I try to get a consistency about as thick as olive oil. I have a blog post with more details on the full process of waterdrop photography here: nicolesy.com/2021/06/08/pluto-trigger-waterdrops/
Hi Nicole, nice tuto. please do more on that topic with setup, gear,.... Will be the conference available as a course ? i have just purchased a pluto trigger + valve for my d750 and didn't dare yet to use xanthan because could block the valve and require tedious maintenance of the beak. I have heard borax is good too. i am between two schools : having several godox flashes triggered by godox Xpro with mirror up and 1/160sec, pluto wired to valve and d750. never tried yet. or, pluto wired to valve and to the flash but pointing the D750 IR sensor and 1sec shutter speed in a black room (so we are sure to get the instant), what i did with some goo results with milk+orange juice mix. no mean to trigger a flash to backdrop... with the ios app of pluto, they say it is the best method for consistent and repetitive timings for collisions. my new Z6ii doesn't have a IR sensor so cannot use method 2.
Hi Marc, in case you haven't seen it yet, I have a blog post with a lot more detail on my waterdrop setup: nicolesyblog.com/2021/06/08/pluto-trigger-waterdrops/
ah super, i followed you for food photography and didn't know you made waterdrop photography. I had a quick look on what i am very concerned : triggering camera and see you make it manually with a cable shutter 3sec. good idea ! with my old d750, pluto triggered d750 in infrared but can't do that with z6ii. Looking currently the new miops with alu noozle which has a second cable to camera. Something not clear on your blog : multiflash (an stand). do you use sometimes multiflash and so in slave mode triggered by IR ? I would be interested to see multiflash setups. I suppose you shoot in dark room even with F11 ? A mystery remains : how first man photography with splash art can use 1/200sec with a cable on camera and camera triggering flashes by radio with shutter delays,... (uses Mup however). Your method is the right one however but requires dark room and long expo not always easy to manage for splashes ...
Hi Nicole, This is very helpful. There are plenty of videos about slash photography but very few about preparing the water. To what would you compare the consistency of the water in the drop tube?
I put mine in a jar and stuck it in the fridge. I don't know how long it lasts, but if I see something growing on it I'll probably toss it and start over ;)
I am an ex-pat Yank who loves Half N Half, but it's often not outside the US (I now live in Sydney AU). Try light whipping crème as it should work about the same. BTW Great ideas, thanks!
@@nicolesy thanks ... does the use of water mixed with xanthan gum could cause the valve drop clogged? How do you fix if you ever have experience the valve drop clogged? thanks again
@@gatotherliyanto2093 I make sure to rinse it out through the valve with clean water after each use. Using additives makes it more likely to clog but gives better results, so IMO it’s worth it.
@@nicolesy does it means after use of mixed water with xanthan gum, the transparant tube is filled with clear water and then rinse the valve drop through running miops through the apps? Thanks for the advice.
In my attempts at this technique I have used an ordinary drinking straw with a waterproof clay base...attach it to the center bottom of bowl and focus on the tip of the straw.
I prefer a matte or non-shiny backdrop. If the flash creates any type of glare or reflection, it could be visible in the water (with the setup I use, at least). I currently use simple thin pieces of colored foam that I found at a craft store, it comes in a pack of several colors. They work really well!
In my opinion the droplets with the xanthan gum mixture looked like a cheap plastic toy as there is no splatter. Whereas the one without the gum looked more natural. A bit of imperfection within a limit looks much better than the plastic droplets. And minor flaws like few splatters going too far can be corrected in post production. But the video gives a very good insight for all of us to better manage such kind of Photography. So thank you for sharing.
Watching this video I was thinking that you could probably use corn starch or sodium alginate as thickeners. The reason I was thinking of using corn starch or sodium alginate as thickeners, is because I already have corn starch and sodium alginate. I use corn starch for thickening sauces for Asian food. To use corn starch you would have to add it to water and cook it. The reason I have sodium alginate, is because I used it for thickening dye, when tie-dying t-shirts.
Very Nice! I read you were looking for a devise to CAPTURE LIGHTING., I know a guy that's made such devices, I believe he's a Engineer. Any I had him make me a Speed Trap System for High Speed Photography. I believe it will trigger my camera down into the Millisecond Range, he made several triggering devices for me, to include Sound Trigger, Laser Beam Trap, a Light firing device etc., If I can find him in my files, I would be more than happy to give you his contact info. Allot of my research material was lost in a storage fire, but, lucky I had off site computer backup's. Thanks
Ah, thank you for this Nicole, very helpful! I have now made a batch of the xanthum gum / water mix concentrate :-)
Many thanks for this very informative and easy to follow tutorial
Fantastic video. Very helpful content!! Thanks for creating this 👍
how long does the mix last? do I have to keep it refrigerated?
hi, thank you for this great video and recipe. What consistency should we aim for? You did not show us a final consistency. Thank you!
I try to get a consistency about as thick as olive oil. I have a blog post with more details on the full process of waterdrop photography here: nicolesy.com/2021/06/08/pluto-trigger-waterdrops/
Great video. Very explanatory. What’s the equipment you used to capture these great photos?
I have a write-up on my website with this information: nicolesy.com/2021/06/08/pluto-trigger-waterdrops/
Hi Nicole, nice tuto. please do more on that topic with setup, gear,.... Will be the conference available as a course ?
i have just purchased a pluto trigger + valve for my d750 and didn't dare yet to use xanthan because could block the valve and require tedious maintenance of the beak. I have heard borax is good too.
i am between two schools : having several godox flashes triggered by godox Xpro with mirror up and 1/160sec, pluto wired to valve and d750. never tried yet.
or, pluto wired to valve and to the flash but pointing the D750 IR sensor and 1sec shutter speed in a black room (so we are sure to get the instant), what i did with some goo results with milk+orange juice mix. no mean to trigger a flash to backdrop... with the ios app of pluto, they say it is the best method for consistent and repetitive timings for collisions.
my new Z6ii doesn't have a IR sensor so cannot use method 2.
Hi Marc, in case you haven't seen it yet, I have a blog post with a lot more detail on my waterdrop setup: nicolesyblog.com/2021/06/08/pluto-trigger-waterdrops/
ah super, i followed you for food photography and didn't know you made waterdrop photography. I had a quick look on what i am very concerned : triggering camera and see you make it manually with a cable shutter 3sec. good idea ! with my old d750, pluto triggered d750 in infrared but can't do that with z6ii. Looking currently the new miops with alu noozle which has a second cable to camera. Something not clear on your blog : multiflash (an stand). do you use sometimes multiflash and so in slave mode triggered by IR ? I would be interested to see multiflash setups. I suppose you shoot in dark room even with F11 ? A mystery remains : how first man photography with splash art can use 1/200sec with a cable on camera and camera triggering flashes by radio with shutter delays,... (uses Mup however). Your method is the right one however but requires dark room and long expo not always easy to manage for splashes ...
Hi Nicole, This is very helpful. There are plenty of videos about slash photography but very few about preparing the water. To what would you compare the consistency of the water in the drop tube?
Cannot I ask what a good consistency is thanks
Olive oil is a good measure for what you are looking for, regarding to liquid consistency.
I’ll try this mix!
Tnx for this one!!
Very helpful, thank you!
how long does the mixture last for? Can you keep it in the fridge indefinitely or does it start to lose its effectiveness over time?
I'm not sure, I haven't left any in the fridge long enough to find out! I imagine it eventually would go bad and possibly start getting moldy, though.
Amazing tutorial thank you. How do you store the xanthan gum mix for future use and how long would you keep it? Thank you 😊👍 keep up the great work.
I put mine in a jar and stuck it in the fridge. I don't know how long it lasts, but if I see something growing on it I'll probably toss it and start over ;)
@@nicolesy 😂👍 thank you
I am an ex-pat Yank who loves Half N Half, but it's often not outside the US (I now live in Sydney AU). Try light whipping crème as it should work about the same. BTW Great ideas, thanks!
Thanks for the great video - what is type of cream or ingredient that you used in this tutorial? .... Thanks
It's half-and-half. I use it for my coffee so I always have some on hand.
@@nicolesy thanks ... does the use of water mixed with xanthan gum could cause the valve drop clogged? How do you fix if you ever have experience the valve drop clogged? thanks again
@@gatotherliyanto2093 I make sure to rinse it out through the valve with clean water after each use. Using additives makes it more likely to clog but gives better results, so IMO it’s worth it.
@@nicolesy does it means after use of mixed water with xanthan gum, the transparant tube is filled with clear water and then rinse the valve drop through running miops through the apps? Thanks for the advice.
I use the Pluto Trigger and will fill it with clean water and manually trigger the valve a few times to push water through it.
In my attempts at this technique I have used an ordinary drinking straw with a waterproof clay base...attach it to the center bottom of bowl and focus on the tip of the straw.
Hi Nicole! What do you use as backdrops? Is it necessary, in your experience, for it to be matte so it doesn't reflect glare or does that even matter?
I prefer a matte or non-shiny backdrop. If the flash creates any type of glare or reflection, it could be visible in the water (with the setup I use, at least). I currently use simple thin pieces of colored foam that I found at a craft store, it comes in a pack of several colors. They work really well!
In my opinion the droplets with the xanthan gum mixture looked like a cheap plastic toy as there is no splatter. Whereas the one without the gum looked more natural. A bit of imperfection within a limit looks much better than the plastic droplets. And minor flaws like few splatters going too far can be corrected in post production. But the video gives a very good insight for all of us to better manage such kind of Photography. So thank you for sharing.
Can I use gel food colring
Yes, that should work just fine.
Watching this video I was thinking that you could probably use corn starch or sodium alginate as thickeners.
The reason I was thinking of using corn starch or sodium alginate as thickeners, is because I already have corn starch and sodium alginate.
I use corn starch for thickening sauces for Asian food. To use corn starch you would have to add it to water and cook it.
The reason I have sodium alginate, is because I used it for thickening dye, when tie-dying t-shirts.
Very Nice! I read you were looking for a devise to CAPTURE LIGHTING., I know a guy that's made such devices, I believe he's a Engineer. Any I had him make me a Speed Trap System for High Speed Photography. I believe it will trigger my camera down into the Millisecond Range, he made several triggering devices for me, to include Sound Trigger, Laser Beam Trap, a Light firing device etc., If I can find him in my files, I would be more than happy to give you his contact info. Allot of my research material was lost in a storage fire, but, lucky I had off site computer backup's. Thanks
This is a helpful video, but it would be even more helpful if you defined "a good consistency" more clearly.
Thanks for this video
.
Try to create a liquid that is about the consistency of olive oil.
Really helpful. Thank you very much.