Water drops, c&c request

[reznap]

Tried to capture some water drops. It's WAY more difficult than I had imagined. After a bunch of failed attempts, I got the angle and the light about right. I used a flash, on the floor, with blue gel. It was pointed up and towards my background - a striped blue shirt. I had another flash with a full color temp orange gel to the camera's right. I used the gels to hopefully get some nice colors. Actually getting a drop in the shot was harder than I expected. You need to really get the timing right, pay attention to when the drops are falling. After a while I got my rhythm and I went from like a 5% drop capture rate to maybe 50%.

Basically my settings varied a little but (for the most part) were f/9, 1/200, ISO 200. I used a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens. The flashes were around 1/4 power, fired by radio triggers. The water came from a punctured plastic bag, suspended above a martini glass.

I'm a little disappointed.. I was hoping for something more dramatic. Maybe I had my sights set too high. Questions/Comments are welcomed!

#1 - Vertical crop, camera was horizontal. Rotated in post..

#2

#3 - Curves messed with a bit, sort of a vintage-style edit.

 

[Robin Usagani]

so you shot this through the martini glass?

 

[reznap]

so you shot this through the martini glass?

No, it was a full glass - like brimming with water. Bag was above, dripping water. Camera was about 1.5 ft away, pointed about 5-10 degrees down at the surface of the water.

Are you saying they look bad?

 

[Gaerek]

so you shot this through the martini glass?

No, it was a full glass - like brimming with water. Bag was above, dripping water. Camera was about 1.5 ft away, pointed about 5-10 degrees down at the surface of the water.

Are you saying they look bad?

They look fine as far as water droplets are concerned. This technique has been done to death on this forum, but it's still a cool thing to try. I don't really like the tilt in the first one. It would have been cool to get a little more separation between the top of the drop and the (don't know what else to call it) stem of the drop, but still neat nonetheless.

Was a lot of fun though, eh?

 

[Robin Usagani]

No they dont look bad.. trying to visualize it LOL. I want to do it too.. Can I edit your photo later? I am still at work.. I got something in my head that will make this freaking cool.

 

[reznap]

This technique has been done to death on this forum, but it's still a cool thing to try.

I know... I wanted to do something different too, make them stand out from the rest. They don't though, lol. Hence the disappointment.

Was a lot of fun though, eh?

It was more 'good practice' than anything. Killed an hour or two anyway..

No they dont look bad.. trying to visualize it LOL. I want to do it too.. Can I edit your photo later? I am still at work.. I got something in my head that will make this freaking cool.

Yeah, chop it up, I don't mind

 

[Neil S.]

You can see a reflection in the drop for #1

Thats crazy...

 

[Bram]

Nice good start definately a good start for your first try. What I recommend is dropping the drops into a bowl, or a dish or something of that nature to take away the softness of the glass. As you cans ee the glass wasn't really clean. Here the first photo is one of mine it took me about 20 minutes to capture this one.
Now you're not going to get the perfect drop every time. What you do want to do is continuesly keep shooting as fast as you can. Look up some how-to's on google or whatever. Lear a little then have a go at it. The way you set up your drops is key too, a higher drop a bigger splash, no water in the dish you get what the picture below shows. The pointy ones you get with a little depth.

Maybe post a photo of your setup, this was mine.

 

[reznap]

You can see a reflection in the drop for #1

Thats crazy...

What you're seeing there is a flipped image. Images are flipped upside-down in water drops. I can't remember exactly why... something science blah blah.

Behind the drop and to the left is the tripod holding the shirt on a hanger and the bag of water. I also had the flash up for the first few shots but the effect looked like crap.

 

[900rr]

You need more energy in droplets when they hit surface. Try to raise bag higher. good luck!

 

[Bram]

keep trying man, keep the cool background try just an on camera flash. Give it a shot and remember don't ever stop shooting.

 

[RobNZ]

Basically my settings varied a little but (for the most part) were f/9, 1/200, ISO 200. I used a Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens. The flashes were around 1/4 power, fired by radio triggers.

Hey reznap, nice first try man, it can be a tricky beast water droplet shots, lots of fun though.

I had a look at the data from my ones to see how I did it.

I used the 50mm 1.8mm @ ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/200 and off camera radio triggered flash, power as low as possible (less power, the shorter the duration of the fire to avoid any motion blur), wired remote release.

I tried the bag hanging thing, but it ends up being a pain the ass, never hits the same damn spot, and with a shallow DoF you need it too.

The best results I got were by using a straw, dip one end in the water, use your thumb to seal from the other end and release when your ready when you've lined it up on a prefocussed mark on the bottom of a shallow tray, I try to shoot from a shallow angle, just seems to look better and it hides your target and the water gets a nice sheen on it.

Changed the hue of the water post, but the droplet colour is real, food colouring added to water, straw dip method from another bowl.

Lighting I think was firing the strobe through a light tent directly opposite.
Hope this helps.

 

[Robin Usagani]

Here is mine LOL JK

 

[akazoly]

@reznap Check out this video tutorial:

 

[Destin]

I used that video when I tried it my first time. You can see my results at facebook.com/destindanserphotography if your interested.

The only thing I did different was to use a styrofoam cup instead of a baggy. Just put a small hole in the bottom of it with a toothpick. I hung it by sticking a skewer through it at the top, and rubber banding that to a closed umbrella, that was attached to a light stand. Made it Super easy and the drops fell more consistently in the same place.