# Water Splash Photographs



## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

I was bored in the house last week and thought i would give this a try in the kitchen. I set up the camera on my Gorillapod SLR Zoom then put a bowl below the tap and set the tap on a slow drip and began trying to capture the moment of impact. Its best to use a pen to set the AF on the camera. Stick it in the water at the point of impact, AF then switch to manual focus. An aperture of around f8 and a shutter speed of 1/200 with the flash on is around the setting i used. I was using the cameras flash as i dont have a seperate one....yet. 
Setup









Its quite tricky to catch this but i was surprised that with my 1st 3 shots i had this shot!









I carried on and got these ones.



























Im happy with the shots but i have a few things i want to improve them I need some white card for the background to reflect the flash, some food colouring to enhance the drops and an external flash. All in all great fun on those crappy days when youre stuck indoors!

Thanks for looking, C & C welcome

Phil


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## tom_painter85 (Jul 5, 2007)

I played around with droplets not long after I got my 450D and was surprised how easy it is do to, but so hard to get a really GOOD photo. Managed this one, which I though was quite cool, but I need to have another play now I've seen yours Phil.










Still not managed to do anything in the new house or play around with it yet, but I'll give it a go later this week I think.


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## bretti_kivi (Apr 22, 2008)

Use some fairy liquid to enhance surface tension or you won't get a proper crown. 

You don't need to use food colouring: bounce the flash off of coloured card. 

Good ones are *very* hard to do. You should also be using at least 2 flashes.

Bret


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## AcN (Nov 3, 2010)

woah, reminds me what i did 3 years ago 










I usually used a big spoon to pour water lol


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## DW58 (Nov 27, 2010)

Go to an art shop - most stock cartridge paper in a huge selection of colours in A4-A3-A2-A1 sizes. This is relatively non-reflective and makes a fantastic photographic background. I have a selection of colours/sizes which I use for macro and modelling work, the larger sheets are especially good as they can be used for base/background all in one. The sheets are easily fixed to most surfaces with masking tape. 

Like AcN's photo above, I'd use black or another dark colour rather than the white suggested by GITZO29 as it gives a better background and more emphasis on the subject. Multiple flashes would also give a better effect. Another possibility is using a Lastolite or similar reflector.


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## pooma (Apr 12, 2008)

I'm sitting in bored, the kids are entertaining themsleves so got the camera out to have a go at this. Some ok results, these being my favourites.



















Thanks for planting the idea gizto29, it passed a bit of time.


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## GIZTO29 (May 8, 2009)

bretti_kivi said:


> Use some fairy liquid to enhance surface tension or you won't get a proper crown.
> 
> You don't need to use food colouring: bounce the flash off of coloured card.
> 
> ...


Cheers Bret, as i say at present i dont have an external flash but maybe should try my led lenser? I have read that using different colour cards can produce better results and i was thinking of trying milk and colouring. Even altering white balance can give nice results. Ive seen the proper ones and theyre amazing!



pooma said:


> I'm sitting in bored, the kids are entertaining themsleves so got the camera out to have a go at this. Some ok results, these being my favourites.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


haha, no probs mate and great effort!:thumb:
Phil


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## beginner101 (Jan 19, 2010)

my attempt i have better, taken with a compact camera on a tripod


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## bretti_kivi (Apr 22, 2008)

I have one like this in the cupboard:










from the shower... there's then a nearly 1m drop, meaning you actually get crowns worth photographing.

Bret


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