Tips for photographing water

[osumisan]

I have experimented a few times now on photographing water. One session was shooting a coin dropping in water and capturing the splash. The 2nd was pouring water in a wine glass and capturing the spill-over. And yesterday I shot (or attempted) water dropping into a pan.

I have tried three different lighting methods for this: one is shooting light THROUGH a white curtain backdrop onto the water.

Another method was bouncing my light off the white/reflective backdrop with my SB600 speedlight.

Last lighting method was bouncing my light off the white/reflective backdrop with my 180v strobe (reflected from a white umbrella).

All three methods gave me satisfactory results but the main problem was getting the water in focus. Most of my shots were on manual focus where I pre-focused where the water was going to be and timed my pour/drop with the shutter button. I tried different f-stop values and didnt seem to find one that worked better than others. I also tried different lenses and found that my 18-50mm f/2.8 allowed me to set the camera up closest to the set. Other lenses I tried was 85mm f/1.8 and my 70-200mm f/2.8.

Does anyone have good advice on how to make these shots better? I am wondering if a wireless shutter trigger might make a difference? I have seen this shot done by professionals with fantastic clarity and that's what I want.

Nikon D700, Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 DX, Nikon SB600 Speedlight, JL 180v strobe

 

[PixelRabbit]

To be able to help we need to know your camera settings for each shot posted.

 

[Buckster]

To be able to help we need to know your camera settings for each shot posted.

EXIF is included in each one. Just look if you want to know the settings.

 

[PixelRabbit]

Unfortunately I'm on my iPod so can't check exif.

 

[osumisan]

To be able to help we need to know your camera settings for each shot posted.

Photo 1 (water splashing out of wine glass): f/2.8, ISO400, 1/640 shot at 50mm, incandescent floodlight shot through white backdrop

Photo 2 (water drop with harsh shadow): f/14, ISO125, 1/250 shot at 50mm, SB600 speedlight bounced off backdrop

Photo 3 (water drop with soft shadows): f/7.1, ISO200, 1/250 shot at 50mm, JL 180v strobe with white reflective umbrella

All three photos were shot with Sigma DX f/2.8 18-50mm lens (I know, not a great lens)

 

[Buckster]

I have seen this shot done by professionals with fantastic clarity and that's what I want.

That comes with a price tag. What's your budget to get "professional quality with fantastic clarity"?

 

[Vautrin]

Unfortunately I'm on my iPod so can't check exif.

He appears to have tried a number of different exposure values. 50mm, f14 1/250 s, f5.6 1/250 s, f2.8 1/640 / second

I'm not sure what is meant by "clarity" though... Honestly looking at the images it's hard to say whats wrong but that may be because you posted tiny low res jpegs.

I do see in the images a kind of criss cross pattern that looks like it might be the artifact of jpeg. Is that what you're talking about?

Also, the images look like they might benefit from some sharpening... Maybe all you need is a little clean up in post?

 

[osumisan]

Unfortunately I'm on my iPod so can't check exif.

He appears to have tried a number of different exposure values. 50mm, f14 1/250 s, f5.6 1/250 s, f2.8 1/640 / second

I'm not sure what is meant by "clarity" though... Honestly looking at the images it's hard to say whats wrong but that may be because you posted tiny low res jpegs.

I do see in the images a kind of criss cross pattern that looks like it might be the artifact of jpeg. Is that what you're talking about?

Also, the images look like they might benefit from some sharpening... Maybe all you need is a little clean up in post?

Thanks for your comments...what I wanted was more of the water in focus. It seems even at larger f-stop values I used, there was still much of the water out of focus. Either the raised column top or bottom was in focus, but not both.

The criss-cross pattern you see is the texture of the bottom of my paint pan (painted black). There are white specks that show through in the photos that I did not detect in the dark studio.

 

[Buckster]

Unfortunately I'm on my iPod so can't check exif.

He appears to have tried a number of different exposure values. 50mm, f14 1/250 s, f5.6 1/250 s, f2.8 1/640 / second

I'm not sure what is meant by "clarity" though... Honestly looking at the images it's hard to say whats wrong but that may be because you posted tiny low res jpegs.

I do see in the images a kind of criss cross pattern that looks like it might be the artifact of jpeg. Is that what you're talking about?

Also, the images look like they might benefit from some sharpening... Maybe all you need is a little clean up in post?

Thanks for your comments...what I wanted was more of the water in focus. It seems even at larger f-stop values I used, there was still much of the water out of focus. Either the raised column top or bottom was in focus, but not both.

The criss-cross pattern you see is the texture of the bottom of my paint pan (painted black). There are white specks that show through in the photos that I did not detect in the dark studio.

What was your distance to subject?

50mm even at f/14 from a foot away is only about an inch of DOF. At 9 inches away, it drops to about half an inch. At wider apertures, like f/5.6, you're looking at about 2/10ths of an inch of DOF to work in. And at f/2.8, you're looking at about 1/10th of an inch to work in.

 

[osumisan]

Buckster, you may have pointed something out to me that would help. I had my camera lens about 12 inches from the dropping water column. Are you suggesting that I should be further away to increase my DOF? If I use my 85mm lens, I have to get about 5 feet away from the column and wonder if I can get the same detail from that distance?

 

[Buckster]

Buckster, you may have pointed something out to me that would help. I had my camera lens about 12 inches from the dropping water column. Are you suggesting that I should be further away to increase my DOF? If I use my 85mm lens, I have to get about 5 feet away from the column and wonder if I can get the same detail from that distance?

Here's a tool to help you work it out:

Online Depth of Field Calculator

 

[PixelRabbit]

To be able to help we need to know your camera settings for each shot posted.

Photo 1 (water splashing out of wine glass): f/2.8, ISO400, 1/640 shot at 50mm, incandescent floodlight shot through white backdrop

Photo 2 (water drop with harsh shadow): f/14, ISO125, 1/250 shot at 50mm, SB600 speedlight bounced off backdrop

Photo 3 (water drop with soft shadows): f/7.1, ISO200, 1/250 shot at 50mm, JL 180v strobe with white reflective umbrella

All three photos were shot with Sigma DX f/2.8 18-50mm lens (I know, not a great lens)

Thanks for posting the exif First these aren't too shabby! Nice job

Photo 1 (water splashing out of wine glass): f/2.8, ISO400, 1/640 shot at 50mm, incandescent floodlight shot through white backdrop
Love the colours you have going on here, nice choice, you have a great jumping off point.
Your DOF at F2.8 is wayyyy too small, the lowest I go when shooting water drops is F8.
Light position is very important for water. The light from behind is excellent but you need some light from the front also. You need highlights to give the water it's form, I would bring my shutter speed down to about 250 get your Fstop to at least f8, and flash from somewhere in front of the water to give it depth, right now it is very flat.

Here is an example, 18-200 Canon lens on 60D continuous light from below and on board flash. Settings: 1/250ƒ/13ISO 400150 mm
(please disregard the background, it's horrid lol)



Photo 2 (water drop with harsh shadow): f/14, ISO125, 1/250 shot at 50mm, SB600 speedlight bounced off backdrop
Photo 3 (water drop with soft shadows): f/7.1, ISO200, 1/250 shot at 50mm, JL 180v strobe with white reflective umbrella

Pretty much the same as above applies, you got there with your settings and you are freezing the action well but you need more light to give them more depth. The other thing I see with these two is the angle you are shooting at, you are shooting down at an angle so you have to remember your plane of focus is going to be tilted also allowing parts to pop out the top or bottom of your field, the more level you are with the water the easier it is. I personally shoot these handheld so I can push and drag my focus to get it just right, you get a feel for it pretty quick.

Hope this helps! Looking forward to seeing your next round!

 

[j-digg]

To be able to help we need to know your camera settings for each shot posted.

The other thing I see with these two is the angle you are shooting at, you are shooting down at an angle so you have to remember your plane of focus is going to be tilted also allowing parts to pop out the top or bottom of your field, the more level you are with the water the easier it is. I personally shoot these handheld so I can push and drag my focus to get it just right, you get a feel for it pretty quick.

Hope this helps! Looking forward to seeing your next round!

This is what I was going to recommend. The depth of field will be more in line and it makes for a ( subjective ) more interesting perspective. Also, I'm pretty sure your speedlight will do a much better job of freezing the action, giving you better results because the duration of the flash will be much shorter than the strobe is. I haven't searched that info to confirm it but I'm pretty sure it should be correct, and from these 2 examples it appears to be.

 

[osumisan]

The other thing I see with these two is the angle you are shooting at, you are shooting down at an angle so you have to remember your plane of focus is going to be tilted also allowing parts to pop out the top or bottom of your field, the more level you are with the water the easier it is. I personally shoot these handheld so I can push and drag my focus to get it just right, you get a feel for it pretty quick.

Hope this helps! Looking forward to seeing your next round!

This is what I was going to recommend. The depth of field will be more in line and it makes for a ( subjective ) more interesting perspective. Also, I'm pretty sure your speedlight will do a much better job of freezing the action, giving you better results because the duration of the flash will be much shorter than the strobe is. I haven't searched that info to confirm it but I'm pretty sure it should be correct, and from these 2 examples it appears to be.

I shot some more of these water drop shots today using a lamp-shining-through backdrop AND my strobe shooter from camera-right 7o'clock. Those photos did not turn out as well as the ones I shot with my speedlight so I think your assessment is correct.

 

[j-digg]

Yep, the higher the ambient light the more it will affect the photo (obviously) and the lower it is the more the flash will affect it. The shutter speed; 1/250th of a second is MUCH slower than the pulse of light given out by the speedlight which [can be] faster than 1/10,000 of a second which is why a drop photo turns out so much better when it is primarily exposed by a flash.