Water drop got an issue

So thought I'd give this a go but iv ran into 2 problems first off I only have a hot shoe cable for flash to be off camera , which came to a head straight away was rubbish so need to order a wireless receiver , that's easy enough but my issue is the water tray , I have 3 I can use,a glass one a grey cat litter tray and a painters black tray , I'm currently trying the painters tray but the raised part inside with a pattern on keeps coming through on my image , am I focusing at too much of an angel and should I be more level with the surface or is there another way , I have seen a few YouTube vids were they use these trays so it's obvious I'm doing something wrong .

^ A picture is worth a thousand words I am guessing you are catching too much flash on the tray from how it sounds. I have never tried this but I am wondering if you can make a bounce card and adjust it so that the light doesnt hit the tray so hard. Would concentrate the light onto the drop and act as like a flag to keep it from hitting the lip. Another poster put some shots up and was having the same issue. Still need to see a pic to fully udnerstand whats happening.

Yep, picture please, it helps us help you.
With these sorts of shots you want to be lighting the background which reflects off the water and you want to have the camera setup fairly flat in relation to the water. Too steep an angle and you won't get that reflection as you suggested in your original post. It's the same principle as trying to get a reflection of a mountain in a still lake. Too high up and you'll be looking into the water. Likewise with the lighting, no light on the mountain and no reflection.

Thanks guys il get a pic up once Iv got the wireless receiver if it persists as I think maybe it's to do with the ttl cord not giving me enough range with the flash.

godzilla IN macro wrote in post #14816336
Thanks guys il get a pic up once Iv got the wireless receiver if it persists as I think maybe it's to do with the ttl cord not giving me enough range with the flash.

I was just messing with this. I ended up with a shallow baking pan. Some water with green food dye. I had the flash on the side, I was on the kitchen counter which was black granite.

I got one or two keepers out of about 100 shots.

This doesnt look too bad to me...

heres a shot to show what i ment about the painters tray pattern, please note this is the first shot (albeit a 3 shot burst) using a flash gel and off camera flash via ttl wire(got wireless coming soon) i have since found a deep wok and will be having a proper go at it when wireless controller shows up.
http://www.flickr.com …dzillainmacro/7​740882096/

godzilla IN macro wrote in post #14831107
heres a shot to show what i ment about the painters tray pattern, please note this is the first shot (albeit a 3 shot burst) using a flash gel and off camera flash via ttl wire(got wireless coming soon) i have since found a deep wok and will be having a proper go at it when wireless controller shows up.
http://www.flickr.com …dzillainmacro/7​740882096/

That's a good start.
At the bottom of the frame of the image the angle is too steep so you're not getting any reflection. (Sciency type content) The angle of incidence = the angle of reflection. At the bottom of the frame in your image there was no light to reflect so you just see straight into the water.
So what you'll need to do is lower the camera and remember you're lighting the background and not the water/water drop itself.

The depth of the container doesn't really come into it. My previous and current setups are about 2 to 2.5cm deep, but you can go a lot shallower than that.

Hope that helps

This is my old setup and the result:

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/paulos75/631765​2528/

IMAGE LINK: http://www.flickr.com/​photos/paulos75/631712​8999/

^that is pretty sweet -- the reflection is awesome.

Paulos75- that is awesome. Much appreciated