Water droplets are a fascinating photography subject but some people say that it has become a little cliched, but I for one totally disagree. Each image can be unique and there are countless variations that can be tried for some amazing effects. So, if your itching to do something different with your camera indoors when the weather is not agreeable outside, then read on for some digital photography tips on how to take these kind of shots.
Capturing water droplets is not as hard as you may think. you don't need modified flashes or timing equipment and you certainly don't need to take several hundred shots to get a few acceptable ones. If you do a bit of pre-planning and setup carefully there is no reason why you can't get some stunning shots with that "wow!" factor.
The Equipment you will need capturing Water Droplets
- Tripod - This is really essentiaI and if you don't have one I suggest you go and buy one!
- Cable or remote release - This is pretty much essential too as it will be very difficult to control the droplets and have another hand on the camera shutter at the same time. Cable releases are so cheap and useful in all kinds of photography that I highly recommend getting one.
- External flash - Preferably off camera to control the direction of light.
- Reflector - To stop under exposure. A piece of white card is fine.
- Macro or telephoto lens - To allow you to fill the frame but stay a safe distance from water splashes
Setting up the Equipment
- External flash - Set this to manual mode and set the output to 1/32 or lower. The output setting doesn't affect the amount of light from the flash but rather the flash duration which allows you to freeze the motion.
- Reflector - Use a reflector or white card placed opposite the flash. I found that not doing this resulted in under exposed images.
- Camera - set this to manual mode and a shutter speed of roughly 180. this isn't too important as with these kind of shots the flash duration is now your effective shutter speed. For focusing, place the plastic ruler where the drops will fall into the container of water and focus on this. The aperture setting really depends on the type of lens you are using but basically you want the water drops and splashes to be in sharp focus with the background out of focus to blur out any potentially distracting objects. For larger macro lenses of 100mm (which I use) I set the aperture to f16. this gives me sharpness a couple of centimeters just in front to a couple of centimeters just behind the point of focus. Focus on the plastic ruler and use aperture preview to get an idea of the depth of field, if it's not to your liking adjust it and recheck.
Taking the Shots
Once everything is setup and ready to go, practice dropping some water drops where the plastic ruler was. Once your happy you can hit the right spot keep the cable release in one hand and the dropper in the other. Start dropping water drops into the container and fire off a few shots before the drop hits the water and after it hits the water. If you have a high speed shutter mode on your camera then enable this and fire the shutter repeatedly in bursts as the drops fall. Using this method you will be suprised at how many good shots you actually get.
Variations
Other things to try are food dyes to colour the water and water drops, dropping pieces of ice into the water and small pebbles. you could also have a picture in the background behind the container which will then be reflected in the drops as they fall! The list of what you can try is really endless!I highly recommend that you give this technique a go, it's great fun and with some imagination you will get some really stunning images.
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