What’s Your Preference?

Bianka · #1 (**permalink**) 03-10-2010, 02:43 PM

Firstly, I would like to say that I am extremely new to photography.

Last night was my first night of real experimentation of my different modes indoors. I wanted to capture water droplets into a bowl (I was following some tips from a different thread).

I had to do this in the kitchen sink, so I turned all the lights I could find on - we have lights under the units directly over the sink.

As I started to take the photos, and looked at what I had done - there was just a black screen.

I had tried various different apperature setting mixed with different shutter speeds. The only time I got photos to "come out" was when I used the flash.

I thought this was down to my lack of experience so I tried it again with the apperature only setting and then the flash only setting and I kept getting the same problems.

Is there a reason I keep getting this? Is it down to lack of surrounding light or was my shutter speed perhaps too fast (I was trying 1/250 range +/-, ap was about f5, but I moved around different options).

Does anyone have any tips?

#2 (**permalink**) 03-10-2010, 02:50 PM

Lens cap was left on.

~Eric

OsmosisStudios · #3 (**permalink**) 03-10-2010, 02:57 PM

It's likely that your shutter speed was too fast. Can you post some examples of both good and bad shots along with EXIF?

Bianka · #4 (**permalink**) 03-10-2010, 03:02 PM

Lens cap was off

I'll try to get some photos posted up - once I got the flash on then things actually came out quite well.
Internet at home is down at the moment (just moved house) but I'll see if I can bring some into work and post them.

doctorjames · #5 (**permalink**) 03-10-2010, 03:06 PM

fortunately our eyes are very good at adapting to differing light conditions.

Camera generally arn't as good, and so its unlikely you will get a properly exposed shot, indoors at 1/250th.

You would most likely get a very dark shot, but it shouldnt be completely black. It may look completely black on the back of your camera however.

If it still looks completely black on your computer then there is probably an issue here.

Bianka · #6 (**permalink**) 03-10-2010, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctorjames

fortunately our eyes are very good at adapting to differing light conditions.

Camera generally arn't as good, and so its unlikely you will get a properly exposed shot, indoors at 1/250th.

You would most likely get a very dark shot, but it shouldnt be completely black. It may look completely black on the back of your camera however.

If it still looks completely black on your computer then there is probably an issue here.

Yeah, I did consider that perhaps it was just that what I saw was "a lot" of light perhaps was just not enough.

I will try it again soon and use a slower shutter speed.
The reason why I went for such a fast one was I was worried about not capturing the drop.

Again - I am very new at this so I'm sure a lot more experimentation is required! lol.

Another consideration was that the bowl I was using was dark as well - so not enough light and a very dark focal point probably was not the best mixture.

Bianka · #7 (**permalink**) 03-15-2010, 02:24 PM

As promised - one of the better shots I managed to get.

It is still a bit on the dark side - but its my favorite one for that reason - I like the darkness.
EXIF INFO
Camera make : SONY
Camera model : DSLR-A230
Date/Time : 2010:03:09 22:47:22
Resolution : 600 x 401
Flash used : Yes (manual)
Focal length : 55.0mm (35mm equivalent: 82mm)
Exposure time: 0.020 s (1/50)
Aperture : f/16.0
ISO equiv. : 100
Whitebalance : Auto
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure : Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual

#8 (**permalink**) 03-15-2010, 02:40 PM

Flash is a must for water drop shots.

Think of it like this...your camera can only "see" so much light. For fast motion shots (like water drops), you need a shutter speed of 1/1000 or faster (I use pretty close to 1/20,000). In a dark room, your flash acts as your shutter speed. The duration of your flash will be less than 1/1000s, so your shutter speed needs to only be fast enough to darken the ambient light.

As for F-Stop, set it fairly high (f8 or higher) to make the DOF as big as possible. If the flash isn't powerful enough, you might have to lower it.

For example, I shot this one yesterday...this is a 1.3s exposure in a dark room. F14, and the only light the camera sees is from the two flashes I had set up near it. Btw, this is paint on an audio speaker, but the concept is the same for water drops: