Water Droplets (inspired by LaFoto!)

Carman · Feb 24, 2008

Decided to give the whole droplet thing a go after seeing LaFoto's thread.

I used a 400D with 50mm 1.8 lens. The settings were 1/200s, ISO 800/1600, flash on and variety of different apertures. They were all touched up in photoshop; levels, sharpened and noise reduced. I aslo put some red food dye in the water to funk things up a bit

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Everyone should give this a go, its really fun.

Comments and crits welcome as always

Ajay · Feb 24, 2008

These look great. So this can be done with a 50mm 2.8...I started trying to do it yesterday, but I couldn't ever seem to get it to work. My sink design was limiting me from getting really close though. I think I'm going to get a dropper and try again. Did you crop these a lot? The food coloring adds a nice touch. I was reading somewhere about trying this with two different droppers and timing the drops so that when the first one bounces back up, the second one hits it on the way down and you get those cool pancake shapes. Anyway - great job!

Carman · Feb 24, 2008

Ajay said:
These look great. So this can be done with a 50mm 2.8...I started trying to do it yesterday, but I couldn't ever seem to get it to work. My sink design was limiting me from getting really close though. I think I'm going to get a dropper and try again. Did you crop these a lot? The food coloring adds a nice touch. I was reading somewhere about trying this with two different droppers and timing the drops so that when the first one bounces back up, the second one hits it on the way down and you get those cool pancake shapes. Anyway - great job!

Yes it can, let me tell you what worked for me: I found a smaller aperture...say around 12 seemed to give the best results. Also I shut the blind in my bathroom to make it as dark as possible, then used the flash to 'freeze' the drops. To focus, I got really close, then pulled back until the 50mm could finally focus...so essentially I was at the edge of the min range...about 1.5ft I think. Because it was fairly dark, the flash fired a few times to get the focus, but within a few seconds it managed it. I was focusing at the point where the drops were hitting the water. My tap aslo is fairly badly designed for this - the distance between the path of water and back wall of the sink is pretty close (if that makes any sense), so yes these are fairly heavily cropped to get rid of that ugly overflow hole at the back of the sink. I also ended up taking well over a hundred photos...and only about 10 to 15 were any good. Trial, error and patience is the key!!!

Also make sure you fiddle with levels and curves in photoshop to bring out the colours and highlight the ripples...pre-photoshop these looked very boring and flat colour-wise.

ClarkKent · Feb 24, 2008

Wow, these are great captures. Outstanding work.

Carman · Feb 24, 2008

Thanks guys

<----- I finally found an avatar :lol:

chantal7 · Feb 24, 2008

I want to try, but what the heck do you use???? I mean, I'm not sure my sink will work very well... lol. But hmmmm I guess I gotta try.... BRB

Carman · Feb 24, 2008

chantal7 said:
I want to try, but what the heck do you use???? I mean, I'm not sure my sink will work very well... lol. But hmmmm I guess I gotta try.... BRB

Bathroom sink, cereal bowl, tap, food dye

Seriously, give it a shot!

chantal7 · Feb 24, 2008

Carman said:
Bathroom sink, cereal bowl, tap, food dye Seriously, give it a shot!

Hah! Awesome, I will

MissMia · Feb 24, 2008

Wow! 2 & 5 are awesome. I might have to break down and give this another shot.

rawrasaur · Feb 24, 2008

Did you have any problems with the lens blocking the flash??

Carman · Feb 25, 2008

rawrasaur said:
Did you have any problems with the lens blocking the flash??

Not quite sure what you mean? I was using a 50mm lens (which is very short) and the inbuilt flash.

Lyncca · Feb 25, 2008

Nice! I have this lens, so I'm gonna give it a whirl! Yay!

Carman · Feb 25, 2008

Lyncca said:
Nice! I have this lens, so I'm gonna give it a whirl! Yay!

Go for it!

I'm not sure this lens is the best for the job, but its certainly possible. I think LaFoto uses a 70-300mm, so maybe worth giving that a shot...I think it would allow you to get a lot closer, so less cropping -> higher resolution. I have one of these lenses, but its broken - whenever I move the aperture smaller than the maximum it gives me 'Error 99'

and I found that a higher aperture...say 9-13 worked better, so I was forced to use the 50mm (haven't tried the kit 18-55m). But as I said, defiinitely possible with the nifty fifty!

Lyncca · Feb 25, 2008

Lafota has a sigma 70-300 that has a macro setting. I don't think the Nikkon version has that, so I don't think that I could get close enough with that lens...