Simple water droplet tutorial (No extra gear)

[PowerPix]

Originally Posted by ThriceBlessed

Question before I try this, how did you get around the sing to focus? Did you raise the plate on something so the glass bowl would be up closer to the top? Or was it a really large glass bowl that was already close to the top of the sink?

I actually had the plate elevated to the rim of the sink (stacked it on some things). Doing it this way allowed a level viewpoint instead of shooting down.

[H.S.Fotehog]

Been wanting to try this for a while and finally had the opportunity last night while my wife was away.... haha

Here's my favorite. I didn't realize until later that my ISO was set to 800 from a previous outdoor night shoot..... I just set shutter priority to 1/250 and didn't pay attention to the rest - I was a couple beers deep already!



I don't think it's as sharply focused as it could be and you can see the reflection of the faucet, but other than that I thought it worked out all right!

Pretty damn fun! Thanks again for sharing this for all of us newbsters!

Nikon D40
Nikon 50mm 1.8
1/250
f1.8
ISO 800
On-Camera Flash

~H.S.

[West5thStreet]

Originally Posted by PowerPix

Items needed:
Water
Glass dish
Colored plate (or other colored surface)
Colored Index card (or other colored surface)

Camera Settings for both shots:
Manual
Manual focus
Shutter 1/250
Aperture f/5.6
Focal length 55mm
ISO 100
On-camera flash

These were shot in my kitchen sink and the water only had to fall about 6".
I found that manual focus works better than auto. If you use auto it keeps searching for a place to focus.

Step 1.
I placed the plate with the colored side facing up. This is what adds color to the bottom of the droplets -- my plate was yellow. You can use anything with color, I just so happened to have a plate.

Step 2.
I took my glass dish filled to the rim with water and set it on top of my plate. This is a regular glass baking dish which is approx. 3" deep. The dish needs to be glass because all of the reflections and color are produced by it.

Step 3.
Held a colored index card behind the rim of my dish to where it filled the frame. Turned on the faucet to whatever speed I wanted the drops falling and started shooting. That's it!

There are more on my Flickr page. Have fun!

These are so great!

[JanN]

Used a stainless steel bowl.

[IABoomer]

Greetings. Long time reader of the RSS feed, but new poster to this forum. Just reading some of the "how-to" threads when I stumbled on this one. I spent an afternoon with a D40 and the kit 18-55 lens dropping water into a bowl using a baster to get drops.

Most of them were just a clear orb because I'm using this plain bowl, but I caught this happy accident.

[Mittens]

Stumbled on this how-to and thought I'd give it a go. Definetly a lot of fun

[PowerPix]

Originally Posted by H.S.Fotehog

Been wanting to try this for a while and finally had the opportunity last night while my wife was away.... haha

Here's my favorite. I didn't realize until later that my ISO was set to 800 from a previous outdoor night shoot..... I just set shutter priority to 1/250 and didn't pay attention to the rest - I was a couple beers deep already!



I don't think it's as sharply focused as it could be and you can see the reflection of the faucet, but other than that I thought it worked out all right!

Pretty damn fun! Thanks again for sharing this for all of us newbsters!

Nikon D40
Nikon 50mm 1.8
1/250
f1.8
ISO 800
On-Camera Flash

~H.S.

Impressive colors! This is great.

[navsalkarmv]

This is my Try . After 20-25 snaps, I got these good ones.....





Model: Canon EOS 450D
ISO: 400
Exposure: 1/200 sec
Aperture: 16.0
Focal Length: 100mm
Flash Used: Yes

[AshNZ]

I tried this few days ago but forgot to post the results.. here they are:





Whole set: Splash - a set on Flickr

[histandards]

Originally Posted by Dtodd7506

Mine didn't turn out QUITE as good..lol but it was an attempt! I think I may know a way I can get a better shot & will probably try again! Unfortunately...my sink is not the easiest to work with! lol.

I havent tried it yet but i think the difference in his pictures are the contrast of the background color and the "plate" color. Also it seems that his faucet can flow very slowly. it looks like he let the water calm before each attempt. there is no wake in the water besides the ripple from the droplet. Im gonna try it tonight, maybe using a dropper or something for the effect.