simple water drops.

[arlon]

Water drops have always been a fascination of mine. Awhile back I tried my luck at a few and settled on a way that worked pretty easily for me. Here are a few drops and a self explaining shot of my setup. Takes me about 10 shots for every keeper.. )-:}





I usually use something like a straight pin for setting my focus manually.
Here I'm dropping milk onto a block of black foam (uncropped with my "focus target").



Here's my setup. Click the image for a larger version. You're welcome to copy it for your own use/reference.




My "drops" gallery is out HERE.

i love the "straight pin/milk crown" it is very unusual, almost like an abstract. the red really stands out in the black (of the background) and the white (of the milk). nicely done!

[Silverz]

I always have trouble when I try water drops. I have yet to make any decent ones although I never tried it with a flash before.

[arlon]

flash is 100% required...

[TimA]

Very nice! They're fun aren't they?

My setup was very similar but used a plastic bag instead and a paint tray like this.



An off camera flash can give you some nice shadows too if you can do it. And by adjusting the white balance, you can get some cool colors without any special filters.



More here: http://www.timarai.com/blog/2009/07/...-8pm-07032009/

[jonichilders]

Wow! Thanks to both of you for this easy info! I can't wait to try!

[TimA]

Good luck Joni! It's fun and a good weekend project. In the end, as long as you get a consistent water drop you'll get nice shots. If you don't have a good flash or if you think the onboard one is giving you bad reflections, I've heard of people just using a very bright light source like an LED flashlight bouncing off the backboard too. That combined with burst mode and you'll get some nice shots. Even at 1/250!

[Marcel Alexandre]

I am very impressed with the shots , they are beautiful!!!
Man I have always wondered how they do this , and imagined all kind of high tech stuff...
Sure will try at first chance!!!
Thank you very much for the tips and explanation!!!!!!!

[BovrilArg]

I have always wanted to do this but always assumed that it was more complicated. As soon as I get back home I will give this a try. Thank you very much for sharing.

[arlon]

Definately not at all complicated. The hardest part will be learning to time the drops. After doing it for awile I'm up to about 1 in 5 good shots. When I started I was about 1 in 20. I would not have been wanting to do this in the film days!