Pinch of Splash

We all are fascinated by stories and journeys. And to tell one through your perspective is one of the beautiful things to do.

And photos that happen to tell stories are just a close observation of what perspective differences people hold.

And the one who took the journey of that photo holds that one person’s perspective of that photo. The intention and the willingness are what that journey entails.

Thereon you will encounter one such journey which I took in the city of Jaipur all the way back to Delhi:

So one of the founders of Dawat-e-Hind, the very talented Jatin was on his visit to Jaipur to host a workshop on food photography. And luckily I was also in Jaipur and got to know about the workshop. I always had a very keen interest in capturing perspectives but I kept myself in a more comfortable and introverted situation every time. So I let everyone know that I wanted to attend the workshop so that even if I tried to back out, I will have people pushing me towards it.

And (not) surprisingly it worked, I attended the workshop and it was great. I learned a lot, but one thing that sets it apart from the youtube videos that I could have watched lying on my bed eating chips is the people you meet. The interaction you have just at that moment makes you want to do more, it makes it an experience. And what makes an experience good or bad is not for you to predict, it’s about taking the action towards doing something that makes you learn about that experience. And then you can classify your experience in whichever bracket that you have made (This is not a generalized way of looking at experiences).

The time I was roaming in Jaipur.

So what happened then? Where did it lead to?

I am still figuring it out because it’s a journey that I am taking myself and along with me are the visual representation of my perspective for you to understand it through your perspective. And this answer will remain the same regardless of what time it will be asked. The cycle of experience will continue and generate fresh new perspectives.

AND
YES, there is a quantifiable result of the workshop as well. I learned about splash photography and did implement it but this time I didn’t require a push from people. I did it with my own little extra effort.

Now you will be headed towards how I took the shot part of the story:

I don’t have a camera(still don’t have one) nor the money to buy one immediately. So what do you do, borrowing seems the next best thing to do. And that is what I did, I borrowed a Cannon from my friend but then I don’t have a studio or lights and other gears. So like every other Indian- jugaad comes to play.

This is how I did it and you can too:

• I had a whiteboard with me and a black chart paper, so what I did is covered one portion of the whiteboard with the black chart paper and that acted as a backdrop for me, why black? Because of contrast.

This is the backdrop I used for the photo.

• Moving forward, time to resolve the issue of light. Well, what better than natural light coming straight from the mighty SUN.
  And I have a neem tree in front of my balcony which acted as a natural diffuser, you are all sorted then. So I decided to shoot in peak afternoon because the sun was at the top making our subject evenly lighted.
• Now it’s time to resolve the problem of how can you make your camera stable and aligned without a tripod, because you cannot shoot handheld with high shutter speed, you won’t get that crisp photo you wanted. I had kind-of-sofa seating that I used without the seating cushion for a resting surface and to give everything some height.
• After the tripod problem was resolved, time to put the camera and subject to an even horizon level, for that shoeboxes were used, and to tweak the camera lens’s height — the front part of the camera charging cable was used.

This is what the setup looked like.

After all the setup was arranged now it was time to do some dry runs, play with camera settings and understand it’s working (I did it because it was not my camera).

Tip — Get some soda instead of using the soft drink it will result in more bubbles and to even get more bubbles use some salt and add it to the soda.

Now I should have definitely noted down the camera settings before taking the photo but to prove I am a noob, I didn’t document it.

But what you can do is experiment around :

• Higher shutter speed, whatever your camera allows you to.
• And the ISO was around 100 something, so play around because I was shooting in the sun so it was not certain to what the ISO or aperture could have been.
• Aperture needs to be low to create depth of field.

The final shot that I took.

And that is how I got the photo I wanted and completed one phase of the journey that I had set foot upon.

So value your efforts but never stop the journey thinking my work is finished here.

Special Thanks to Jatin for sharing his knowledge.

https://www.instagram.com/dawatehind/

For more of my visual perspective go check out.

https://www.instagram.com/minimal_darkroom/