This video is one of a series of shots where I was trying to see things from an uncommon vantage, underneath. Sadly most of the shots just didn’t turn out to well. I’m currently working on a better rig for getting that kind of shot. This particular shot is of an air balloon being popped under water. I am still trying to come up with a good way of getting this particular shot, its quite hard to get the balloon to remain under the water. We used one of our background support poles and tied the balloon to it to make sure it stayed down, unfortunately this puts a major obstruction in the view and consequently ruins any artistic value the shot might have had. I’m posting it because it still manages to be an interesting shot, not super exciting but interesting. The lighting on this had one light directly to the left of the aquarium angle upwards, and the same for the right and front. The front was placed at a 45d angle to the aquarium. All of the lighting was coming from roughly 5″ below the bottom of the aquarium. Next time around I’ll try doing these outdoors with a larger aquarium and hopefully a better rig for holding the balloon. If anyone has any suggestions for that feel free to post them in the comments.
Full Resolution download: I seem to have lost the footage for this one, so sadly no full res version.
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I don’t know what size of an aquarium you’re working with, but consider tying the balloon to a large (perhaps lead) weight placed under water. Rather than trying to hold the balloon down with a stick, a weight pinning it under water attached to the knot of the balloon by a string would probably be easiest and distort the shot the least.
The challenge would be moving the weight holding the balloon out of the field of view of the camera. Since a string would be holding the balloon down, you’d need another string attached to the top of the tensioned string to pull the balloon diagonally away from the weight, into the camera’s view.
Or you could use string mounted securely to the sides of the tank. This is easier said than done unless you don’t mind drilling holes into the sides of the tank and sealing them up with caulk. That way you could run the string across the entire tank and put the balloon in the middle. It could be easier than dealing with weights but it would partially destroy a tank.
Hey, fishing line could be even better than string for rigging it down. It’s designed to be nearly invisible underwater and it should likely be more than strong enough.
I had considered drilling a hole in the glass, my only concern was the breaking the glass while drilling. But then again, it’s a $10 aquarium so if one breaks it isn’t too big of a deal. The only other concern with the fishing line through the bottom is that it would have no center support and so the balloon would pull it upwards. I could tape it to the bottom before I fill up the tank as well. I have a clear silicone tape that might be able to handle that.
Stumble it!
I don’t know what size of an aquarium you’re working with, but consider tying the balloon to a large (perhaps lead) weight placed under water. Rather than trying to hold the balloon down with a stick, a weight pinning it under water attached to the knot of the balloon by a string would probably be easiest and distort the shot the least.
Excellent suggestion, duly noted.
The challenge would be moving the weight holding the balloon out of the field of view of the camera. Since a string would be holding the balloon down, you’d need another string attached to the top of the tensioned string to pull the balloon diagonally away from the weight, into the camera’s view.
Or you could use string mounted securely to the sides of the tank. This is easier said than done unless you don’t mind drilling holes into the sides of the tank and sealing them up with caulk. That way you could run the string across the entire tank and put the balloon in the middle. It could be easier than dealing with weights but it would partially destroy a tank.
Hey, fishing line could be even better than string for rigging it down. It’s designed to be nearly invisible underwater and it should likely be more than strong enough.
I had considered drilling a hole in the glass, my only concern was the breaking the glass while drilling. But then again, it’s a $10 aquarium so if one breaks it isn’t too big of a deal. The only other concern with the fishing line through the bottom is that it would have no center support and so the balloon would pull it upwards. I could tape it to the bottom before I fill up the tank as well. I have a clear silicone tape that might be able to handle that.