment. For this post, I picked up a bunch of flowers from the supermarket, gathered my tools and set them up near a window. I used a macro and my walkaround lens for the shots, and focus stacked the macro shots. With the camera on a tripod, I wasn’t concerned about shutter speed – I set the ISO to 200, the F stop to between 5.0 and 7 depending on which lens was on the camera, and I just adjusted the shutter until the exposure was correct.

Handy Tools To Have for indoor shoots.

• Printed backgrounds – I made mine in photoshop and blurred them to give me a silky DOF, but you can also use wrapping paper, placemats etc. You can also place flowers behind your main subject as a background. To start you off with printed backgrounds, there are four free ones to download at the end of this post. The ones I used were printed on A4 180gsm matt photo paper – there is no need for a large sheet when photographing a single flower.
• Bulldog clips to hold your backgrounds
• Pegs and Memo holders to hold a single flower or backdrop. slide a piece cut from a drinking straw or heat tube over the teeth, so they don’t crush the flower stem
• a specimen holder – I made my own with a mini tripod, alligator clip, and heat shrink plastic tube (thanx for the tip Stewart Wood)
• a glass (no water) to hold a single flower
• Vase or water to hold your flowers and keep them from wilting while working

Setup and my Final Shots

Each split screen below shows the setup – and the finished shot. There is no hard and fast rule I follow… most of the time, the backgrounds do stand up ok.. sometimes, I have to handhold. I haven’t glued them to more robust cardboard as the photo paper is double-sided, so I printed the background on each side… it’s not a huge problem to get them to stand up. I think a small easel might do the trick for the odd one that won’t play nice 😉

Setup One

This was the most straightforward setup of all. First, place your bloom in a glass to support it upright (no water needed). Next, choose your background, put it behind the image, and shoot. Support your printed background with a couple of large bulldog clips as stands; if using wrapping paper, try blue tac to attach it to the wall behind your flower. Then zoom in on the part of the flower you want to shoot… or use the macro.

Setup Two

For this shot, I held the Gerbera upright using two clothes pegs. My greenery behind was held with memo and bulldog clips, and my little specimen stand and another bulldog clip held the backdrop in place.

Setup Three

Bit of a lazy effort with setup Three. I used the Gerbera again – this time in the glass with the pegs holding it straight up in the middle of the glass. This background didn’t want to stand up, so I handheld it and took the shot.

Setup Four

I chose another Gerbera with setup number four and again situated it in the glass, held in place with pegs. However, I had to raise the glass a bit for this one with a book to get the part of the background I wanted in the right place. So again, I lowered the tripod, and shot with the macro, shot level with and side onto the flower.

I hope you enjoyed the Techniques for Flower Photography – at the bottom of the post are your free backgrounds.

Click the button below to download your four free backgrounds. It’s a zip file, so you will need WinRar or Winzip to unzip it. Both programs are free to download

The post Techniques for Flower Photography appeared first on Bevlea Ross Photography.

Macro-photography

Macro photography is extreme close-up photography, usually of insects or flowers. It is also used in creative photography, such as water refractions and oil and water. While a macro lens will help, if you don’t have one you can also do macro photography with extension tubes (avail from eBay and Amazon) or with a closeup lens from Nisi

In Australia, we are coming to the tail end of glorious autumn. Pleasant sunny days, with just a light breeze, blue skies and lovely autumnal trees. The trees are dropping their leaves like crazy now, and winter will soon be upon us. I hate the cold months and tend to hibernate inside where it’s warm over the depths of winter, so I decided to play with various macro subjects in the coming months and do a series of posts with macro my subject.

Plan A

Considering that veritable carpet of leaves on the ground outside, I thought I would start with autumn leaves and skeleton leaves. While I could should have gone to the shop, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I decided to gather some leaves from all the trees out front and make my own. A couple of youtube videos later, I was bravely boiling leaves in the kitchen. There’s not a photo to be had of this as it was an absolute disaster. Totally didn’t go to plan. While the saucepan survived, the leaves didn’t, and the whole soggy mess ended up in the bin the next day.

Plan B

More googling and YouTubing, I found another method of making leaves – this one involved simply placing them in water and leaving them that way for around 21 days (with frequent water changes). So I now have a container of floating leaves here in the studio. In 21 days, we’ll see if they join their fellow leaves in the bin. This, however, meant I couldn’t do any skeleton leaf macro shots.

Plan C

In the face of total failure and the absence of skeleton leaves, I retreated to Youtube, licking my wounds and went seeking further inspiration. Many more videos later, I had a shopping list, and eBay has put me back on their Christmas card list. I am off on a mini road trip next week to outback NSW, so hubby has been conscripted into doing a daily run to the post office to pick up parcels while I am gone—the things you can buy online ;).

In The meantime

While waiting for supplies and packing for our trip, I made up some more textured backgrounds to use in the macro shots I have planned. I have a strong gaussian blur on them, though, as I wanted them (mainly) creamy smooth.

In the next few posts I’ll cover my outback trip, then get stuck into the macro.

The post Well That Didn’t Go To Plan appeared first on Bevlea Ross Photography.

Autumn Locations in Victoria

However, within Victoria, we are lucky to have several fantastic gardens of deciduous trees that create a riot of colour in autumn. Except for Tieve Tara and Cloudehill, all are free to enter.

• Alfred Nicholas Gardens, Mount Dandenong
• George Tindale Memorial Garden
• Cloudehill, Dandenong Ranges
• RJ Hamer Arboretum
• Bright and Wandilgong
• Tieve Tara, Mount Macedon
• Honour Avenue, Mount Macedon
• Maroondah Reservoir Park
• Glenlyon, 20 minutes from Daylesford
• Valley of Liquidambers, Heathcote

When is the best time to shoot?

In Victoria, the leaves usually don’t turn till mid-April. We need 2-3 cold nights before they start to turn en masse. Time of day-wise, hands down, the best shooting time is during golden hour. The hour before sunrise or sunset will have warmer light, enhancing all the leaves’ reds, yellows, and orange. If it’s overcast with no light coming through, you will need to be a bit more creative with the editing process.

Lenses

While I mainly shoot autumn in a focal range of 24-70mm – pack the macro when you head out – while a macro of leaves is on the cards, it’s not just leaves that may attract your attention. Tramping through trees at Mount Macedon we came across an exoskeleton of a cicada.

Settings

I like to keep my ISO low – most of the time, I am shooting around ISO 200 – and never above 400. I find it easier to avoid noise in images to start with – rather than fix it in post. To bring the leaves out and have them pop against a blurred background, I usually shoot between F1.4 to F2.8 – only going up to F9 and above if I am shooting a pano. Shutter speed will always depend on available light – but if it’s going to be longer than I can hold, I pop the camera on the tripod.

Backlighting

Photographing the branches and leaves, backlit by the sun, will bring out the detail/veins on the leaves. Go for a Fstop of higher than F16 to get a sunburst.

Use a circular polariser

A circular polariser is an essential addition to your kit for autumn. It will pump up the colour and contrast of the leaves and the blue sky. A bonus is it will remove the shine off the leaves or ground if it’s been wet. If you decide to shoot leaves floating in water – it will also remove the glare off the water.

Orton Effect

The Orton effect is one I sparingly use – but when I do, it’s for autumn landscapes. Basically, it’s a glow added to your images in post-production. Photographer Michael Orton created it, and he used it in his film photography, layering two images on top of each other. One in focus, one brighter, slightly out of focus. When combined, this created an image that was both sharp yet blurry. While it shouldn’t be used on everything – it can make your autumn shots pop.

I have created a free action for you to download if you would like to try it. It will work on both mac and pc – download, unzip and add to photoshop. It is a zipped file, and you will need to unzip it. If you don’t have an unzip program I suggest using Winrar its easy, safe and free. When you have run the action – adjust the opacity of the layer to your liking.

White Balance

While most of us shoot with auto WB, with autumn shots, it’s better to use a slightly warmer WB – around 6000 kelvin. If you don’t want to or don’t remember to change your WB before you shoot – you can adjust it in LR or Photoshop during your editing process. Move the temperature slider to a higher kelvin number. The left (blue) will make your image cooler – to the right (yellow) will warm the image. Be careful not to overdo it – if you shoot jpeg, it’s just a tiny amount – if you shoot raw, I have used anywhere up to 7000 kelvin depending on the image.

Below is a shot of the Laburnum Steps at Breenhold Gardens, Mount Wilson. RAW, and straight out of the camera, it leaves a lot to be desired. I warmed the WB to 7000k and increased the vibrance +50 and saturation +25

Look for Subject Seperation

When you are in among the trees, look to separate your subject from the background. Early morning fog or mist is great for this – otherwise, try a low F stop – around F4 or lower to keep your main subject sharp – but a bit of blur to the background.

Contrast is good

Colour is good… great even – but look for contrasting colours to make the leaves stand out. A green shrub in a sea of yellow and orange or dark tree trunks in among the riot of leaves

Autumn is a great time to be out with a camera. It’s actually my favourite season. The days are a bit shorter – so sunrise and sunset are at a bit more civilised time, and autumn is known to turn on some amazing sunsets. The weather is still pleasant but not as hot, and we haven’t hit the cold of winter or the rain and wind of spring yet. Add natures glorious colours, and what’s not to love?

The post Autumn Photography – Capturing the Colour appeared first on Bevlea Ross Photography.

Long Arm Of The Law

Officer Peter Pickle and Officer Randal Relish looked at each other in confusion.  Officer Relish then asked, “do you have anything on you to show you are a Queensland resident?” Tom said, “would a letter from an elder in my mob do?” reaching into the back of his pants, Tom produced a warm, crumpled, beer, and wine-soaked letter with ketchup stains splashed over it that Beryl had knocked up in her kitchen for him. He leaned over and made to hand it through to the window towards them. Both officers looked horrified at what Tom was handing them. He brusquely said, “on your way,” as they quickly zapped the windows up and drove off in a cloud of dust.

Grinning broadly, Tom waited till they vanished in the distance and then rode into St George. While there, he sold his bike at Cash Converters before heading to the backpacker hostel on foot. Once at the hotel, he put his name on the board for a lift to Roma before joining a group of Swedish tourists in the garden.

Charters Towers

Tom picked up a lift with two french girls heading to Charters Towers and rode with them as far as Roma.  In Roma, he started to make his way to the self-storage unit that held the last items he had bought.  He passed a vintage car display and stopped to look, several times getting in the way of the photographers.  He knew this because they kept asking him to move out of their shot. 

Walking around looking at the cars, he noticed a blue police phone box in the distance and had a chuckle to himself, thinking Queenslanders really are backward if the police still use those old blue phone boxes.

Travels with the Doctor

Tom wandered around the car festival and walked past the blue phone box – just as an odd-looking chap with bushy eyebrows popped out the door. Introducing himself as John Smith, he began chatting to Tom and invited him inside. After a brief explanation, and once Tom got over it was bigger on the inside, John, who called himself The Doctor, offered him a chance to travel with him. Always up for an adventure, Tom jumped at the chance. They left Roma on Sept 28th, 2020, at 4 pm. Tom and John travelled together for two years, with Tom having many more amazing adventures before dropping him back in Roma at 4.04 pm on Sept 28th, 2025. By now, COVID had all but disappeared save for the odd outbreak among the conspiracy theorists who refused to be vaccinated.

Tom picked up his car and caravan from the self-storage (Bill, who had access to Toms bank, had kept the account up the date while he was travelling with John) and headed off up the road towards Airlie Beach, whereby now, Bill and Beryl had retired. At Airlie Beach, Tom and Bill bought a bar and backpacker hostel. Tom became a popular figure around town, entertaining all with his ‘tall tales of his amazing adventures. Sitting on his porch one day, he mused, “maybe I should write a book. I’ll call it Toms Amazing Adventures”.

The End

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Trying for Queensland

Tom was not happy. He had placed one extra order. One that he had forgotten to mention to Bill after he had set off from Victoria. The problem was, however, that and it hadn’t arrived. It was absolutely essential to his border crossing into Qld. This meant the crossing would be delayed until it came. Damn Australia Post! Tom had ordered in plenty of time. He estimated it had been sitting at the Sydney sorting centre for the last nine days without moving. Beryl had put in an inquiry about it three days ago -but there had been no response to that either. 

While it was lovely staying with Beryl and Bill, he was getting nervous about being in the one spot for so long. Additionally, each day increased the risk to Bill and Beryl. To take his mind off it, Bill suggested they train and go for a bike ride. Saturday morning Bill and Tom were up early. Bill had the family over later that day for a BBQ, and Beryl insisted the lawn be mowed first. Tom tried to help, but he was still sulking about his Australia Post delivery not arriving yet. 

While Bill and his family were outside for the BBQ, Tom stayed in his room to not be seen and rang ahead to Roma to make sure that everything was for his arrival there. Thankfully Bert assured him everything was fine – and the delay was not a problem.

A weekend waiting

Bill and Beryl were late up on Sunday, and both were a bit under the weather. “Too much sun yesterday”, Bill insisted. Tom had his doubts as he had noticed Bill put up shade umbrella’s in the afternoon. The three of them had a long discussion over lunch that day. Tom was sure there was no hope of the parcel arriving tomorrow, as the tracking hadn’t moved in ten days. In fact, he was now sure Australia Post had lost his package but felt it was best to push on and head for the border. Bill and Beryl suggested he wait one more day and cross on Tuesday night. The parcel may come Monday or Tuesday – but Tuesday would probably be quieter at the border than Monday. Tom thought about it and agreed. 

Lightning Ridge

The next was Monday, and Bill and Beryl both had to work. Bill went off to the apple orchard, and Beryl was caddying for Tiny Woods, who was in town for an exhibition match.

That afternoon, they all went to the Lightning Ridge water park. It was quiet, and they had the place almost to themselves as a Monday.

Paranoia sets in

During the day, the internet was down while the NBN crew worked on the pit. Bill was concerned it could be an undercover border patrol crew and kept an eye on them, but a few hours later, the crew packed up and left, and the internet came on. False alarm.

The Night Crossing

That night –  Bill woke Tom at 2 am and said it was time to go. So they drove up the backroads towards the border, and Bill pulled over the side of the road when they turn came up on the right. They sat there in the dark for a few minutes, allowing their eyes to adjust to the total darkness and ensure no other cars were passing to see them.

Positive they were alone, Tom reached into the back seat and pulled out two sets of night vision goggles. The Wolfcub Explorer 3M Thermal Monocular would work in total darkness and allow Bill to drive with no headlights up the narrow dirt road towards the border. They both put them on, pulled out, and turned up Angledool Road and took another dirt road to the end.

Alone

From here on, Tom was on his own. The darkness was absolute. With the fuse removed from the interior lights, not even that glowed weakly as Tom got out of the car into the scrub and removed the mountain bike from the bike rack. As Tom road off, using the night vision goggles to see, Bill turned the car around and drove back the way they had come.

It was just after 3 am and Tom had about three hours of darkness to get across the border.

Tom rode through the night without stopping. He drank from the water bladder in his backpack as he rode when thirsty. The night vision goggles revealed nothing apart from the odd startled kangaroo in the dense bush as he rode past them. Staying off the road in the scrub, he was almost to Dirranbandi by dawn. He had bypassed Hebel as he thought police might be patrolling there, being as it was the first from the border once in Qld.

Next Morning

Skirting around the outskirts of Dirranbandi, he joined up with a remote dirt road that would take him to St George. By now, the sun was coming up, so he rode down to the dried-up river bed, where he sat under a red gum and ate the sandwiches from his backpack that Beryl had made him the night before. Finished with his breakfast, he hopped back on his bike and started cycling towards St George. In the bike’s rearview mirror, he saw a cloud of dust approaching, and from the dust emerged a police patrol car.

The post Tom’s Amazing Adventures Pt. 3 appeared first on Bevlea Ross Photography.

Translucent fruit – is thinly sliced kiwi fruit, lemons, limes, oranges, and onions photographed on a light table. Being so thinly sliced the light illuminates the detail of your subject and creates unique and interesting images of the food. Yes, I know, the longer this lockdown goes on the more inventive we have to get. Don’t judge me.

Supplies

You actually need very few items for this, apart from your camera and tripod, you just need a light table and sliced food. Be careful when you go searching to buy a light pad or table- a lot of light tents come up under the heading light table in eBay. That’s not what you need.

My Light Pad

I first purchased an A4 Lightpad on eBay for $21 but it had a fine black mesh under the glass when I turned it on. Which was fine for tracing etc, but not what I wanted it for. The young great-niece was happy to get it though. Next, I purchased an A3 light pad from Amazon for $55 which works a treat. It gives a lovely soft, even light that’s not too bright, wipes clean easily, is and only 3mm thick making it simple to store when I am not using it. It works via a USB cord to your laptop, PC or into a USB charger or Powerbank.

I gathered together some kiwi fruit, red onions, lemon and oranges, then sliced each of them up. My slices were about 3mm thick. I placed the cut food on a paper towel to absorb some of the moisture while I setup. It was then just a simple matter of arranging on the light pad – and taking the shots. I used my 12-100 Olympus lens for the shots with the tripod on the table over the lightpad, shooting downwards.

All were shot in manual mode, on F7.1, ISO 200, 1/80 sec and around a focal length 60mm. I also shot on a table next to filtered window light.

Supplies to make your own

If you don’t want to spring for a light pad you can make your own.

• A box around A4 to A3 size- this could be a cardboard box or a smallish plastic storage tub
• Foil
• Utility Knife
• Duct Tape and Sellotape
• White tissue paper
• A piece of glass (cheapest and easiest is the buy a photo frame and remove the glass)
• A light source – you could use a torch or white battery operated Christmas lights
• Ruler

Making the Light Table

1. Measure around 3cm in from the edge of your box lid on all four sides and cut the centre out with the utility knife
2. Line the inside of your box with foil
3. If using battery-operated Christmas lights place them in the box and space them out so the light is evenly dispersed. Tape them in place. If using a torch, cut a circle out of the side of the box to insert the torch head into.
4. Tape white tissue paper to the underside of your glass
5. Place the glass over the lid of the box and tape down.
6. That’s it! now just turn the light on and have some fun!

Photographing the Food

Again, I chose a kiwi fruit, a lemon and a red onion and photographed the same I did with the light pad.

I shot with the Olympus OM-EM Mi MII and the 12-100 lens. You can use a macro if you like – but it’s not essential unless you want super close-ups.

Comparing the two – I definitely preferred the light pad to the box I made as the light was more even. However, I was using a single torch in the box and improvement could probably be made by using a couple of torches or the clear Christmas lights. Using a light table for photography can be a fun and easy afternoon activity.

The post Using a Light Table for Photography appeared first on Bevlea Ross Photography.

Supplies

• A glass dish. Size is a personal choice but the bigger the dish the bigger the image. I used a rectangular glass pyrex dish from Ikea. It’s particularly good for this type of thing as the logo is in the corner, not the centre of the dish as they usually are. So its easy to avoid including the logo in the image but any glass dish will work if its deep enough
• Glass cleaner (to clean your glass), paper towels or old towel
• Camera with macro lens or lens with macro extension tubes
• Tripod
• Cooking oil – any sort will do from olive oil, canola, vegetable, rice oil. they all work the same
• Dishwashing liquid
• Bright coloured backgrounds – wrapping paper, coloured patterned fabric, your iPad with a bright wallpaper on it. The brighter your backgrounds are the better. Don’t worry about the patterns on them – the backgrounds will be blurred out. Just go for bright colours.
• Something to stand your dish on. I used a photo frame with just the glass left in the frame. You can create legs from tins or cans or soft drink. Two wooden chairs also work. You need to be able to create a bridge to sit your dish on with the coloured backgrounds underneath

The Setup

Place your coloured background on a table or bench, and create the supports for your dish with the tins or chairs. If using chairs, you will need to place your background on a stack of books, so it’s not too far from the dish. You need it approximately 20-25 cms below the glass. I downloaded some colourful wallpapers to the iPad and used them under the setup for my backgrounds. Check out the free downloads at Wallpaperplay.com.

Fill your glass dish with water, almost to the top ( fill when it’s in place rather than fill and move). The more water you use, the deeper it is, the more it will hide the manufacturer’s logo on your dish.

Next, add some dishwashing liquid; just a dessert spoon is usually enough. This makes the bubbles more vibrant and makes them rounder and a bit thicker. Again, it’s not essential – you can work without dishwashing liquid, but I like how it makes the bubbles more 3D rather than flat.

Adding the Oil

Lastly, add your oil. How much is a personal choice and very much based on the size of your dish. With more oil, the more bubbles and less negative space. The larger the surface area of your dish, the more oil you will need. Start by adding a couple of tablespoons but ended up using just under a 1/4 cup. It was a big dish. I also found the oil bubbles tended to gravitate to the edges of the dish. It’s easier to add more oil bit by bit than have to start again if you have added too much.

Give your concoction a gentle stir to break the oil up. If your bubbles are too big, add a bit of dishwashing liquid and stir again. The more you stir, the more the bubbles will break up and become smaller. Stir gently as you don’t wash dishwashing liquid bubbles. If you want giant bubbles, go easy on the stirring. It does take a while for everything to stop moving after you’ve stirred. I waited, and waited… then left, made a cuppa, and came back ten mins later.

I shot with Olympus and used the 60mm macro. A macro is really essential for these types of shots. You can get away with a standard lens, but you will have to crop heavily. If you don’t want to invest in a macro lens, extension tubes also work and are quite inexpensive.

Camera Settings

In manual mode, I set the camera to F2.8 (it was the lowest my macro would go), ISO 200, and the shutter speed to the correct exposure for the available light, which in my case was 1/100. I then added +2 for exposure compensation to be nice a bright. A longer exposure isn’t a problem (but the moving bubbles are, so wait for them to settle a little each time you stir them). Next, attach the camera to the tripod, place it over the setup (carefully), and ensure the camera is shooting straight down. Try not to bump the dish, or everything will start moving again.

Focus on the bubbles!

Using live view, focus on the bubbles, not the water. This will ensure your background is nicely blurred and the bubbles are the star. Fire off some shots, move the camera around to shoot different sections of your dish as well as giving the liquid a very gentle stroke from time to time to move the bubbles to a different composition, and change the backgrounds out regularly

I shot around 200 images during my oil and water photography session and ended up deleting lots, as some were very similar, and in others, the bubbles weren’t as sharp as I would have liked. However, my tally at the end was 29 keepers, so it’s a lot of gain for a simple setup. So, while you have it all set up, shoot as many as you can.

Editing

Editing was minimal. I imported it into Photoshop and slightly increased the exposure, vibrance, contrast, and dehaze. Then it was a light sharpen and crop. I used the spot healing brush to edit out stray tiny bubbles for more negative space in some cases.

I also gave the back a rest (you cant avoid stooping over the setup), left it overnight. Then, the next day, I came back and gently dragged some shapes into strands rather than bubbles with a fingernail.

I found Oil and Water photography surprisingly easy and loads of fun. It’s something you can do at home without any extra supplies. And definitely not as hard on the back as the Water Refraction drops were.

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