How was this done?

[yamir bhatt]

I was debating how to show products falling in absolutely clean water ..generating rounded bubbles.. just like in lots of Smirnoff commercials. One AD told me they must have actually used vodka as it is very clean. On the other hand some say alcohol is less dense then water so the product will fall too rapidly, in that case Glycerin comes to mind. Has anyone shot ?Smirnoff type?/ ?stuff in clean liquid? shoot?

[Don Bachmeier]

It is a still image (istock) so most likely strobes; and possibly an optical trigger.

No telling how much Photo Shop was involved in the image. In fact the whole thing could have been assembled in Photoshop. A recent episode of Photoshop TV showed a similar image made from a seperate splash and a bottle image.

 

With film, and slow motion, a high frame rate and syncro-strobe lighting or a whole bunch of level from continous sources.

 

with DVAM, probably not. The apple would have moved through the shot in less than the time it takes to capture the frame. Zip, a blur at best.

Cranking up the shutter speed would make a slower playback speed choppy looking.

 

Get a fish tank and give it a go. Check back with the results.

 

Always looking for new ways to do things.

 

Good luck,

[seth christian]

real easy dude.

 

half the time they just take a perfect clear/clean fish tank and fill to desired

water level where the frame wont show anything above or below to

composition. then shoot shot upon drop of apple. shazaam!

 

however, you're not gonna get a quality shot like the one you showed with

DV, unless its an HVX200 or better. I'd recommend using a still 35mm camera

and just dropping until you think you got it. And, expect to possibly photoshop

out undesired reflections. As well as shooting with at least a 1000 shutter speed

to capture no blur.

 

:)

Edited April 15, 2007 by seth christian

[Chris Keth]

Distilled water helps this kind of shot. It has less stuff in it and will make fewer ugly little frothy-looking bubbles. There will also be fewer bubbles clinging to the sides of your tank.

 

The difficult thing is keeping everything clean of dust. You would be surprised how much dust there is to make your water look all mucky.

[Gavin Greenwalt]

Be warned they're also using more and more fluid sims in vodka commercials. The "perfect splash" could be a fake.

Edited April 19, 2007 by Gavin Greenwalt