This is the first one off the line from my experimental Charlie’s Angels style Kung Fu series inspired by Chase Jarvis’ work.

Shot Details:
Water balloon explosions shot with a 540 EZ on camera right and left, both at around 1/8th power to ensure a quick short flash duration to freeze the movement. I used a dark bed sheet as a backdrop allowing me to easily key it out in post. The final composite is made up of two separate water explosions to make it seem as though she is punching through it and to achieve that wrap-around look.

My model Kate was shot with a 540EZ positioned camera right and left, one on 1/4 power and the other on 1/8 power. A 420 EX was positioned behind the model top camera right to produce a bit of hairlight. All strobes were bare as I don’t have shoot through brollies yet, but I think the effect still came up ok.

The model and water explosions were then combined together in Photoshop CS2 and placed on a new background to create a gritty urban feel that looks like it could be a still frame from a movie scene.

I hope you enjoy and stay tuned for more in this series.