Stock Shot Project

A blog shot from last week was a test from a flash setup I was preparing to do some splash shots in the studio.  Here are two samples from the final shoot.  To learn more about how to take photos like these and see more samples, click to visit my DSLR learning blog.

This is the moment of impact of a dart breaking a water balloon.  The only way to freeze action like this is by using a strobe unit with a very short flash duration.  Camera flash units are much faster than regular studio strobes.  I used four Nikon SB-900 flash units -- two on the background, the other two pointing at the balloon.  The Nikon D3x was used because of its very high resolution to allow cropping of the image.  There was no timing device. The shots were timed completely by eye.

For this image an assistant dropped an acrylic ice cube from about a foot above the glass.  Specs are the same as in the shot above.  We actually captured this particular shot in only one exposure.  Sometimes things work out.