Water drops - my first attempt c&c please

[Dubaiian]

Hello Everyone,

Still a relative newbie, but with the summer temperatures approaching 45 degrees C here its time to move inside and find things to shoot in the house. I have read a lot about these shoots and tried to utilise as much of the advice as possible but I still think that these need improvement, comments and advice welcome.



All shot with my 7D and 24-105mm with an extension tube to let me get closer. Colour comes from a cheap filter set on the front of the camera. Had a 430Ex on camera with a 580EX off to the side through a diffuser. Took me forever to actually capture the drops rising, but once I realised that the water source has to be quite high, it was just a matter of getting faster and faster shutter times until it worked.

 

[Cpi2011]

Just amazing shoot i am so wonder after visit your post. You have done really excellent work looking so great drops....

 

[Buckster]

These are always fun to do. Good job for your first try.

 

[888Photography]

Water drops and droplets are one of my favorite things to take photos of. What shutter speed did you end up using on these?

 

[Dubaiian]

Water drops and droplets are one of my favorite things to take photos of. What shutter speed did you end up using on these?

I started around 1/500th which was not too successful, but I gradually upped the light until I could get a good exposure at 1/2000th on a smallish aperture (f11). This produced drops but occasionally OOF. The best results were achieved at 1/4000.

I had two speed lite (front and side) and also use the on camera flash to balance it out.

Hope it helps.

 

[Jaemie]

Amazing clarity. How did you achieve those colors and why? There's nothing wrong with them, I'm just curious. I've never attempted this and know nothing about such photography.

 

[Buckster]

The first thought of folks who want to give this a try is that they need a fast shutter speed. Not true if they have a speedlight, and actually, a longer shutter can work even better. I know... Sounds crazy, right? Hear me out...

Do it in a darkened room (just enough light for you to see what you're doing), bring your aperture down tight to get lots of DOF, open your shutter speed up to an even longer shutter, and use the flash's stopping power to freeze the action instead of the shutter. A speedlight on low power can hit speeds of up to 1/30,000th of a second, which your fastest shutter speed can't compete with.

In addition, if your shutter is already open, you won't get any vibration from mirror slap when you trigger the flash to take the shot, which means it's going to be even more rock-solid frozen.

Yes, that means you need a way to trigger the flash instead of the shutter, independently, but that's not so tough. You just need a cheap set of triggers, and you're good to go.

You might still not believe me, so here's an example of some that I've done: My shutter time on these is 4 seconds long each, with an aperture of f/22: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/macro-photography/265618-drip-drip-drip.html

Here's another example of some that I did; Milk shot with a shutter speed of 2 seconds long each: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/macro-photography/178920-milk-drops.html

Have fun with it!

 

[Jaemie]

You might still not believe me, so here's an example of some that I've done: My shutter time on these is 4 seconds long each, with an aperture of f/22: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/macro-photography/265618-drip-drip-drip.html

Here's another example of some that I did; Milk shot with a shutter speed of 2 seconds long each: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/macro-photography/178920-milk-drops.html

Beautiful!

 

[Buckster]

One more example: http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/macro-photography/263856-splish-splash.html

That's a mixture of water and milk, shutter speed again at 4 seconds long.

 

[caveman]

Brilliant job for a first attempt - continue!

 

[Dubaiian]

Amazing clarity. How did you achieve those colors and why? There's nothing wrong with them, I'm just curious. I've never attempted this and know nothing about such photography.

Hi Jaemie, the colours are actually a coincidence of my new filter system arriving on the same day. I was bored, could not go out (summer middle east heat) so just started playing. They are simple gel filters in front of the lens.

Good advice from Buckster on the long exposures, reckon I will try that next time

 

[Bynx]

Buckster you are quite right about longer shutter speed, small fstop, and using a flash as your light source. Your examples are impressive but you dont explain that you didnt take the pictures. Its all done mechanically by an expensive machine. You push the button to start the process, but everything else from the drop(s) falling to the firing of the camera are all done by the machine. Its physically not possible to create a double drip and umbrella manually. I dont know who manufactures your machine, but the one Ive seen is called StopShot which can be googled. It cost $500.

 

[Buckster]

Buckster you are quite right about longer shutter speed, small fstop, and using a flash as your light source.

Yes, I know, not just from experience, but from every other photographer out there who's successfully doing this sort of work.

Your examples are impressive but you dont explain that you didnt take the pictures.

That comes off as rather insulting, frankly.

Yes, I DID take the pictures, thank you very much. Just because someone uses triggers to make a photographic task easier or more precise doesn't mean they're not the ones taking the pictures. I put a lot of time and effort into setting up every aspect of these shots. You don't just plug in a machine, push a button, and stand back while it sets everything up from the liquid delivery system and bowl placement to the lights and gels and snoots and reflectors and diffusers arranged from underneath to overhead on booms and so forth, to the background, to choosing the lens and body, aperture, ISO, shutter, and dialing in a focal point. It doesn't pick out the timing either. You have to work that out and experiment until you get it right, just like when you're timing your drips from a dripping plastic bag hung overhead, which I've done as well.

Its all done mechanically by an expensive machine. You push the button to start the process, but everything else from the drop(s) falling to the firing of the camera are all done by the machine. Its physically not possible to create a double drip and umbrella manually. I dont know who manufactures your machine, but the one Ive seen is called StopShot which can be googled. It cost $500.

It actually can be done, but it takes a lot more patience and luck to set up, time and catch two drips colliding in a completely mechanical manner, rather than using pumps and triggers.

But the method for precisely shooting the exact moment to capture two colliding drips isn't the point. The point is how BEST to shoot drips, whether it's one, two or more, in order to get the very best DOF, lighting, AND freeze them solid, and that BEST method is the one I outlined, using the flash rather than the shutter.

So, to recap, it's the same process for single drips, where you don't need the more precise timing or a machine or much preparation or luck even to get the two drops to collide. All you need is to get them dripping with a rhythm (like from a plastic bag hung overhead) and then fire the flash at the appropriate moment, rather than trying to fire the shutter at the appropriate moment

The formula remains the same: Low ambient light, long shutter, fast (low power) flash, and you simply decide when to fire the flash, rather than when to fire the shutter button.

Timing is everything, either way, whether you do it by setting up a rhythm with the drips, or whether you use a machine to generate them on cue.

 

[Bynx]

Setting the background for its color and focusing the camera on a spot you know the drop(s) will fall is one thing. But if a machine decides when to take the picture that is something else. Ive taken a lot of drop shots and I too decide the colors used in water and lighting, focusing and composition but its my hand on the button, and I decide when my finger is going to push the button. When I give up that control to a machine then there is something different. While I can claim to have taken the image, I didnt really, and there is no one to say I didnt. I have built a very precise water dripper and have spent many hours trying to get an umbrella drop pic. I say it cannot be done manually. But a friend of mine has the StopShot and he can do it every time. So I have an issue with pics taken by a machine. Especially if it is something that cant be done by human hands. Technically you can say you took the pic Buckster. But there is something ethical I see wrong with that idea.

 

[Buckster]

One could make much the same argument about all your HDR stuff. It was created by a machine, not you.

Sorry if you have ethical issues with that sort of thing, but glad that I don't. I'd probably seek counseling if such things bothered me, but that's just me. To me, it's just hair-splitting and, again, rather insulting in the delivery, from my POV. Life's too short for that, IMHO.

But all that aside, it strays from the actual point, which is to help folks understand the method best used to get water drip shots: Trigger the shutter or trigger the flash? Definitely the flash, hands down.

Live long and prosper, and make the best of trying to accept those things others do that can't physically hurt you!