The devil's in the detail, especially when you are shooting close up. We recently had the pleasure of shooting with the super talented Brenden McGinty at his insanely well stocked 16Oz Studio.
We were utilising a crazy sharp Optimo zoom lens coupled with a Red Epic camera shooting at 6K. All lit with a variety of lights including a four kilowatt Hydrargyrum Medium-arc Iodide lamp (that's a whole lot of power)!
To say this setup was unforgiving is an understatement, however, the imagery produced is well worth the effort. Effort includes:
- Checking your reflections: Make liberal use of black wrap, cloaks and poly boards to get you out of any reflective jams.
- Watch the Dust: Ensure you have a brush, blower and Q Tips to hand to stay on top of the minuscule particles that will blow up huge when observed closely.
- Wobble Awareness: The tiniest shake will mess with any liquids so ensure you have a stable surface. Brendan brought a very stable, rotating surface to bear meaning we could get any angle required with minimum fuss.
- Slow it down: We shot most things at 50 frames per second (fps) and some at 100fps, making liquid look fantastic and ensuring all motion looks buttery smooth.
- Be Patient: Probably the most important aspect of any macro shoot, take your time to get it right, you may be tempted to meet your schedule but some things just take time. Deep breaths…
These are just a few helpful tips, if you have any more please let me know. We'll share the results in a few weeks.