Last week, my relative had an assignment to photograph and record a short movie on ink being poured into water. I was stunned by the simplicity of what was going on in the images from a technical point, contrasted with the beautiful complexity of the lines/curves the ink was creating as it flowed through the water. I immediately knew I had to try this by myself, and I was thrilled that I had a fun project that will only take two hours, and a couple of days later I decided to do it. On the first trial I used ink, as its easy to work with. The preparation phase is the hardest part and takes most of the time, but once its done, every thing is easy, you will just drop the ink and release the shutter.
Two days later, I thought maybe it was better to use acrylic paint diluted with water to create different designs and shapes, and the results were completely different.
I used the same settings, equipments, and lighting system that I used in the ink pouring process, but the project turned out to be quite time consuming and needs a lot of patience and effort. Each pour required me to use clean water, and you have to be sure that you are not diluting the paint too much or you will refill the tank over and over again. I pour a small amount of the acrylic paint into a cup and dilute it with a very small amount of water, then test it on a small glass first.
With the paint ready, I grabbed the camera release in one hand, while pouring the paint into the water with the other. I’ shoot a lot of frames for each pour, till it spreads out. Once I was done shooting, I had to empty the tank and refill it again. The final phase is the editing phase, I did a few adjustments, crops and i flipped some photos 180 degrees.
Repeat, repeat, and repeat. This project isn’t for those who lack patience. It is a very nice project and you will have lots of fun trying to do it, and you will be amazed by the results. Enjoy !!
The equipments needed for this project:
1. Fish tank/Container
2. Camera with macro lens.
3.Tripod
4. External lighting with a pocket wizard
5. White/black sheet to use as a background
6. Ink/Dropper
7. Ruler or a bottle to adjust the focus
Here’s the setup i used: The tank was lit with two light strobes on each side set to ¼ power, and a white sheet was placed behind the tank as a background (a black background can be used when using white ink or paint). All the images were shot with a Canon EOS 450D with a EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM lens, set on 80 mm at F/9, the Exposure was set to 1/200, ISO 100, and all were shot in RAW file.
First, you have to set you equipments, place the tank on a stable table, adjust the lighting system, and place the camera infront of the tank, then you have to set your camera to manual focus then adjust it before filling the tank by placing a ruler or a bottle, the ink should be poured in this exact location in order to be in focus. Fill the tank with cold water to cut down any visible minerals, and ink will drop slowly. Then, the fun begins.
Radwa Omar . blog 