flicking wet hair

[greenplasticdave]

Hi

I've been trying to take a shot of my sister-in-law throwing back her wet hair at the beach thus giving a nice curved trail of water (like you get in shampoo adds ;) )

I've not had much success yet and was wondering if there was a right and wrong way to have her move to gain the proper effect.

At the moment I've had her in waist deep water, bending at the waist to dip her hair in and then straightening up and throwing her head back quickly. I think I may have to get her to actually bend her head back a bit more at the neck.

Any ideas?

-Dave-

[schmoo]

I'll move this to Technique :thumb

[SloYerRoll]

I've never shot this. But I can picture how I would, so hopefully this will help out a bit.

Try and try and try to get the right angle. Have your sis do this motion slowly so she doesn't get worn out. The key to this is being able to predict where where is going to be. So if you want to catch her in position "b" you need to know when she gets to position "a" you need to hit the shutter.

Use a flash. Get as close as you feel comfortable w/ getting and use a flash. Preferably off camera. Your highest camera's shutter speed is probably around 1/4000th. A strobe fires in pulses of 1/10,000th to 1,60,000th. Depending on the power setting and type of flash. So the flash will help freeze the motion as well as bring out the detail of water flying around.

I have a couple more things in my head, but want to know if you have any off camera lighting gear before I type away on that.

Cheers,
-Jon

[aj986s]

I would suggest trying a videotape session first. Try different angles, speeds, techniques, etc. You might even do this at a pool, hottub or even in the bathtub. Then review the video in slo-mo to see where the best water results occur. Then study the video to get a better sense of setup and timing, and try it again with the still camera. When it looks right, go to the desired scene and have at it!

[pathfinder]

I agree with Jon. I'll bet most of the shots like this you see were shot with flash, or even a stroboscope, where there are a multiple series of flashes in sequence with the camera firing in high speed motor drive.

I doubt very much they just shot one or two frames and nailed it in terms of timing, lighting, positioning, etc. Also, the models who do this, have done it more than once or twice I'll bet also.:D :thumb

Be sure to balance your flash exposure with the ambient lighting as well - you want the background maybe 2/3 to 1 1/3 stops darker than the foreground usually.

[greenplasticdave]

Hi folks

Thanks for the response. I have no lighting gear to speak of and my little Olympus C7070 has only an internal flash.

The shots I've got so far are acceptable to me in terms of lighting. They won't win any awards but that suits me right now.

It's the timing that I think is the problem. Shooting several frames at high speed would help but my camera can't fire the flash at the same time :\

Shooting video is something I've not thought of but sounds like it might help. Ill just need to get my sis-in-law down the beach again, with more time to practice we might get it.

Cheers

-Dave-

[Icebear]

Point & shoot cameras are great for some things. This is not one of those things.
Your camera, however, IS capable of 3 fps, and does have a hot shoe and available speedlights. You might investigate Olympus' speedlights.

[SloYerRoll]

You can also consider renting one if your budget doesn't allow a purchase.

[RogersDA]

Any ideas?-Dave-Not mine, but here is an example: http://photocamel.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3940

EXIF:
20D @ Aperture Priority, 1/800, 85mmm, f9, ISO 200

[pathfinder]

Here is another also -- Kodak Picture of the Day Sep 14, 2006

http://www.kodak.com/eknec/PageQuerier.jhtml?pq-path=2551&pq-locale=en_US

You will have to enter September 14 2006 into the choice boxes -- can't seem to get the link to the picture itself to hold.

[greenplasticdave]

Thanks for all the feed back on my post, folks.

I managed to get my sister-in-law over at the weekend to have another go at this.

These are by no means perfect but I'm happy with them so far.

http://i1.photoblog.com/photos4/1544-1201520885-0.jpg
f/3.5 1/1000s ISO-80

http://i1.photoblog.com/photos5/1544-1201421141-0-l.jpg
f/3.5 1/1500s ISO-80

No flash, full sun.

Regards

-Dave-

[SloYerRoll]

I like the water effects and your definately getting it down much better. It's a shame your sis-in-law looks like someones trying to drown her...:D

I wonder if the length of the hair has any effect on how the water reacts during this?

BTW I'd try to get a little bit lower perspective on your first shot so more of the water is against the fence and plants. This will help create more contrast.

[ccpickre]

I'd be willing to bet the length has a lot to do it. I'm no Einstein, but I think in order for the water to get sprayed the way it does, the hair has to reach it's apex on the curve (or whatever it's called) in order to whip the water into the air.

The longer the hair, the longer it takes. Although short hair doesn't whip as well. When I shaved my head I would never have been able to pull it off like she did. even now with medium length, I would have to fling my head back at about 300 miles per hour to get any kind of effect (this is an educated guess). Longer hair also soaks up more water by volume, so therefor you have more water to fling in the first place.

She looks like she hurt herself, how hard was she doing it? I would suggest doing that in MUCH shallower water. Because the resistence given by the pool would cause her to have to crank her head back much harder. Where as if she dipped her head into knee to thigh high water she would be able to use her hips, legs, back, neck, shoulders (basically her whole upper body, plus upper legs) to get that motion instead of relying on her neck and therefore overexerting it.

Guess all those years I spent in pools finally paid off :D

As to the flash issue, I would say a static light should work shouldn't it? Just aim a light at her and dial down the shutter speed to lower the ambient light should create a DIY strobe I'm guessing.

[SloYerRoll]

As to the flash issue, I would say a static light should work shouldn't it? Just aim a light at her and dial down the shutter speed to lower the ambient light should create a DIY strobe I'm guessing.When your using ambient only. Your shutter speed is effectively how long your "strobe" is. So if you slow down the shutter speed. You are going to increase the duration of your constant light. i.e. if your shutter speed is 1/250; the constant pseudo strobe (ambient light) would fire for a 1/250 duration according the the camera.

Strobes normally fire anywhere from 1/10,000 to 1/60,000. That is why it does such a bang up job freezing the action.

I do agree a spot could help allot by bringing out specular highlights and making the water really shine. But it won't freeze the action though.

[ccpickre]

When your using ambient only. Your shutter speed is effectively how long your "strobe" is. So if you slow down the shutter speed. You are going to increase the duration of your constant light. i.e. if your shutter speed is 1/250; the constant pseudo strobe (ambient light) would fire for a 1/250 duration according the the camera.

Strobes normally fire anywhere from 1/10,000 to 1/60,000. That is why it does such a bang up job freezing the action.

I do agree a spot could help allot by bringing out specular highlights and making the water really shine. But it won't freeze the action though.
Ahhhhh, I was just thinking adding light to the subject, but not the background.

[greenplasticdave]

Yeah, I think longer hair would help, sadly school went back the next day and she'd recently been for a hair cut :(

The water was relatively shallow, she's actually kneeling on a small ledge. I'd have been happy to keep shooting for several hours but I'd feel guilty for taking up all her time.

And her expression is from the discomfort of putting her head under water.

Thanks for all the feedback.

[ccpickre]

Yeah, I think longer hair would help, sadly school went back the next day and she'd recently been for a hair cut :(

The water was relatively shallow, she's actually kneeling on a small ledge. I'd have been happy to keep shooting for several hours but I'd feel guilty for taking up all her time.

And her expression is from the discomfort of putting her head under water.

Thanks for all the feedback.

Well at some point too long of hair would be too difficult to fling. But if she had been standing up the fence would have made the perfect background, as opposed to the sidewalk interfering.