Water Drops

dcukhunter

After seeing some great water drop/crown pics I decided to give it a try. Setting up is easy enough but getting the timing right is hard. These are the first shots i've managed to get. Although i'm starting to get a bit better with the timing now so i'll have to give it another try again.

Thoie

They're lovely.

I tried it before, and what I found helped was a big bowl/basin on top of another upturned bowl in the sink. It raised the height above the edge of the sink, but any run off went down the drain (instead of all over the floor!). The problem with most sinks is that they have an overflow near the top, so you can never get the water all the way to the top.

dcukhunter

Ya I was using a bowl as well but the hand holds for it comes up above the water level and it can be seen in the background. I'll have to change the set up a bit next time and hopefully i'll be able to get that out of view.

BlastedGlute

Nicest is the 6th. Its got some speed impact going on there and is not the usual water drop shot that people go for. Also there's no distracting background shapes or unlevel horizons. Good stuff

dcukhunter

A few more I did as well. The last one is my favorite one.

Rainbowsend

They look a bit underexposed, are you using flash? The flash will
light the drops giving more definition (if the timing is right) and agree
with raising the water too, you need to be almost level with the
water to get the effect of it "jumping" out of the water. You will need
to light from the side and reflect it on the opposite side, so have a
flash to the side and a white or silver reflector to bounce the light
back. Using a backdrop will block out any unwanted "clutter", a black
bin bag works a treat.

Not an easy feat but well worth the effort, well done so far anyway
and look forward to seeing more.

dcukhunter

Thanks for the tips. I only have the inbuilt flash but I had a desk lamp to the side as well. Just behind it I had black card set up but maybe the flash was reflecting off it a bit making it appear lighter. Next time I try it out i'll try using a differant bowl so I can fill it up to the top and rise it up a bit.

Rainbowsend

A lamp will work too, just angle it so that the light is
shining towards the water drops so that the back of
the lamp is at an angle to the backdrop and then use a
sheet or piece of white card on the opposite side to
reflect the light back onto the drops.

dcukhunter

Thanks again i'll give that a go. I have a couple of other things I want to try and see how it works next time.

thefly

Heres a few I tried a couple of years back. Try playing with different drop zones and backgrounds. Also, an off camera flash is a must if you are serious about getting good shots. Finally, you need to get tighter to the "drop", what lens are you using?

dcukhunter

I've only just started to get into photography so all I was using was the 42mm kit lens. There's a couple more bits I want to get when funds allow.

BlastedGlute

What camera has a 42 mm kit lens?? Prime??? :O

dcukhunter

Panasonic 14-42mm lens.

5uspect

It is near impossible to handle the timing manually. Have a look at making, or buying an intervalometer to sync everything up nicely.

Here is one of mine taken with a "Time Machine":


and one without:

bullpost

And if you really like it and want to take it to the next level , check this guy out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cymaii/

dcukhunter

Nice shots 5uspect. I'm still just trying out differant things but I might look into getting one if I decide to take them to the next level.

dinneenp

that one of the milk 'jumping' out of the cup is excellent