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26.01.09
Shoot the perfect water droplet shot
Words by Cheryl Surry
There are a few natural phenomenathat the camera captures better than the human eye can see: the flight of the hummingbird, the incredible agility of insects and the beauty of water drops. Capturing each requires high-speed flash and in the case of the first two examples specialised kit, but the last is not beyond a simple home set-up. For my images, I filled a glass oven dish with water, about one-inch deep.
This is a pretty good size, but I did try a large wine glass too. To create the water drops, I used a pipette, although you could try a syringe without the needle. I used white card as reflectors, placing one under the dish. I also wanted something tall and thin, but heavy enough to stand up in the water, to use as a focus aid. An old AAA battery was perfect. As for photographic equipment, I used my Nikon D200 with my Sigma 150mm macro, but a normal lens with an extension tube or close-up lens would work equally well.
Other kit included a flashgun, off-camera cord and remote release cable; the last two are optional. I set the dish of water on a table. It’s important that the dish is clean, because dust and other debris could ruin your image – or leave you spending hours on the computer cloning out annoying marks! Next it was time to fill the pipette and experiment dropping water into the dish.
I tried out various heights, between three and eight inches; it really does make a difference to the quality and rebound of the drop, as does the aperture of the pipette. When I was happy with the pipette’s positioning, I fixed it in place and popped the battery exactly where the drops were falling, so I could focus on that. Obviously, if the pipette isn’t fixed in situ, the drops will fall in different places and be out of focus. So far, so good, but it may surprise you to learn that I set my Nikon D200 to manual, 1/60sec and f/16. Why 1/60sec works will soon become clear.
Of course, the aperture possible is dependent on the power of the flashgun and the amount of light reflected from the card. To introduce colour, choose either fluorescent or incandescent white-balance instead of flash. So back to that shutter speed. It won’t stop the action but the flash will, so the flashgun settings are key here. I set my SB-800 to 1/64 power. Some cameras allow you to do this by selecting the strobe option only, in which case, the repeat factor needs to be set to 1. Either way, the duration of the flash is so short that the droplet rebound is ‘frozen’.
I wanted to capture the reflection of the drop as well, so I positioned the flashgun slightly in front of where the drop would fall, but at the side of the dish and directed at the white card behind the dish. Now it was just a case of timing and patience. Releasing the first few drops from the pipette, I just watched, gauging the delay required to capture the peak of the action. Next it was just a case of timing the shutter release with the rebound. There were plenty of failures, but the successes were satisfying.
KIT BAG
- Nikon D200
- Nikon Speedlight SB-800
- Sigma 150mm macro lens
- Cable release
- White card or reflector
- Oven dish
- Syringe body (no needle) or a pipette
- Tubing and water supply
- AAA battery
- Average Article Rating 4 Stars
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