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Drop of a hat
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Haha, they do look like head mannequins with hats on them! :D
Well done as usual. I think you can say you know how to take a good picture of water drops! :)Thanks Vee & Sandra.
SandraMcPhotography: I basically used the same setup as my recent Beachball post, only difference was different coloured paper in the background & I used a studio flash (bit of a mistake) :lol: All of the above shots are really just lucky results from lots of shots taken.miki g wrote:
There are lots of different ways to setup for these shots (from very elaborate to very basic), but regardless of which setup you use, it is mainly down to luck.
In this shot, I filled a wine glass up to the rim with water & placed it in a dish for any overflow. A plastic bottle with the base cut off was suspended over the glass & a pinhole was put in the lid. The bottle will need to be secured to something solid (I used a piece of wood) to prevent it from swinging ( as the drops will land in different areas if not secure ). I placed two coloured sheets of paper behind the glass (approx 1 ft away) to add colour to the shot. Coloured lights / filters etc can also be used to add colour & food colouring can also be added to the water.The camera with 60mm macro lens was placed close to the glass. The main flash was used off-camera & pointing at the background & a slave flash was also pointing at the background paper from the other side. The flash power was reduced to approx 1/16th to freeze any movement in the water. I then put some water into the plastic bottle & used a straight piece of wire placed across the rim of the glass to mark where the drops were falling & focused on that area. I placed the camera in a position almost level to the rim of the glass so that I wouldn’t be shooting down on the water. This gives better height to the column of water that rises after the drop hits. There are some great slow motion videos on Youtube which show the sequence of effects of water splashing or water collisions. I highly recommend looking at this one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoQ0DQpwwHU&NR=1″ onclick=”window.open(this.href);return false;
Lots of people suggest shooting in a dark room, but I don’t think that this is totally necessary & would suggest a dimly lit room instead.
When you have set up everything as you like it, fire a few test shots to check exposure & focus. I used f/16 for this shot, but there are still areas out of focus due to the narrow DOF of a macro lens being so close to the glass. A telephoto or zoom lens can be used from further away to give extra DOF at the same aperture, but may show the wine glass in your shot. Plates or dishes can also be used instead of a glass. A remote cable is recommended for firing the camera as this will allow you to observe the water as it falls.
When you are ready, fill the bottle with water & as the drops fall look at what is happening. It should be noted that if the base has not been cut off the bottle, air pressure will soon prevent the water from coming out. The height of the water inside the bottle & the height of the bottle above the glass will also effect the drop rate, as will the size of the pinhole in the lid. The depth of the water inside the glass will also effect how the splashes appear & of course the actual time you release the shutter will have the greatest effect.
Watch the drops fall, listen to the splash, get into a rythmn of firing the shutter at a particular point & shoot loads. Every shot will have a different effect. I fired approx 100 shots before I achieved this result. The failure rate is very high in this type of photography.
Hope this helps. Enjoy.
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