Here's one that I recently shared on the Galmour1 site that I though you might get a kick out of...
Last weekend, we decided to finally try a "wet" shot with a model in the studio. While I know its cliche, we've never done it and wanted to try and see what it was like and to really get to play with lights and water.
We had done several other outfits and setups with the model DiLona and decided we would save the water shot for last studio shot, just because of the effort required to set it up and tear it all down. When I set up the studio for the shot (see the behind the scenes shot below), I used a huge sheet of plastic to create a plastic waterproof cave or tunnel (all the way around, floor to ceiling.) We hooked up the hose to the utility sink so we could use warm water and not freeze the model (we also turned on the heater in the studio.) The shoot itself went fairly well until the room and the camera fogged/steamed up. No problem... we turned off the heater and vented the room and the rest of the shots went fine.
Now somehow I (the genius in me) had the crazy idea that we really wouldn't use all that much water and it shouldn't be too much of a problem to grab the 4 corners of the plastic, fold it all together like a big baggie, pull down the plastic from the ceiling and then just wrestle the whole thing out the back door just a few feet away so the water could drain away into the bushes.
Therein lied the flaw in my plan. About 3-4 inches of water had accumulated in the little plastic pool (which is approx. 12 ft by 12 ft.) When I moved around the back of the set, I bumped (yes bumped) the tube that had formed the back support of the pool...and... it collapsed... and the rest was a hectic scene that should have been captured for Funniest Home Videos. To some it up, there was NOTHING we could do to stop the flood in the studio.
In the end, it took about 4 hours of vaccuming to get most of the water up from the capetted floor and then 4 more days to dry out the carpeting and backdrop/side felt drapes.
Strangely, I now no longer have the desire to do any more in-studio water shots.
The resulting image (no, she was not mad) and the studio setup shot are attached below. ENJOY!
trentchau wrote:
the platform cost me about $200 to build, and it's compeltely modular. It worked extremely well. I got 3 boxes at home depot and it builds an 8' by 8' platform.
Comes in various colors also. It's construction grade so it seems to hold up well.
That looks really nice. Did it involve any cutting?
joecirca79 wrote:
That looks really nice. Did it involve any cutting?
No it doesn't, it lays down flat. You can get a more natural pattern in the wood floor if you cut the first plank in the next row in half. It's hard to explain in text, but the instructions has visuals that show why this is better.
There's no doubt though, this works extremely well.
Shooting Area-but the whole studio can be used if need be. Full body head to toe can be had with a 200mm. My office is behind the French doors. http://www.brentwardphoto.com/shooting.jpg
Looks really nice Brent. Love the wood floors, something I want to do when I get a few extra bucks. Much nicer then concrete. Also notice you use Redwing booms, they are really great. Is this space in your house or did you rent a separate space. It is really very nice.
Thanks to trentchau for the awesome idea. I ended up going to home depot and getting the pergo flooring. The carpet in my studio is pretty thin so it worked out great. Best of all, it was on sale for 30 dollars a box. Came to 90 before tax. http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b18/joecirca79/britestud.jpg
Here's another quick shot of mine. You can see the light grid from this perspective with my AB1600 and 2 800s. I have another 800 and pantograph yet to be installed.
Another thanks to trentchau for the wood flooring suggestion. I went to Lowes yesterday and found some lamniate interlocking flooring for 23 dollars a box. Each box is roughly 25 sq ft. So I bought 5 boxes and will be installing it today. I'll post a photo when it's finished.
