# Post your Ideas for Inventive Table Top Photography



## Bend The Light

Hi All,

I recently set up and took some photos of oil on water and got some great results (I think!). I set it up on a 2 foot square bit of the dining room table, using kitchen equipment and the odd book as a prop!

This set me to thinking...what could I try next?

So, I would be interested if people could post their ideas for fun things to do, which use only a small bit of tabletop, and uses nothing more than some simple photography items and anything you can grab from the household. No expensive macro lenses, or full studio lights...simple stuff.

Perhaps post a picture of the results, too?

Here's one of my Oil and Water images not previously posted...camera on tripod, water (and oil) in a pyrex dish with a piece of white paper underneat. On camera flash triggering an old flash gun off to the side. 50mm manual lens, 30mm of simple macro tube...some PP (but surprisingly no added colour!) in CS5.




Oil on Water 7 by Bend The Light, on Flickr


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## Bend The Light

I picked up the CD Id used for the oil stuff, but just dropped water on it. I used a 50mm lens on about 15cm of macro tube. Shot handheld with on-camera flash.




drop on a cd 1 by Bend The Light, on Flickr

Now I can see how it will look when I set up properly, I'm going to have a go properly!


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## gsgary

This was my last table top shoot


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## Bend The Light

gsgary said:


> This was my last table top shoot



Ha ha...I'd get shot letting the dog on the table! If we had a dog!


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## gsgary

Bend The Light said:


> gsgary said:
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> This was my last table top shoot
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> Ha ha...I'd get shot letting the dog on the table! If we had a dog!
Click to expand...



Get the wife on the table when the kids have gone to bed


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## Bend The Light

gsgary said:


> Bend The Light said:
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> gsgary said:
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> This was my last table top shoot
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> Ha ha...I'd get shot letting the dog on the table! If we had a dog!
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> Click to expand...
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> Get the wife on the table when the kids have gone to bed
Click to expand...

You seen my wife??


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## Bend The Light

Another "experiment"...shooting a bottle that is lit from the inside...

I think it was ok...




Lit Bottle 1 by Bend The Light, on Flickr



Lit Bottle 2 by Bend The Light, on Flickr

Now to try different colours...


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## Dominantly

LOL at Extra virgin_ Rape_seed


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## Bend The Light

Dominantly said:


> LOL at Extra virgin_ Rape_seed



A tad ironic, yes.


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## Bend The Light

So, I had a go at water droplets. Was ok, actually, once I set up the BRIGHT light and upped the shutter speeds...

How do these look?




water drop 2 big light by Bend The Light, on Flickr



water drop 3 big light by Bend The Light, on Flickr



water drop 4 big light by Bend The Light, on Flickr


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## gsgary

Have you tried smoke


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## Bend The Light

Smoke is on my list, Gary. Need to get some incence sticks, though. I usually hate the smell of them...give me headache. 

But I will have a go.


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## MohaimenK

if you're gonna do smoke, here's an idea


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## Bend The Light

Is that Pixel Bender, Mohaimenk?


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## MohaimenK

Bend The Light said:


> Is that Pixel Bender, Mohaimenk?



You my friend is absolutely correct! :thumbup: haha
Love that filter!


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## Josh66

Bend The Light said:


> Another "experiment"...shooting a bottle that is lit from the inside...
> 
> I think it was ok...


How did you light those?

I did a similar shot a while back:





That's more or less straight out of the camera.

Lighting was a little flashlight that the glass is actually sitting on top of.  It got lost in the background, so very little was needed to get this.  Just a little curves.

The star-burst effect was done with a B+W 6 point cross screen filter.


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## Bend The Light

O|||||||O said:


> Bend The Light said:
> 
> 
> 
> Another "experiment"...shooting a bottle that is lit from the inside...
> 
> I think it was ok...
> 
> 
> 
> How did you light those?
> 
> I did a similar shot a while back:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's more or less straight out of the camera.
> 
> Lighting was a little flashlight that the glass is actually sitting on top of.  It got lost in the background, so very little was needed to get this.  Just a little curves.
> 
> The star-burst effect was done with a B+W 6 point cross screen filter.
Click to expand...


I like that glass!...I have a star filter somewhere, too...will be digging that out!

The bottles were lit with a flash underneath - I upturned a pyrex pudding dish on some books, laid the flash gun underneath. Covered the whole lot with some dark paper with a hole cut beneath the bottle. I think I had a piece of coloured gel (is it?) beneath the bottle, too, to make it a little more "yellow/orange".
I had a bounced flash to light the cap, too, as without it the cap got lost in the dark.

You think they were ok?

I did one with more PP to lose the background completely...think it loos even better. 




Lit Bottle 2 black backed by Bend The Light, on Flickr


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## MohaimenK

that's a cool shot Josh!


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## MohaimenK

BTW here's a shot I just took a few mins ago! Using this as my background w/out the logo of course. But posting it here since it was a table top shot


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## Bend The Light

MohaimenK said:


> BTW here's a shot I just took a few mins ago! Using this as my background w/out the logo of course. But posting it here since it was a table top shot



A Bowl of sweeties? I did one with Pixel Bender, too..




Love is sweet framed PB by Bend The Light, on Flickr

Nice shot.


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## Josh66

Bend The Light said:


> You think they were ok?


They all looked pretty good to me, especially the last.  The color looks just right.
Thanks for the details on the set-up!



MohaimenK said:


> that's a cool shot Josh!


Thanks!


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## Bend The Light

I just found a dead wasp (it IS the middle of winter!) and so I set up to do a bit of low-tech macro, on the dining room table. As it was, the pictures were mediocre at best...a bit TOO low tech, maybe.

But, I decided to play with the images anyway...here's what I got...

A Wasp Wing



Wasp Wing 1 by Bend The Light, on Flickr

I then played with this for a while and then made this...



Wasp Wing 4-tile by Bend The Light, on Flickr

I then took a picture of the wasps rear end!



Wasp Sting by Bend The Light, on Flickr

These are not perfect macro, by any stretch, but I put the focus on inventive


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## Bynx

A glass of water, frozen, glass removed. Xmas lights behind for color.


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## Bend The Light

Bynx said:


> A glass of water, frozen, glass removed. Xmas lights behind for color.



VERY clever...did you take pictures as it melted, or did it get thrown out straight away?

I'm gonna have to try something like that!


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## Bynx

You can see a puddle of water forming on the bottom with the light blue reflection. I just took a few shots and threw it in the sink. Had it been on something to catch the water it would be interesting to see it melt. Take some shots at regular intervals. Then make a QT movie of it. Something for next time.


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## Bend The Light

Bynx said:


> You can see a puddle of water forming on the bottom with the light blue reflection. I just took a few shots and threw it in the sink. Had it been on something to catch the water it would be interesting to see it melt. Take some shots at regular intervals. Then make a QT movie of it. Something for next time.



That's what I thought...like you say, next time.


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## Bend The Light

Haven't had much chance to get anything done over the Christmas holiday. Resorted to getting the kids' toys out for photos.
Want to get these out again and have another go, with diffused lights...




Marbles 1 by Bend The Light, on Flickr




Marbles 2 by Bend The Light, on Flickr


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## MichiganFarts

gsgary said:


> Have you tried smoke



That one there....is some sexy smoke!


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## Bend The Light

I revisited "Oil on Water" last night. I changed what I did, though...I tried to keep the oil as a "lump" and shoot that...here is the first thing I have from it, and a little something I did with it...




Oil Cyan 80pc by Bend The Light, on Flickr



Oil Red 80pc by Bend The Light, on Flickr




Oil drop tile by Bend The Light, on Flickr


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