Champagne Bottle exploding with confetti

My client is importing these champagne bottle poppers. He wanted to capture the explosion of confetti as the air cartridge in the bottle is pierced when you twist the bottom of the bottle. It happens with a fairly violent explosion and considerable noise. It occurs so fast that you could not react fast enough to press the shutter on the camera and capture with any precision the spray of confetti. I needed to create a trigger device to fire my strobe lights with a certain amount of repeatability. I first tried to find something for rent here in Phoenix. All the regular photo resources really could not help. I turned to everyone's best friend- Google. I searched for infrared photo trigger, laser trigger, sound photo trigger. I found many devices that were available for purchase ranging from about $175 to almost $2000. After checking out all the devices, I did some further searching for hi speed photography and found blogs of photographers who do this kind of work. Several had built their own devices from parts supplied by several companies. Since I do like to build "stuff", this is the route I took. I ordered a kit from HiViz.com. For the grand sum of $18 plus shipping via USPS I had everything I needed in 3 days. After one or two false starts in building the breadboard circuit I was able to make it work. The results are repeatable and dependable. I will add some features to this crude device such as enclosing everything in a case, adding an on/off switch, plug in cables and connectors for the LED transmitter and receiver and an external potentiometer to adjust the sensitivity of the photogate.
Here are some shots of the set up. I was warned that the confetti goes everywhere. You will notice the black plastic garbage bag suspended on the left in an attempt to keep the mess in the studio to a minimum!! If you have any questions about this shot or would like me to create something "special" for you please contact me. Enjoy.

MDA-Help Bail Me Out photo shoot

Many of you have already made a donation to the Muscular Dystrophy Association and I thank you very much. I am in 5th place at this point in online donations. Any help you can give will help bail me out of jail. Some of you would rather I stay in jail for a while. That's okay too!!
Here is the shot I created for this email campaign.

Below are some of the production shots and the full length version of the final shot. I set everything up, did test exposures and then used the self timer in the camera to make the exposure as I ran into place and posed. It was a lot of fun to do this and it I hope I can raise enough to be bailed out of jail next Tuesday!! If you would like to contribute click this link https://www.joinmda.org/09desertridge/eppyphotog

Ken Epstein • Epstein Studios Photography
602.788.3686
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Photography of People • Places • Things - On the Ground • From the Air

Splash! A behind the scenes look

One of the main things I want to do with my blog is give you, the viewer, a behind the scenes look of how I create some of the special effects, food, or other shoot I do in the studio or on location. This photo of the water splash was captured for a client who wanted to use it on the packaging of a reverse osmosis water system. It was being marketed in Costco and Wal-Mart in a box about 18" square with a large image of the glass and needed to look refreshing.
I created a set with a hill made of sand covering a platform that holds the glass and gives the hill shape. Artificial ice cubes were used in the glass. Vinyl tubing running behind the hill and up behind the glass provided the splash as air was injected to the tubing that was filled with water.
After every exposure, the sand had to be replaced, glass cleaned and water replaced in the tubing. I spent 2 days preparing and testing the equipment, and one very full day making a total of 12 exposures of the splash. The finished image here is the version I liked the most. The client actually picked a different version that has more of a "crown" of water coming over the back rim of the glass.
Several images of the preparation and the final shot are here. Please excuse the scans of the production shots, the quality is terrible. New scans should be forthcoming. Enjoy. Remember I am available for questions or even better, assignments to create an image for you.
 

Ken's Radio interview with Rick Kidder of the Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce

I was interviewed by Rick Kidder, CEO of the Scottsdale Chamber for the Good Morning Scottsdale radio show on KXAM Independent 1310AM.
Here is the link http://eppyphotog.podOmatic.com/entry/2009-02-15T14_41_33-08_00 . Rick made me very comfortable in front of the mic and we just had a conversation about photography and how I accomplish some of the projects i work on. Give a listen. Thanks.

HELP BAIL ME OUT OF JAIL!!

I am going to "jail" for good. That's right on April 21st I'm being arrested and am serving time for "Jerry's Kids" to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I need your help to raise enough dough to bail me out of jail. You can also pay to keep me in!!
I'd like to include you or your company on my list of contributors who are helping me raise my bail of $2400. Your donation of any amount will help MDA continue the fight against muscular dystrophy. I can accept cash, checks and credit cards. The title has a link to the MDA site.
You can also use the link below to make a donation-
Help Bail Me Out!

I sincerely hope that you'll take this opportunity to support MDA. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me at 602-788-3686. On behalf of the families which MDA serves, Thank You!!

Ken Epstein wins IACP 2009 People's Choice Award

WOW! I am both excited and surprised. I created an image with Phoenix food stylist, Traci Zitzer, and a local baker to capture the feeling and emotion of an artisan bread baker as he works his dough. The baker arrived at the studio with a tub of dough, some flour and his hands. I spent an hour and a half capturing him throwing, kneading, pulling, shaping and stretching his dough. I decided not to concentrate on everything being technically perfect but to capture the work flow as it happened. What a feeling of freedom to not worry if this was the perfect plate of food!! We captured over 200 images in various angles and situations. Traci and I spent many hours editing images and finally narrowed it down to two images. We entered the image into the International Association of Culinary Professionals (we are both members) annual photo exhibition. This year the convention was in Denver. I am glad Traci was there this past weekend to hear our names being called and to go onstage to accept in front of the world's greatest culinary professionals.

Here is the winning image-