Trying to catch drop of rain...

[Starbuck]

Hi there!

I am ver new at photography and I am sorry if this question is stupid...

it was very rainy day yesterday and I was trying to catch drops of rain as they hit the table...anyway I had my camera on shutter priority dial, and tried the shutter speed from 1/1000 and up...I set my Whitebalance to cloudy and I was trying to keep my ISO under 400...but my shots come out too dark...why?? I wish I had saved at least one photo but there was no single photo that was niceley taken!

I just need to know what I am doing wrong....

Thanks in advance!

P.S. I hope I posted this in a right place...but rain drops seem macro to me...

[Alexander]

This is an interesting idea, but it does seem that it would be difficult to pull off correctly. You might want to try using flash. If its raining hard enough you should have several drops in each photo. Flash will help "freeze" them (pardon the pun.)

Alternately, you might want to attempt a long exposure (a second or so.) The motion effects might be interesting.

Keep experimenting and post some results. The next time it rains here, I might give it a shot, also.

[dphens]

Hey Starbuck,

At 1/1000 and ISO 400 on a cloudy day, you will most likely not have enough light, hence the images being too dark.

You don't mention your equipment, but for something like this, you'll want a fast lens (large aperture) to let in as much light as possible. Also, experiment with your settings in advance. You could always set up a garden hose with a nozzle to spray onto the table and see what shutter speed and aperture you need to capture what you want. However, if it's sunny day, your settings will be different than what you'd use on a cloudy, rainy day.

The next time it's raining, get set up and start with a slower shutter speed... something in the range of 1/250 and see what you get. If it's too dark at that speed then increase your ISO setting and see what happens. If that gets you close then you could increase the shutter speed one setting and check again. Rinse and repeat until you find the right setting.

Hope that helps!

Dave

[Starbuck]

great ideas!!! Thank you!

I now have to do a dance to call for rain lol...nah I don't really mean that...I like sun