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Fata Morgana

This image was a result of a studio experiment.

I bought a piece of Clear Acrylic Plexiglass, clamped it to a C-Stand, sprayed it with water from a spray bottle and focused on the water droplets. Each droplet is basically a tiny lens, which reverses the image behind it, which results in this wonderful effect. 

This particular lens (Canon EF 85mm f/1.8) is not a macro lens, so it's minimal focusing distance is not ideal for this type of work, which means I had to use my Macro Filter Set to allow myself to focus a little closer to the droplets, while blurring the model even more. 

If you are not happy with the size of the droplets and wish to make the droplets a little larger I recommend mixing some sugar with your water, or adding some Glycerine... or both... Watch out as that will make everything quite sticky, but will help you make the droplets a little larger.

The lighting was quite simple (see lighting diagram below) - Alien Bee AB800 with 28" Beauty Dish (diffuser sock on) from camera right. That is one of my favorite lighting set ups. I'd say 50% of my work is done with one light only, and the large beauty dish happens to be one of my favorite modifiers.  

 

Model: Morgan McConnell

Location: My old Atlanta studio

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II

Lens: Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 (with +2 Macro Filter on)

Focal Length: 85mm

ISO: 100

Shutter Speed: 1/160

Aperture: f13

Light: AlienBee AB800 with 28" Beauty Dish(with Diffuser Sock on)

Aliah

This image of the wonderful Aliah P., was achieved as follows:

The only artificial light source was Lowel DP Focus Flood Light focused and flagged using two V-Flats (see lighting diagram below)

The camera White Balance setting was set on Tungsten, which turned the light coming from the window to blue, while correcting the light temperature of the strip of light coming from the flagged Lowel DP.

The aperture was set on 2.8 to overexpose the window and the camera carefully focused on Aliah's eyes.  

The power level coming from Lowel DP is not adjustable (it's a non-adjustable continuous light source,) but can be easily controlled by moving the unit back and forth until the desired exposure is achieved.

The "crispness" of the edge between the light and shadow in the strip of light on Aliah's face is controlled by how close the flags (in this case - two V-flats) are to the subject - the closer the flags are to the model the more crisp is the edge, the further the flags - the more blurry is the edge.

 

Model: Aliah P. (Next Models LA, KStarr Models)

MakeUp / Hair: Erikka Hart

Location: My old Atlanta studio

Camera: Canon 5D Mark II

Lens: Tamron 28-75mm f2.8

Focal Length: 63mm

ISO: 100

Shutter Speed: 1/160

Aperture: f2.8

Light: Natural Light from the window and flagged Lowel DP Focus Flood Light