Shooting Water Drops

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elijahosiris

Senior Member
Took me about 25 mins to get the timing right to get this double drop. I need to use a water thickener of some sort, any ideas?

f/8 1/4" ISO 200
DSC_0066.jpg
 
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Moab Man

Senior Member
If you thickened the water you wouldn't get the splash up you're after. You might try and open up your aperture a bit and bump the ISO up too so you can speed it up.

Like the shot.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
Yeah, water drops can keep us busy for months. :) There are two properties in water drop splashes... viscosity and surface tension, which are not the same thing. Milk drops are more viscous than water, or adding glycerine to water increases viscosity, reducing flow. But long flowing water drops are the opposite - something like a few drops of Jet Dry Rinse Aid (for dishwashers) to reduce surface tension can do that.

But you can get incredible results with plain water too. My notion, at least my experience, is additives are the last step, certainly not Day One stuff. First you have to perfect your timing, to control what you get. Then the lighting is hardest part to get right. And then when we understand how to get that right, IMO, then we look at other things like additives. Additives cannot help until you can produce the other steps.
 
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elijahosiris

Senior Member
WayneF said:
Yeah, water drops can keep us busy for months. :) There are two properties in water drop splashes... viscosity and surface tension, which are not the same thing. Milk drops are more viscous than water, or adding glycerine to water increases viscosity, reducing flow. But long flowing water drops are the opposite - something like a few drops of Jet Dry Rinse Aid (for dishwashers) to reduce surface tension can do that.

But you can get incredible results with plain water too. My notion, at least my experience, is additives are the last step, certainly not Day One stuff. First you have to perfect your timing, to control what you get. Then the lighting is hardest part to get right. And then when we understand how to get that right, IMO, then we look at other things like additives. Additives cannot help until you can produce the other steps.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice :) Defiantly going to be doing a lot more experimenting. Just going through the photos now I need to get a lower perspective and a black container instead of the clear glass. I really want to get those nice reflections. I could use a macro lens which I plan on ordering in a few more weeks, and another speedlight. Every shot is a learning experience. My brain has been like a sponge the last few weeks. Just finished lighting 101 & 102 over at the Strobist, which has been a huge leaning curve. Some great stuff the author has to offer.
 
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WayneF

Senior Member
elijahosiris said:
Some great stuff the author has to offer.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is a good article. Try what it says. I don't think you need a black pan. Specifically, stand up a frosted plexiglass panel in the rear of the pan, opposite the camera. Shortcut: Put a colored filter on the flash which is behind the frosted panel a foot or two, aimed into it toward camera. The frosted panel diffuses it. Place both flash and camera low, so the reflection of the panel on the water goes straight to the lens. All the camera sees is the color lighted water surface (no pan).

Lighting is the hard part. The rule to remember is: We cannot "light" clear water, we instead light what is seen reflected in it (that frosted panel).

Here is one look at additives: Shako valve with Stopshot

And you might see Shako Solenoid Valve for Water Drop Collision Photography
 
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Vixen

Vixen

Senior Member
I did some recently in a yellowish/cream/beige sort of coloured dish and ended up with a nice goldish tinge. I added some red food colouring, just a tiny bit, and ended up with a nice rosey colour. My drops splashed were crap due to using an eye dropper and not having good enough control but I plan to retry with a better system soon. But just supporting what the others have said in that you don't necessarily need a black dish. And you could also stand your clear glass dish on something brightly coloured for effect too. :D
 
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Jonathan

Senior Member
I've done the reverse so far, which is capturing food dye dropped into clear water (on mobile now, but some examples are on my Flickr page). I now have a lightning trigger (unused) which I hope will make the capture of breaking glass, water drops, etc. easier.
 
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