Ahoj! This is Zdenka. I don't know how about you, I don't know what part of the world you
are from, but here in Canada I am about 45 min east of Toronto, we are unfortunately
heading into another lockdown. Well, Toronto as of
today is in another lockdown but we are not here yet. So if you are on the same boat,
let's bring the spirits up with today's creative camera challenge. Somethig very simple you
can do in the house, have lot of fun with it, get creative and forget about outside
world. And throughout the video at some point you
can find out how you can try winning this smartphone gimbal Hohem Isteady X. Hohem is
not a sponsor of this giveaway. I simply reviewed this in a past and because it is close to
holidays, it is time to give back so that's why I am giving it to you as thank you for
being part of this channel. By the way, you might want to subscribe to this channel because
more giveaways is coming up closer to the holidays with the grand big prize sponsored
by Zeapon. But now, let's keep I've been doing stock photography for many of years and if
you look at the food section for example on Shutterstock,
you will see that there is a huge trand going on. The food flying in the air. Donuts flying
in the air, cookies, levitation photography. Well, in today's video I am gonna
show you how you can get shots like this, or like that, or even like this. And you don't
necessary have to do it just with food. You can do it with any objects, any items. What
you are going to need is obviously your items. I am gonna go here with these wonderful cookies
and chocolates and strawberries. Obviously that's just my first choice but I am gonna
be shooting other items as well. Now the whole shoot will be happening here on the ground
because it's gonna be taken from the top just like we did the last one flat lay photography
but with a twist. The problem is that if you gonna arrange all those items straight up
on that paper background or background of your
choice, then you gonna see lot of shadows. Even if you lift them with something so they
are not in the same level, obviously we need to overlap them little bit, we need to turn
them around and stuff like that, still you are
gonna get lot of shadows. So, the only option is to lift the objects much higher above the
background. Now, there is a tool you can defenitely use. I am gonna be using this plexi glass.
I love using a plexiglass for number of years but the old one is scratched so I just got
a brand new one. If you don't have a plexi glass,
you do have something clear in a house I am sure. A picture frame. The glass will work
like charm. To bring the plexi glass little bit higher you can use like a boxes or books,
even chairs, anything goes. I have those 2 little
boxes and I am gonna put it under. And how high should it be? That's a very good question.
I am gonna do a little test. Obviously depending on your light source, I am gonna have probably
a soft box in this area. I am gonna put my finger at the bottom and as I am lifting it
up, I can see the shadow slowly disappearing. So if I am gonna put my finger over here,
do I see the shadow? Tiny bit. If I bring my finger even higher, now the shadow is completely
gone. So I might bring the plexi glass even higher to make sure the shadow is not showing
up. What I like to do next is just place one object there before I am gonna arrange everything
else because now I need to set up my lights and the camera. Once I have everything
in place, then I am actually gonna start arranging and let that creative process begin. The main
light I am using right now is just continuous light softbox. Now, I always place
everything from top down but obviously in this case I can't do so because if I am gonna
point that light straight down, first of all I am gonna see reflection of the light in
the plexi glass and I am gonna create harsh shadow under those cookies. So the only option
what I can do right now is to lower the light as much as I can. I want to have the side
light anyways on those cookies, so something like that would probably be a good idea because
I want to create the idea as if it is flying and that way one side of the items will be
lit and the other side of the items will be shadow. Now if it is too much in a shadow,
then I might option for bouncing light back and
I have this white bord. You can use silver reflector or something like that and you can
play to see how much light you can actually bounce back. You can use any lights of your
choice. You don't necessary have to work just with a softbox. If you don't hae a softbox,
any light will do or you can also use outdoor natural light. Gear talk. Let's talk about
cameras and lenses. First of all you can shoot with any cameras. Smartphone, mirrorless,
dslr, compact camera, any camera. I am gonna be using Canon M6 Mark ii. As far as lenses
go, on your smarpthone you want to probably select standard lens, the mid range, happy
range. You don't want to go with telephoto because you are gonna be taking photo from
the top, you would have to be super high. You don't
want to go with wide angle lens othewise you gonna get that fish eye effect. Just look
at when I go very, very wide, how those corners are kind of curving in, that's what you dont'
want. So I am gonna be using... I have 2 choices here, just 50mm lens standard with Viltrox
speedbooster or I am gonna be using the Viltrox 23mm lens. Well, the set up is finished.
Now, the lens I chose after all is the 50mm with the Viltrox speedbooster. It simply works
the best. I am not gonna get any distortion there. It's gonna be very clear
shot. The way I set it up is the overhead is obviously the Moza slypod E and this is
iFootage tripod, this is iFootage head. You can
see all those items linked below in the video description. The light I had to move all the
way to the front because if I had it more to the side obviously those boxes would be
creating shadows under the plexi glass so that why the light is all the way in the front.
So I avoid any shadow. Because the light is litting from one side obviously I would be
getting little bit darker background on the other one so that's why I placed that white
cardboard. And now it's time to arrange the items and start shooting. When you are arranging
your items, you don't want to place them just next to each other, you want to create the
3D look so some of the objects should be much higher, they can be on angle, they can
be tilted, they can overlap, they should, some of them overlap. You can place another
object here on the ground or even make them even higher. The motion doesn't have to necessary
happen only this way but also this way. To raise the objects, I am just using a sponge.
I cut into different shapes, some of them can be even smaller. They are soft, they are
not gonna scratch the plexi glass, or regular
glass and I just place them under to lift it up. Obviously you have to really make sure
they are not visible. What I like about those sponges is that you can cut them in a small
tiny pieces. I guess you are wondering what camera settings you should be using. You want
to shoot in the aperture priority mode or manual one. You don't want to go with the
aperture way too wide, way too low like F/1.8 for example. Otherwise you will end up with
part of the object sharp and everything else will be blurry. So you need to bring it little
bit higher. ISO and shutter speed you want adjust accordingly. Obviously, if you are
not gonna be using overhead set up, if you gonna
be taking photo handheld, you don't want to go with a slow shutter spead otherwise you
gonna end up with blurry image or shaken image so higher shutter speed is a must. If you
gonna be taking a photo with a smartphone and you
do have a portrait mode on your phone, then I would do that. Because after you take the
photo, you can actully adjust the aperture value.
Once the photos are finished, then you just edit them to get more interesting result.
I just added little bit more contrast, played a bit with colors and done. The possibilities
are endless and now for me, I am ready to upload them to stock. Giveaway time. To be
able to win these items which is Hohem Isteady X gimbal and coffee mug in a shape of a lens,
you need to be subscribed to this channel, you need to like and comment this video. You
have exactly 48 hours to do so. Deadline is Sunday 10am EST time. The winner will be
announced the very same day on Sunday 12 noon under this video in a video description and
also in a comment section. The comment will be pinned to the top. Good luck. There are
so many ways to take levitation photos. You can
also hang items on the string and take cool photos like that. Then erase the string in
the Photoshop or even throw carefully small items
in the air but for that obviously you need very fast shutter speed otherwise it might
be blurry. And good timing. You want to capture the object when it's just about to come down.
Your turn. Camera challenge time. Take any levitation photos with any camera. You don't
necessary have to do the same thing I was doing here today. Any ideas will be great.
And you may upload them to Facebook ZD camera challenge
group the link is in the video description below. Or you can upload them to your Instagram.
Use #zdlevitate. Deadline to submit is January 6th 2021 and the best photos will
be showcased and reviewed January 11th, 2021 in a video on this channel. Feel free to post
a story, which would go with the photos, camera settings, lenses, any details. Have fun, be
creative, keep the spirit up, and stay healthy. And I'll see you in the next video... Cau...
Ahoj...