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.