stableflame

First of all' you can take pics of water drops with any camera that has manual control and remote cable capability, and a flash unit that can be dialed down to at least 1/64th power. A macro lens, best is around 100mm, is not essential but will give the best results.

I first started with just a normal kit lens shooting drips from the kitchen tap (sorry faucet) LOL; every shot useless. This spurred me on to investigate more. Corrie White, a 60+ year old Canadian woman was my first find, great pics, very envious.

Because the speed at which the drop occurs only the flash can freeze the action, even a camera that goes down to 1/8000th of a second is too slow to freeze the drop sufficiently to give a sharp image, this is where the flash comes in.

Usually set up in a dark room the camera is set up and focussed manually where the drop will land, apperture set to about f14-f16 with a bulb setting of around 1 second. Using the timing kit, and a sensor to detect the drop falling, the camera is initiated and the flash/es fired. The timing kit should allow you to adjust the timing by 1/1000ths of a second, this is essential to enable you to get the shot you want. The kit I use is the CameraAxe timer CA4 (produced in the USA), their valve sensor and camera cable. The flash I use is the Yongnuo YN560 which can be dialled down to 1/128th power, again essential for sharp shots, I now have 5 of these. (overkill, no)

My mistake has been buying a 150mm macro lens, depth of field is too shallow.

The liquids to drop are obviously water but milk or anything with a similar consistency can be used, I have experimented with motor antifreeze of different colours, food colouring is also often added to the water or milk.

I'll sort some of my better drop pics and a pic of my setup to post later.

For a more detailed explanation of drop photography check out these links, these guys are just the best. They're in German so your browser will need Google translate.


http://www.liquiddropart.com/

http://www.t-braeuning.de/index.php?ste=setup&lan=de

http://www.markusreugels.de/

http://www.stefanbrenner.com/

http://www.cameraaxe.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page


regards

stableflame :lol:

meatyore

Thanks for this EXCELLENT post. Informative; Entertaining; Beautiful!

Santa Fe Rose

Thanks so much for the excellent description of how you got your water drop photo. I enjoyed the photos on the links, too.