Photographing water drops

[miikeboyle]

Ive seen some great images of water droping into pools of water with great blue colours. Im curious as to how i achieve this. Do i just tripod the camera focus on the area the drop will be and whack it on continuous shooting? What do i do about the lighting?


Thanks
miike

[CraigVTR]

I have not tried the water drop shot but I would go for the tripod, prefocus and continuous shoot. Lighting, try flashes at different angles to see what looks best.

[petal666]

To get the really good shots, you need an acoustic trigger for your camera and flash system.

[pippin88]

To get the best results you need a camera with a fast flash sync speed. My old D70 was better for doing this than my D200 is. (1/500 vs 1/250)

[gstark]

To get the best results you need a camera with a fast flash sync speed. My old D70 was better for doing this than my D200 is. (1/500 vs 1/250)

Not necessarily, Nick.

The trick here is to pre-focus and use an accoustic trigger for the flash.

Note that I'm saying for the flash, not for the shutter. You need to be able to do this with a totally dark, controlled environment.

Start off with the lights on, set up the strobes, pre-focus and compose. Set your shutter speed to something slow; B is good.

Now, kill the lights, open the shutter, let the drip drip, and the sound of the drip should trigger your flash. Close the shutter, turn on your lights.

Chimp and adjust exposure - flash duration (power) and aperture to taste, reshoot.

[ATJ]

Some years ago I did exactly as Gary describes. I actually built the sound activated trigger myself as a kit from an electronics magazine. It was a fairly simple project and the trigger allowed you to dial in a certain amount of delay from the sound to the trigger.

[miikeboyle]

Ive never herd of an acoustic trigger. Is it something i have to build or can you buy them? Do they plug into the cameras PC plug or into the flash?

Thanks for all your help. Im pretty buggered after treking all around the Royal National Park all day in search of waterfalls so i prob wont have a crack at it tonight, but hopefully some time this week. I only have the built in flash on my 30d and im not terribly fond of it but ill give it my best shot.

Miike

[ATJ]

Is it something i have to build or can you buy them?

Yes. You can build them or you can buy them.

Do they plug into the cameras PC plug or into the flash?

The flash. If you don't have an external flash you won't be able to use that technique.

[miikeboyle]

Ahh yeah i plan on buying an external flash but theres a few lenses i plan on buying first. I currently only have a 50mm 1.8 but am currently looking for a tele and a wide angle, then ill get a flash.

Thanks
Miike

[zafra52]

Acoustic trigger for a flash? Quite illuminating guys!

[MATT]

Quite illuminating guys!

Oh dear

Any links to the project.. Sounds like fun


edit : this may help some... http://www.hiviz.com/kits/kits.htm

MATT