Timing is everything. Like some of the other folks here said, if you're serious about it, look into a laser trigger. If not, you just need to work on your timing to get a good shot.
As you've probably already discovered, when you press the shutter button on your rig an awful lot of things happen, and not all at once. The mirror has to flip up out of the way and only then will the shutter actuate. This makes for a noticeable delay when the picture is taken. When I was doing my water drop photos, I would look for a visual clue as to when to fire the camera, and even then it would take 30 - 40 snaps to get a keeper.
When you see all of those jaw-droppingly beautiful water drop photos on the internetz, there are 2 ways they were achieved... through a large investment in hardware, or blind, stupid luck. Most of those folks have invested in laser triggers and drop timers so the water is released at exact intervals, and a flash is fired at the correct moment. Most of those folks also employ the mentality of high speed photography, and have exceedingly long shutter times relying on the speedlight (or strobe) alone for the exposure.
Don't get frustrated and keep at it. You will eventually get some awesome pictures.
If I may make a suggestion though... first off, get a larger vessel. A drinking glass is handy, but not great for this. A large tupperware or fishtank would be an awesome place to start. Next, find a way to control the height of your droplet source. It will make timing much easier, simply because gravity is a constant.
here's how I set up mine. I grabbed a microphone stand with a boom arm (well, not a boom arm... I taped a broom handle to the mic clip) and taped a ziplock baggie full of water to the end of it over my vessel of water. After poking a small hole in the side of the bag to produce a steady slow, stream of drops dripping off the corner of the bag I was then able to adjust the height of the bag, and therefore the amount of time it took for the drop to hit the water. It got to the point where if I pressed the shutter button just as the drop left the hanging bag, by the time it got to the water below the shutter would be open.
Precise, huh?
At any rate, I learned a whole bunch about a lot of things doing water droplets, so I recommend you keep going until you get your desired result.
This was my favorite.
And yes, I realize this thread is two months old. Didn't stop me from responding to it.
water drop attempt
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/32/32635-be18e952e67667cbb1525b4b057b6423.jpg?1734162121)
