My First Water Drop - Opinions Wanted

[RyanWard]

So, I'm really taking to my new hobby and can't seem to find enough things I want to try or enough objects I want to take pictures of. Needless to say, I'm a bit excited about it still - and that's a good thing. I know I have much to learn, but, the best thing I can think of is to actually shoot some photos and see how they turn out.

Today I thought it a good idea to try to capture a drop of water. Turns out, my idea of what settings I would need were WAY off and I think I basically reached the edge of my capabilities with my camera/lighting - not sure about that, but, lighting anyway. I didn't have enough light even with the quantarray flash on top of the camera so I went out to the garage and got my two big contractor halogens and placed them on either side of the semi-transparent red glass container and took a bunch of shots.

Shot in RAW, Shutter 1/4000 (max on my D60), ISO HI (3200), shot from less than a foot away, 55 mm, f/5.6. Here is the shot after editing:



Any suggestions, tips, etc...very much welcomed. I'm definitely a newbie, but, eager to learn.

Thank you,

[TPF Sponsor]

[SlimPaul]

Nice start! Shutter speed of 1/200 would've been enough to capture the drop though. That way you can use a lower iso.

[RyanWard]

Well now see, that's what I thought! I started at 200, then 500, then 1000 and 1500 and found every drop to be motion blurred. By that time, my ISO was increasing, light was decreasing and noise was running wild which is why I thought I would post the photo here to see if somebody else who has tried this might be able to share some of their succesful pointers with me...maybe my angle was weird and if I tried that it would reduce the blur thereby allowing my to use a slower shutter...

Thanks for the "nice start" though. I'm working on it.

[KvnO]

The key to shooting things like this is the use of flash.

I'd have a hard time explaining the ideas, but if you Google "high speed photography," you should find a lot of info.

[LaFoto]

You don't need a high speed camera for this, and flash and 1/200 should actually do enough to capture the droplet frozen.
My setup and settings are shown (and explained) in_Post_9_of_this_thread.

The other droplet threads of mine are here - here and here .

And this was the result of my "playing around in the kitchen" : Look_

[RyanWard]

Man, that's sweet! I'll be retrying this later...tonight.

[cardonalj]

I shot water drops from the faucet in my bathroom way lower settings. I shoot them at 1/250, 4.5, and at iso 100. I also use flash and it all my water drops came out great.

[RyanWard]

Thank you for the advice. I went back to the kitchen to see what I could do with the flash, a different lens and ISO 100. Turned out much better. I'll take some time and try to do a few more of these.

[Ejazzle]

the second one is sooo much better! nice work

[RyanWard]

And then one for fun. Just becasue I can't put the computer down:

[Samanax]

Just becasue I can't put the computer down:

Why are you carrying the computer?

[RyanWard]

Laptop...

[RyanWard]

Ok, last one:

[LaFoto]

Wow! You're definitely getting there!

[puyjapin]

id also like tory some stuff like this. how are you setting this up ? i assume thats a glass of water somehow fed by droplets of water. Cant see how i could do this over my sink..... nice pics by the way