What is this?

[polobreaka]

now that i have your attention...

this is my 1st time with water drop. let me know how i did!

1d mark ii
50mm 1.8 mk1
580ex

1.http://i48.tinypic.com/f4362t.jpg
2.http://i49.tinypic.com/ibhq55.jpg
3.http://i50.tinypic.com/2eyjgue.jpg
4.http://i46.tinypic.com/swfl2v.jpg
5.http://i49.tinypic.com/2po2ono.jpg
6.http://i48.tinypic.com/1zfkf83.jpg
7.http://i46.tinypic.com/w8kupc.jpg

[canonloader]

I think they came out great. But since you used flash, you could have turned down ISO to 200 oe even 100. I see a little noise, maybe from cropping though.

[polobreaka]

thank you! yea, i shot them at ISO 400...plus cropped it tight, so there are noise. maybe today ill try again and shoot at lower ISO. i really like your smoke shots, still havent figured out how to do it now.

[canonloader]

Just saying, if your already using flash, it will give you enough light at 400 or 100. It doesn't really matter at the short distances you use for drops.

Haven't figured out how to do smoke shots? It's really easy, and after drops, the keeper rate is 3 times as much. All you need is something that smokes, like incense sticks, a flash with a cord, so you can put it off to the side instead of on the camera. Then prefocus on the smoke with a nice high aperture, f/8 or above is best. I will probably try f/16 next. You prefocus, cause when you turn the lights down, you can't really see the smoke to focus on it. Aim a flashlight on the smoke so you can see it in the view finder, then lean your body closer or further away to bring the lens into sharp focus and bang off a shot. You won't get them all, but maybe 50% will be nice in focus. Because the flash is shooting just the smoke, the background will be black at 1/125s shutter speed. :)

[polobreaka]

what do you have set for your flash power? im afraid it might light up the room. after you prefocus, do you set the lens to MF?

[canonloader]

Yes, the lens is on manual focus. The flash is on E-TTL Auto. How this works is, when you fire the shutter, the camera sends the settings info to the flash, and the flash adjusts power to give you a decent exposure. Try one, then check the preview. ;)

Also, if the background is not real black, adjust in post processing using levels. And, shoot in RAW and you can do a lot in CS3 or CS4 or lightroom to adjust the blacks, exposure and brightness. Most of the shots in my link needed some adjustments.

[polobreaka]

i will have to give it a try..thanks for the tip Mitch!

[polobreaka]

what would be most desirable f stop to also capture the falling drop in focus? im not having luck with it.

[canonloader]

I would say f/8 or above. I have seen some people use f/16. You have to get the drops falling in the exact same place time after time. Once they are dripping, then maybe hold a pencil right at the point they are hitting and focus on the pencil. Use AF for that. Then switch to MF so you don't lose it. Since I used the 7D, I just used Live View to focus on the drops.

[jimz66]

I love them. The first one is very Patriotic. Thanks for sharing. Very well done.

[polobreaka]

thank you jimz66!!