How to Create Water Ripples in Photos | Product Photographer Utah
How to Create Water Ripples in Photos
During the summer, I noticed that I was seeing lots of fun product photos with water ripples in the background. I love the look of products shot on a colorful background with splashes and ripples of water around the product. The effect adds an instant pop of movement and summery, beachy vibes to the product images. I began a quest to learn how to create water ripples in photos!
Capturing Water Ripples in Photos
To create water ripples in the images below, I poured water into a glass pan on a colored background. I used my Rose Marble and Seafoam background surfaces from Replica Surfaces. Additionally, I used a glass pan from my kitchen. However, shooting without the Pyrex logo getting into the shot required some strategy. I recommend using the largest acrylic tray you can find without logos or any markings. A cup of water in a liquid measuring cup stood at the ready. After placing the jewelry in the pan, my three-year-old daughter poured the water into the pan while I shot from above as fast as I could! It was fascinating to try this process multiple times and get different results in the appearance of the water ripples every time. Pouring the water into the pan quickly all at once rather than slowly resulted in more interesting water ripples.
What camera settings should I use to capture water ripples?
The way you set up your scene combined with your camera settings will help you to capture those beautifully intricate, fleeting ripples. I placed my setup right next to an open window with direct afternoon sunlight shining in. I didn’t use a diffuser at all because I wanted lots of bright light glinting off of the water ripples. Whether you’re using natural light or flash, it’s important to have enough light shining into your scene to allow you to use a large depth of field and a pretty fast shutter speed so that you can clearly capture the movement of the water. In the photo below of the ring, I was shooting with my Canon EOS-RP mirrorless camera using my Canon 100mm f/2.8 lens, and my settings were ISO 100, depth of field f/8.0, and shutter speed 1/250. Overall, I particularly enjoyed this experiment!
How to Create Water Ripples in Photos | Product Photographer Utah
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