Recent Water Drops (C&C Welcome)

TheNorthBank

My latest attempt at water drops using a Canon 400D, 18-55mm IS and Speedlite 430EX II.






C&C Much appreciated, Thanks.

PaulieC

these look great, very sharp and nicely timed? Care to share your technique? I tried some of these last weekend and found it quite difficult

Borderfox

3rd and 4th are really nice, well done

kjt

Very nice, love #1 & #4 .

I've been wanting to try this for a while but haven't made the time. Have you a photo of the setup used?

oshead

They are nice. Though could be a bit sharper. The first set with the Fuji camera was definitely better. I wonder if the 18-55 IS needs some to be desired in the sharpness dept.

Maybe the shutter speed needs to be faster than 200th sec to adequately stop the motion. Have you tried to stop the action using only the flash? Kinda like high speed photography. You might find you get sharper images. All in all though, a very nice attempt.

Dave OS

Mycroft H

Must try this today

Borderfox

You can use the hi-speed selection on the flash also to up the shutter speed.

Howitzer

I like #4 the best. Odd the way the drop fragments.

Digital camera magazine has a tutorial on this this month. I might give it a go.

TheNorthBank

cambo_gueno wrote: »

these look great, very sharp and nicely timed? Care to share your technique? I tried some of these last weekend and found it quite difficult

kjt wrote: »

Very nice, love #1 & #4 .

I've been wanting to try this for a while but haven't made the time. Have you a photo of the setup used?

Thanks guys, I've attached a couple of photo's of my set-up below. Its very amateurish but it might help. And if you get stuck along the way feel free to ask, and if I can help I'll be more than willing to.

oshead wrote: »

They are nice. Though could be a bit sharper. The first set with the Fuji camera was definitely better. I wonder if the 18-55 IS needs some to be desired in the sharpness dept.

Maybe the shutter speed needs to be faster than 200th sec to adequately stop the motion. Have you tried to stop the action using only the flash? Kinda like high speed photography. You might find you get sharper images. All in all though, a very nice attempt.

Dave OS

Thanks for your input Dave, very much appreciated. I 100% agree that the Fuji ones are that bit sharper and I haven't been able to figure out why yet.
I know there's no EXIF attahed to these (thats due to the re-sizing software I have, it seems to strip the EXIF data) But the first of these was shot at 1/3200, the second and third are 1/60 in complete darkness (using the flash to freeze the drop) and the forth one is 1/4000. So as you can see I've tried both methods but without much success.
You could be onto something with the lens though, do think its possible that the lens just isn't up to it?
Any other suggestions are very welcome.

Howitzer wrote: »

I like #4 the best. Odd the way the drop fragments.

Digital camera magazine has a tutorial on this this month. I might give it a go.

Thanks for that, I'm definately going to check that tutorial out.

PICTURES OF SET-UP:

oshead

TheNorthBank wrote: »

You could be onto something with the lens though, do think its possible that the lens just isn't up to it?

I think it's very possible. Here's some I took about a in Nov '07. The lense is EF-S 60mm set to manual focus. I used three flashes in these and set the shutter speed to 200 sec.

The full set is here.







Dave OS

jaqian

Fantastic shots. #1, #2 & #4 for me.

TheNorthBank

oshead wrote: »

I think it's very possible. Here's some I took about a in Nov '07. The lense is EF-S 60mm set to manual focus. I used three flashes in these and set the shutter speed to 200 sec.

The full set is here.



Dave OS

Thanks, and a good set too. I don't suppose you took a photo of your set up by any chance? I love seeing how other people get these shots.

sNarah

TheNorthBank wrote: »

Thanks, and a good set too. I don't suppose you took a photo of your set up by any chance? I love seeing how other people get these shots.

Well I think I might be purchasing that edition as well, and I agree, photo's of set ups are great, just to get some inspiration and get going!

Nice work!

Did you use water and some sort of colouring for the redness I wonder?

YeahOK

oshead wrote: »

Have you tried to stop the action using only the flash? Kinda like high speed photography. You might find you get sharper images. All in all though, a very nice attempt.

Dave OS

Your gonna have to elaborate on this for me. How do you do this?

jackdaw

TheNorthBank wrote: »

Thanks guys, I've attached a couple of photo's of my set-up below. Its very amateurish but it might help. And if you get stuck along the way feel free to ask, and if I can help I'll be more than willing to.


Thanks for your input Dave, very much appreciated. I 100% agree that the Fuji ones are that bit sharper and I haven't been able to figure out why yet.
I know there's no EXIF attahed to these (thats due to the re-sizing software I have, it seems to strip the EXIF data) But the first of these was shot at 1/3200, the second and third are 1/60 in complete darkness (using the flash to freeze the drop) and the forth one is 1/4000. So as you can see I've tried both methods but without much success.
You could be onto something with the lens though, do think its possible that the lens just isn't up to it?
Any other suggestions are very welcome.



Thanks for that, I'm definately going to check that tutorial out.

PICTURES OF SET-UP:

Did you use extension tubes ? it looks quite large ?

oshead

TheNorthBank wrote: »

Thanks, and a good set too. I don't suppose you took a photo of your set up by any chance? I love seeing how other people get these shots.

Sorry, I didn't take any photos of the setup. It was just done on spec. 3 flashes, one on camera, a macro ring flash, two slave flashs each one on both the left and right sides. I set the lense to manual and focused appropriately. I used a medicine dispenser device thingy with a bulb on the end to control the drops. Also a highly reflective blue card under the water to get a nice colour. Here's one without.



One thing for sure. I got a hell a lot of misses. After that I bought some dyes (red and blue) but I never tried it again.

So I guess you could say, take my advise above as the way not to do it.

Dave OS

Howitzer

Nice to see the setup shots.
Where did you get the nice styrofoam? Art shop? Good idea to use that.

I'm keeping my eye out for a cheap fish tank some day.

TheNorthBank

sNarah wrote: »

Did you use water and some sort of colouring for the redness I wonder?

Just tap water and Goodalls food colouring. (€1 a bottle)

jackdaw wrote: »

Did you use extension tubes ? it looks quite large ?

Didn't use Extension tubes, would like to try that some day (must get extension tubes first) I think they might just look big due to the Crop, although I was pretty close to the water as you can see from the set-up pictures.

Howitzer wrote: »

Nice to see the setup shots.
Where did you get the nice styrofoam? Art shop? Good idea to use that.

I'm keeping my eye out for a cheap fish tank some day.

A fish tank would be excellent, you've just planted a seed in my head. I'm thinking fruit being splashed into water etc... mmm!
The styrofoam I get from work, we unpack a lot of machinary everyday from Canon and it all comes packed with the stuff. If your around Waterford your more than welcome to some.

TheNorthBank

Howitzer wrote: »

Digital camera magazine has a tutorial on this this month. I might give it a go.

I bought the magazine and read the tutorial, and although there's a couple of useful tips in it, I have to say that I'm happier with the results that I get than those shown in the magazine. I hope that doesn't sound big-headed or anything but I was just a bit disappointed.

Deliverance XXV

TheNorthBank wrote: »

I bought the magazine and read the tutorial, and although there's a couple of useful tips in it, I have to say that I'm happier with the results that I get than those shown in the magazine. I hope that doesn't sound big-headed or anything but I was just a bit disappointed.

I read that tutorial and to be honest your shots are far better. The tutorial is handy for people starting out on water drops. Like myself.