First attempt at a water drop... FAILED

[Destin]

This was my first attempt at a water drop. I first tried pouring water into the cup. Then I tried a TURKEY BASTER to drop the water in lol... Then I just threw a penny in and realized my sync speed isn't as fast as I need it to be...

Sync speed shouldn't matter. Your shutter isn't freezing the action, the flash is. The flash only lasts about 1/10,000th of a second on average.

I took this at 1/60th of a second, iso 200, F13, and both my sb-600's on 1/16th power:

As far as how to drop the water in, get a small eye dropper from your local drug store/pharmacy. I clamp mine above the bowl/cup/pan to make sure it doesn't move

 

[MissCream]

Thanks I had my strobe at full power and I was still getting motion blur so I figured it was my shutter speed

 

[Stradawhovious]

Both are very cool shots.

As far as the water drop, the best part about it is that you can do it again and again, and its cheap as free!

I'm not going to pretend to give you any technical photograhpy advice since I'm not a photographer yet... I'm just some jackass on the intrawebs that takes pictures. What I will say is that the thing that helped me a bunch with the water drops was to get my hands off of the water source, and concentrate on taking pictures.

There is a video of this floating around on the site somewhere that better explains it, but what I did (from the video) was hang a ziplock bag full of water off of an old microphone stand above a container filled with water. Then I poked a tiny hole in the side of the bag with a sewing needle. The water ran down the side, clung to the corner of the bag, the dropped..... regularly and consistantly...... in the SAME SPOT (and there's the real key) over and over and over again. It really freed me up to play with the camera, get my focus, and not have to worry about the water. if the drops aren't in the same spot every time, focus is futile. Doing that, I came up with these.

FWIW, I hope that helps you on your next attemp.

It doesn't look like you need it though........ Cool shots! :thumbup:

 

[myko5]

Wow, I wish I could do as good as your "Failure".

Nice shots. I tried the water drop thing, but I don't think my lens is as capable for this.

 

[Stradawhovious]

Wow, I wish I could do as good as your "Failure".

Nice shots. I tried the water drop thing, but I don't think my lens is as capable for this.

You've got everything you need for killer water drop shots.

Also, To you and the OP, here is that video I was talking about......

 

[Destin]

Thanks I had my strobe at full power and I was still getting motion blur so I figured it was my shutter speed

What kind of flashes are you using?

You could still be getting motion blur from too low of a shutter speed, but only if you are letting in enough ambient light to affect the exposure. If you turn of your flashes, and take a photo you should be getting a black frame, or very close to it. You want all your light coming from the flash.

is the video that someone else mentioned, or at least the one I believe they are talking about.


I've also used a styrofoam cup with a small hole poked in the bottom of it too.

 

[Stradawhovious]

^^^^^

Great minds think alike. :cheers:

 

[MissCream]

Thanks I had my strobe at full power and I was still getting motion blur so I figured it was my shutter speed

What kind of flashes are you using?

You could still be getting motion blur from too low of a shutter speed, but only if you are letting in enough ambient light to affect the exposure. If you turn of your flashes, and take a photo you should be getting a black frame, or very close to it. You want all your light coming from the flash.

is the video that someone else mentioned, or at least the one I believe they are talking about.


I've also used a styrofoam cup with a small hole poked in the bottom of it too.

Ahhh makes sense... Thats what I was doing wrong, seems silly now that I think about it

Thanks for everyones help!

 

[Destin]

^^^^^

Great minds think alike. :cheers:

Haha nice



I figured we could use a little music now, since we're clearly so awesome

 

[lyonsroar]

Am I stupid?

I didn't see his off-camera flash firing? I've never used off camera lighting so it's probably just me being dumb...

 

[12sndsgood]

i think #2 could be really cool if you could get the reflection of the lens sized exactly to the center of the eye so it would almost look like his eye is a lens. could make for a neat shot.

 

[Stradawhovious]

Am I stupid?

I didn't see his off-camera flash firing? I've never used off camera lighting so it's probably just me being dumb...

Not at all. Video = about 24 fps. Flash = about 1/10,000 of a second. Most likely the flash was firing between frames on the video.

I could be wrong though.

 

[Destin]

Am I stupid?

I didn't see his off-camera flash firing? I've never used off camera lighting so it's probably just me being dumb...

Not at all. Video = about 24 fps. Flash = about 1/10,000 of a second. Most likely the flash was firing between frames on the video.

I could be wrong though.

yeah thats what I'd assume. Me and my friends tried using my speedlights to create a flash of light for a transition in a video, and it took us about 20 tries to get them to show up. We were mainly just doing to try to save him time in post.