The apartment that my wife and I moved into last December is small. Since we lived in a house for 30 years prior to our move, living in an apartment has been an adjustment—let’s just say that the two of us using the bathroom at the same time in the morning is not the best experience. However, the smallness of the apartment also has provided some good challenges.
One of these good challenges involves photography. I mentioned in an earlier post that I joined an online photo group called 52Frames.com. They have weekly themes that are designed to get the creative juices flowing. Their most recent theme was “Fluid.” I wanted to do a studio shoot with water, but I don’t have space for a studio. Instead, I “McGyvered” one in our small kitchen. This was so much fun! Here is the list of supplies:
camera
100mm f/2.8 lens
tripod
bubble level
Gorillapod with a cell phone bracket attached
black fleece vest (to create a black background)
gaffer’s tape
rechargeable, portable light (my “strobe”)
tablespoon
2 coffee cups
2 cans of tuna
The camera and lens were set up on the tripod near the sink where I would create the image. I mounted the spoon onto the cell phone bracket with lots of tape, and then screwed it onto the Gorillapod. The Gorillapod, tuna cans and coffee cups went into the sink. I used the cans and cups to prop up the Gorillapod so it would clear the edge of the sink. That way I could see the spoon. Then I lined up the sink faucet with the spoon, and I experimented with the volume of the water stream to get the look I wanted. Then I put the fleece behind it all. It took me a little more than an hour to get everything right, and then I moved onto the actual shoot which was purely technical and quite relaxing. For this part I played with aperture and shutter settings until I had the right exposure and the right look for the water.
After about 30 minutes or so of shooting I wrapped it up and took it to the computer and Lightroom. Lightroom was able to help me remove imperfections caused by the light and the wrinkled background.
The image at the top is the resulting picture. The moral of the story is don’t worry if you don’t have all the great gear. McGyver it, and you’ll might even learn more than if you had the perfect sudio. Below are a couple of pics of my setup.
And in case you’re wondering, yes, the tuna cans were unopened, and they went right back into the closet for a future lunch.
