my first attempt at a water droplet

[jpsimon]

hey i just decided to give this a go... i dont have a macro lens, so i used my 17-40L i thought it came out relatively well for a first try. what do you think?

i didn't use any special flashes... just a lamp and the 20d's built in flash. im gunna do a bunch more of these but with strobes at some point soon.

anywho.. what do ya think?

http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jsimon20/photo/20d/macrostyle/watertest4.jpg

[dpower]

Very nice!

Do you mind sharing how you did it?

dp

[jpsimon]

filled a bowl with water. had the camera on a tripod..put something right above the water where i was planning on dropping the water into so i could set the focus on that... then one hand held a spoon with water in it... the other was on the trigger.

dropped the water took a picture.

[dpower]

so... basically... trial and error!

any photoshop-ing at all? the pink hue?

again... very nice. would like to play with this kind of shot myself sometime

[jpsimon]

yeah originally it was a purpelish blue.. i didn't like that so i changed it.

[jpsimon]

another


http://studentpages.scad.edu/~jsimon20/photo/20d/macrostyle/watertest5.jpg

[andygrif]

Dumb-ass question alert!

What's the best way to get a decent result of these type of shots. I've been playing around today and not getting on too well. A couple of 'nearly theres' but nothing good yet.

At what point do you guys release the shutter compared to the release of the droplet?

Also I'm struggling with my 550EX, as it takes so long to fire up on high-speed - but the best ones of today seem to be at 1/2000th.

Any water-droplets-for dummies guides out there anyone?

Thanks!

[andygrif]

OK....I persevered! A bit!

I'm still not hitting the spot though. These are OK, but they don't seem to have the life of pretty much all the other ones I've seen on here. These are all just cropped and levels corrected in PS. Any suggestions?

[mgbeach]

What has always worked for me is to time the shot more by sound than anything else. Use a remote cable and even close your eyes and listen to the cadence of the drops. Release the shutter just as you expect to hear the next one.

[4nR]

nice shots. i cant believe you did it by hand. im going to have to try it.

[andygrif]

What has always worked for me is to time the shot more by sound than anything else. Use a remote cable and even close your eyes and listen to the cadence of the drops. Release the shutter just as you expect to hear the next one.

Thanks MG. What do you use to drop the water? I bought a cheap little eyedropper, but to be honest it doesn't make any noise so your cunning plan might not work for me with that method!

[solinger]

MGBeach stated exactly what I did... I used a water bottle hanging over a shelf with a hole in the bottom to create the falling drop of water. You can anticipate the next drop based on the rythem. You won't even need to watch.

[mgbeach]

the only shots like these I've ever taken have been in my sink. Just a slow drip from the faucet into a bowl of water.

[drewmk2]

You guys inspired me to give it a shot also:

http://www.drewdj.com/gallery/albums/album06/CRW_2690.sized.jpg

http://www.drewdj.com/gallery/albums/album06/CRW_2708.sized.jpg

http://www.drewdj.com/gallery/albums/album06/CRW_2703.sized.jpg

Taken with the 50 f/1.8, just cropped and resaturated in PS.

[am_pitbull_terrier]

Nice shots everyone. Here is mine too.

I posted this a while back, but I figured everyone else was posting their shots.. Here was my first attempt at it.

http://img106.exs.cx/img106/1923/img042aa1kh.jpg

[andygrif]

I like the wording at the bottom...I can't make out what it says, but it draws me in. Nice job APT. DrewMK, I love the lime shot. MG, like yours too!

I feel inadequate!

[Michaelmjc]

Well since everyone is doing it, Here is one I did not too long ago.

JpSimon they're not bad, but it just takes a lot of shots and timing is key.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y7/mikeclarke/waterdrop50.jpg

[am_pitbull_terrier]

it just takes a lot of shots and timing is key.

Isn't that the truth, I took I think like 80 shots to get like 6 or so that l liked:rolleyes:

[am_pitbull_terrier]

OK....I persevered! A bit!

I'm still not hitting the spot though. These are OK, but they don't seem to have the life of pretty much all the other ones I've seen on here. These are all just cropped and levels corrected in PS. Any suggestions?

When I did mine I set the camera to cont. shooting and just snapped frame after frame real fast as I was dropping water into the bowl. After you take so many you're bound to get some good ones... Its a numbers game :D

[am_pitbull_terrier]

I like the wording at the bottom...I can't make out what it says, but it draws me in. Nice job APT. DrewMK, I love the lime shot. MG, like yours too!

I feel inadequate!

Thanks, It says something like not for stove top or broiler :lol:
And dont feel like that, your shots looked fine too. I liked that last one posted where you can see the water going straight up... Cool

[Michaelmjc]

Isn't that the truth, I took I think like 80 shots to get like 6 or so that l liked:rolleyes:
You're lucky, it took over 600 shots before I got a few good ones.

[bookster]

remember- if you are using the flash you don't need a fast shutter speed. I used 1/60 sec at f8 with my A70:
http://www.pbase.com/bookster/image/32349650
http://www.pbase.com/bookster/image/32349647

[andygrif]

Good info, thanks bookster. I was guessing that I'd need as fast an exposure as possible, so I cranked the camera up to the high speed sync setting and shot at 1/4000th and 1/2000th.

I might have another go at lower speeds too.

I like the one with the beads in.

[Fer]

I like them all. I'll have to give it a try.

[PhotosGuy]

These are all interesting! Keep it up!

[Fer]

Ok, here is mine. The bad thing about it is that I shot at ISO 800 due to the bad light in here. I colorized at PS...

[Michaelmjc]

Not bad but you cant really see the drop. I would try it again but at a different angle. Water level is probably the best.

[Titus213]

I've seen a setup that uses a flash and a mike trigger. Had my electronics loving son try to build one for me but it never did work. Basically the camera is set up with shutter open, mike unit set up just out of camera range and when the mike 'hears' the water hit it trips the flash......seems there are some commercial units advertised from time to time.

BTW - nice pictures. Talk about patience!

[Dave Ward]

I was impressed by your images of water droplets. I had a go myself. I used the bottle with a hole in technique and arranged it to drip regularly. The Canon 1Ds was mounted on a tripod and a simple manual flash connected to its pc socket. I fired the shutter with a remote release. Despite the control I thought I had, it took about 100 shots to get a couple of good ones (even then I'm afraid I cheated by combining the two best shots in PS). Anyway, what do you guys think?

[SuperFly]

Ok, I'm in :) here is my "hovering drop" result...

http://80.227.59.233/cdpforums/drop01.jpg

[Skippy29]

My first attempt tonight...thanks for the inspiration everyone!



http://www.themxzone.com/pblog/images/20050609212017_drop.jpg

I used Tv priority (with flash on), and set it to continuous shot mode....then just held down the shutter and started dropping water out of a turkey baster. I'm WAY too lazy to try and time anything...so I figured I'd try to just get lucky.
This one was 1/80th (with flash) @ f5.6
Cropped+auto levels...that's it.