Wild night with Water Drops / Off Camera flash

Martin.D

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I tried photographing water drops last week but I want to go one step further with regards to off camera flash and using different backdrops and water coloring..

The photo's below are the best of the 300 shot's I took, I really need a macro lens..

Info:

Canon 50D
Canon EFS 17-55 F2,8 IS USM

Strobe Info:


2 x 430 EX II
1 x 580 EX

Fired left and right @ low power directly at the backdrops..

C&C Welcome.. Photos of our set up on flickr

1) - Red water / Orange Backdrop



2) - Red Water / Orange Backdrop



3) - Red Water / No backdrop



4) - Clear water / Green backdrop / Orange coloured card under bowl



5) - Blue water / Green backdrop



6) - Blue water / Green backdrop



7) - Blue water / Green backdrop



8) - Blue water / Green back drop



9) - Red water / White back drop

 
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Not bad at all considering you werent using a macro lens. :smashin:

Like the blue/green backdrop.
 
Thank you..

Very difficult to keep focus with the 17-55, all photos are cropped otherwise they look a tad small..

P.S My Fav is number 6 :smashin:
 
Great stuff - must have a try at this myself some day.

#4 & #6 for me. Oh, and #8 too.

Cheers,

John
 
Thank you for the kind words...

I tried to get some object's in my drops but failed :( Any ideas?

Macro lens would indeed get me closer but for now I have to use my 17-55..
 
You've done an excellent job with these, I like 3, 5 & 7 the most. It'd be nice to see a photo of how you had everything set up... maybe something to keep in mind for next time?! :smashin:
 
You've done an excellent job with these, I like 3, 5 & 7 the most. It'd be nice to see a photo of how you had everything set up... maybe something to keep in mind for next time?! :smashin:

Thank you..

As requested - this is a friend of mine (Olli :D He's German and has his own studio!)

I always have my camera on a tripod as close to the table as I can.

As you can see we are using a baby bottle suspended from a mic stand to flow the droplets. With the tit on you have to cut the bottom of the bottle off otherwise the water will not flow, that said once the bottom has been cut off the water will flow too quick so a little toilet paper stuffed inside the nipple will slow it down, less paper faster flow etc




The setup

 
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Nice setup. I like the baby bottle idea to give the drips.
I can imagine that once armed with a macro lens to get a bit closer you'll be able to get some really, really awsome shots! :thumbsup:
 
Nice setup. I like the baby bottle idea to give the drips.
I can imagine that once armed with a macro lens to get a bit closer you'll be able to get some really, really awsome shots! :thumbsup:

This was my second attempt at water drops, first time I used a plastic bag with a small pin hole but if the hole is not right then you end up repeating the process untill you get it right.

The baby bottle can be filled on the fly and the bottom of the tit cab be filled with paper that will allow you to control the flow, best solution is one of those drip bottles from the hospital with a flow meter! :smashin:

Another idea is to use thin oil as the droplets, this should create an interesting effect.

From this session we learnt that we need reflective backdrops and not card, we also want to paint pretty pictures inside the drops but for this we need a macro..

Suggestions for a cheap macro lens anyone?
 
Crikey, that setup is a lot more hi tech than the one I used.
mine was a dripping tap into a bowl of water which was sitting on a green container lid :rotfl:

 
Martin - Great shots. Like all the different colour combinations. #6 is really nice.

I read somewhere that milk will make some very interesting 'crown' splashes - might be worth a go ?

I had a go at this a while back, and like Mike P, I also had a very low tech solution - water filled glass dish over a chess board, and then dropped some drips in with a straw. Camera on a tripod, and used kit lens and on board flash.
 
I had a go at this a while back, and like Mike P, I also had a very low tech solution - water filled glass dish over a chess board, and then dropped some drips in with a straw.

You had a STRAW ? :eek: :D
 
Really nice work.:thumbsup:
 
Martin - I really like your shots. It'll be great to see what results you get when using a true macro lens.

What exposure settings did you use?
How much PP was involved?

Thanks
Gary
 
Martin - I really like your shots. It'll be great to see what results you get when using a true macro lens.

What exposure settings did you use?
How much PP was involved?

Thanks
Gary

Thank you, Macro lens is the way ahead.. I put some nice object's inside the drops last night but becuase of the crops they fail to look fine!

What exposure settings did you use?

Always - Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250) to freeze the shot (Highest I can go with Off Camera Flash).. With an Aperture ranging from F2,8 to F8,0

How much PP was involved?

Hardly any, I played around with the brightness and contrast's to bring out the colours, added a little sharpening becuase of the huge crops!

The 2 last I cloned out some dark patches above and right of the drop's but on my PC at work I see they can still be seen! :eek: This was due to my A4 blank paper back drops and my poor cloning skills! :D

I shall rework them tonight and replace them :smashin:
 
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all great shots. number 6 has to be my favourite though. it's smashing!
 

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