First Try - Failed Horribly

[wrdm]

I took this photo yesterday when my car was stuck in my car park with the snow.



Camera: Nikon D5000
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 55 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Flash: On, Return detected

I wanted to catch the water droplets going into the tea cup, however the cameras LCD kept telling me that the subject was too dark, therefore the flash fired, this means that using burst is out of the question and also has kinda ruined and washed out the photo.

The photo was taken in my kitchen with the roof light just over my shoulder to the left hand side of the picture - what are the correct steps I should have used to light this properly??

[sybren]

Set your camera to P, A, S or M mode. That will ensure that the flash doesn't pop up automatically.

Did you want the water droplets frozen in the air, like you see now? Or did you want to show the path they travel? If you want the former, you need a short shutter speed, and thus a lot of light. If you want the latter you need a longer shutter speed.

[wrdm]

I had the camera in S mode however the only way I could get this photo was by triggering the flash myself.

The problem is the lighting, I don't know how to light the cup properly so I can use a fast enough shutter speed to catch the droplets of water.

I only have the roof light in the kitchen, do I need something additional??

[sybren]

yeah, you need lots more light. If you want continuous light then a 500W light would probably do, less may also work if you can get it close enough. If you want strobe light (I'd recommend that) get a cheap manual flash (such as the Vivitar 285HV) or a SB-26/SB-600/SB-800/SB-900 and place it left/right/behind/below/above/whereveryouwantit the subject.