Stop the Drips

joeabradley52

Senior Member
I was working on a project yesterday, photographing ice melting. I tied everything. Shutter speed,ISO setting, command setting,even lenses. After 100 shot's, I got 2 that are some what ok. I did this samething 20 years ago with no problem. Got any ideas?
 

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jdeg

^ broke something
Staff member
Hi Joe - welcome to Nikonites!

Is your goal to freeze the droplets in mid air without any blur? Did you try using a flash and up the shutter speed?
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
We need two things. What is the EXIF data on both shots and what was the objective of the project. If it's to stop the drips then a high speed shutter speed is you first objective.
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
Exactly what I was going to ask, Joseph. What's the objective? These two shots look good to me....so what was wrong with the other 98?
 

joeabradley52

Senior Member
Joseph and fotojack, the object to stop the drips, clearly and in focus like they stopped. What do you mean by EXIF? I tried. A higher speed, but how high? I like perfection. Look at the images they are not perfect.
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
EXIF data is all the shooting settings used by the camera (photographer) to make the capture. That would include, make and model of camera, lens information, f/stop, shutter speed, white balance, ISO setting, focal length, and any other information, such as tripod mounted, that was used to make the shot. The two shots posted indicate they are slightly out of focus. Were you using auto focus? If you did turn it off. In shots like this the camera more often than not will have difficulty finding the focus point you want. Were you hand holding? For these shots you should be tripod mounted to find your focus point, maximize the sharpness and it will make holding the composition where you want it a lot easier. The water drops are better shot with back lighting, off to the side, not head on. That will make the drops glisten and sparkle. The two shots posted have two different white balance settings indicating you were shooting in auto. If that is the case then turn off the auto white balance, it makes the water drops and ice look gray and the colors will change with almost every shot. Set the white balance to open shade for a more natural looking ice color, or add a little cool color to give the water and ice a felling of being cold. Experiment with the WB to get the color you want. The shutter speed should be in the 1/250 range. Use a low f/stop, to put the background in bokeh (total out of focus as in the two shots above.) Hope this helps.
 

naja

Senior Member
All the above is great advice. I like to freeze water drops at times and as suggested above I use a fast shutter speed and a fairly large aperture. I use flash and bounce the light from something behind the drops to get them back lit, and I set the white balance to Shady rather than Flash, to get more blue into the drops.

If you do this each year why not practice between winter by using drip from a tap as you can control the rate of those?

Good luck, it is fun to try things a bit challenging
 

joeabradley52

Senior Member
Joseph, it would be a rare time that would not use a tripod. The two WB was during full sun I used sun setting and when it clouded up I set it to cloudy. I did not shoot in auto,ok? I'm using a Nikon d70s and these two I used aTammron 200-500 lens. The icicle was on the corner of the house next door, because there were none on my house. I tried from mode dial p/m and even sport setting. I know lame.But I was getting desperate. No option for 1/250, unless I'm reading it wrong. I will try again when there is ice, it got warm an it's all gone now. I never quit trying.
 

joeabradley52

Senior Member
Naja, thank's for the tip. I haven't tried since I did it 20 year's ago. Now I have to wait, because the snow and ice is gone. It got warm here and rained.
 

Ruidoso Bill

Senior Member
Joseph and fotojack, the object to stop the drips, clearly and in focus like they stopped. What do you mean by EXIF? I tried. A higher speed, but how high? I like perfection. Look at the images they are not perfect.

You can download for free either Opanda or Photo ME, when you look at an image the Exif (camera data including setting) data can be read.
 

joeabradley52

Senior Member
Yibel, thank's for that info. I have a Nikon picture project program that give that information. Something happen to my laptop that I had the program in and it was lost. I have reloaded the program to my desktop, so I have to start all over again. To everyone that commented, thank you!
 

joeabradley52

Senior Member
Not sure on Nikon d70s about shutter speeds. In the menu it is listed as 1/60,1/30,1/15,1/8,1/4,1/2,then it goes 1",2",4",8",15",30". Is 1/4 really 1/250? The manual is vague on the subject.
 

Joseph Bautsch

New member
The D70s has shutter speeds from 30 seconds up to 1/8000 as well as bulb for timed exposures. The shutter speed is displayed in the control panel on its top left. The seconds use a " indicator, such as 1" represents one second and a 2" is two seconds and so on. A fraction of a second does not have the " indicator. So the number 5 is 1/5 second and the number 25 is 1/25 second. The 1 and the fraction slash / is left out for simplicity. You also find the shutter speed in the viewfinder on the bottom left and the f/stop right next to it on its right. So to answer your question, 1/4 is one quarter second and not 1/250 second.

If you are seeing the numbers you have listed above in the monitor "menu" then they are probably being used to explain a function other than the actual shutter speed as found in the control panel or viewfinder. Hope this helps.
 
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