Photographing water drops

Those nice to know things about your DSLR will be found here. How to do this, and why you probably should not do that.

Moderators: Greg B, Nnnnsic, Geoff, Glen, gstark, Moderators

Forum rules
Please ensure that you have a meaningful location included in your profile. Please refer to the FAQ for details of what "meaningful" is. Please also check the portal page for more information on this.

Photographing water drops

Postby miikeboyle on Sun Aug 10, 2008 8:03 pm

Ive seen some great images of water droping into pools of water with great blue colours. Im curious as to how i achieve this. Do i just tripod the camera focus on the area the drop will be and whack it on continuous shooting? What do i do about the lighting?


Thanks
miike
miikeboyle
Member
 
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:46 am
Location: Kirrawee, Sydney

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby CraigVTR on Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:45 pm

I have not tried the water drop shot but I would go for the tripod, prefocus and continuous shoot. Lighting, try flashes at different angles to see what looks best.
Craig
Lifes journey is not to arrive at our grave in a well preserved body but, rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting, "Wow what a ride."
D70s, D300, 70-300ED, 18-70 Kit Lens, Nikkor 105 Micro. Manfrotto 190Prob Ball head. SB800 x 2.
User avatar
CraigVTR
Senior Member
 
Posts: 1243
Joined: Fri Feb 03, 2006 6:09 pm
Location: Montville, Sunshine Coast, Queensland

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby petal666 on Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:31 pm

To get the really good shots, you need an acoustic trigger for your camera and flash system.
Canon 1D III
User avatar
petal666
Senior Member
 
Posts: 737
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 7:17 am
Location: Toowng QLD - 1D III

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby pippin88 on Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:32 pm

To get the best results you need a camera with a fast flash sync speed. My old D70 was better for doing this than my D200 is. (1/500 vs 1/250)
- Nick
Gallery
User avatar
pippin88
Senior Member
 
Posts: 1107
Joined: Thu Jan 06, 2005 6:42 pm
Location: Newcastle / Sydney

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby gstark on Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:12 pm

pippin88 wrote:To get the best results you need a camera with a fast flash sync speed. My old D70 was better for doing this than my D200 is. (1/500 vs 1/250)


Not necessarily, Nick.

The trick here is to pre-focus and use an accoustic trigger for the flash.

Note that I'm saying for the flash, not for the shutter. You need to be able to do this with a totally dark, controlled environment.

Start off with the lights on, set up the strobes, pre-focus and compose. Set your shutter speed to something slow; B is good.

Now, kill the lights, open the shutter, let the drip drip, and the sound of the drip should trigger your flash. Close the shutter, turn on your lights.

Chimp and adjust exposure - flash duration (power) and aperture to taste, reshoot.
g.
Gary Stark
Nikon, Canon, Bronica .... stuff
The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it - US Pres. Bartlet
User avatar
gstark
Site Admin
 
Posts: 22896
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:41 pm
Location: Bondi, NSW

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby ATJ on Mon Aug 11, 2008 4:59 pm

Some years ago I did exactly as Gary describes. I actually built the sound activated trigger myself as a kit from an electronics magazine. It was a fairly simple project and the trigger allowed you to dial in a certain amount of delay from the sound to the trigger.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby miikeboyle on Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:56 pm

Ive never herd of an acoustic trigger. Is it something i have to build or can you buy them? Do they plug into the cameras PC plug or into the flash?

Thanks for all your help. Im pretty buggered after treking all around the Royal National Park all day in search of waterfalls so i prob wont have a crack at it tonight, but hopefully some time this week. I only have the built in flash on my 30d and im not terribly fond of it but ill give it my best shot.

Miike
miikeboyle
Member
 
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:46 am
Location: Kirrawee, Sydney

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby ATJ on Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:25 pm

miikeboyle wrote:Is it something i have to build or can you buy them?

Yes. ;) You can build them or you can buy them.

miikeboyle wrote: Do they plug into the cameras PC plug or into the flash?

The flash. If you don't have an external flash you won't be able to use that technique.
User avatar
ATJ
Senior Member
 
Posts: 3982
Joined: Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:44 am
Location: Blue Mountains, NSW

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby miikeboyle on Mon Aug 11, 2008 6:30 pm

Ahh yeah i plan on buying an external flash but theres a few lenses i plan on buying first. I currently only have a 50mm 1.8 but am currently looking for a tele and a wide angle, then ill get a flash.

Thanks
Miike
miikeboyle
Member
 
Posts: 66
Joined: Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:46 am
Location: Kirrawee, Sydney

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby zafra52 on Mon Aug 11, 2008 7:05 pm

Acoustic trigger for a flash? Quite illuminating guys!
User avatar
zafra52
Senior Member
 
Posts: 4786
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2005 10:22 pm
Location: Brisbane

Re: Photographing water drops

Postby MATT on Mon Aug 11, 2008 7:12 pm

zafra52 wrote: Quite illuminating guys!
Oh dear

Any links to the project.. Sounds like fun


edit : this may help some... http://www.hiviz.com/kits/kits.htm

MATT
User avatar
MATT
Senior Member
 
Posts: 1748
Joined: Sat Oct 23, 2004 8:24 pm
Location: Biloela, QLD-----nikon--D700-----


Return to Tips and tricks

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 30 guests