As promised a tutorial on how to perfect water crowns.
I don’t by any means think my crowns are perfect, but I will try and cover what I have learned along the way and hopefully attempt to help anyone who is struggling to achieve this type of shot.
Firstly, lets strip it back to basics and the behaviour of water as it hits the target area. To achieve a really sharp crown, you are better working with really shallow water (1mm) in the target area, or no water at all. Water any deeper than this will give you towers (blobs) etc, though these are beautiful in their own right, and you can achieve some really stunning ones, if you want to avoid them, go shallow (if you are looking to make water towers go deep).
Fat crowns, rolled edged crowns etc are caused by one of two things: Either the depth of the water is too deep, or you are catching the crown as it begins to disperse. A collapsing crown becomes fatter as it falls back to the target area, and deep water can prevent a sharp crown forming and only give you a fat crown (there are exceptions to this, before someone pulls me up and says I am wrong, but by using that as a guide it will help).
Set up: In the target area, try to use something flat yet well drained. Use a tri-pod if possible, they can be achieved without one, but using one will help prevent shots that are out of focus, it’s frustrating as hell to capture a crown and then realise its out of focus. So now you have your camera on the tri-pod, you have the target area, onto the camera settings: Keep the ISO low (100), use ‘A’ priority, make sure the f is quite high. By increasing the f value, you will have more of the crown in focus. Get in as close as you want to the target area, the closer the better as this leaves less cropping, but also leaving enough room to fit the whole of the crown in shot. Focusing: place something on the target area, in the exact location of where the drips will land and form the crown. Normally I use anything laying around, in the below shot you can see I used a pair of tweezers.. You cannot focus on something that is not there, so you need to get that focus perfected before you even try to capture the crown.
Lighting: There is a certain element of natural daylight in my kitchen, but other than that I just use a Speedlight (flash) on top of my camera, nothing more, nothing less. Let’s keep this simple!
Then start the drips and just snap away. Be patient, you may capture one on the first attempt, it may take a 100 attempts. Forget about background colours etc until you know you have everything perfectly set up and can achieve the shots, changing the backgrounds & reflections is simple once you can pull this lot off :o)
I am heading out the door to work soon, but I will happily answer any questions on this when I get home this evening. Good luck x
I WILL achieve this at some point (when time allows...roll on october 19th!) I know with my diddy camera it might be difficult but I'm going to be determined. Obviously I'll be asking for your help when the time comes. Thankyou so much Michelle for being such a generous person with your hints and tips xx
Ah, now I understand some of where I went wrong when I attempted this recently. Probably my biggest issue was that the water was too deep. :-) I also want to point out that it is practically impossible to take these pix without flash. Thanks for this awesome tutorial!
Thanks Michelle! After dripping the water on dry surface, I started to see proper crowns ... captured one*almost* perfect crown, but it took a lot of shots :-D
first of all thank you for sharing all this info :) is really great that someone takes time to share the most important thing in this life: knowledge :)
Thanks for the info-I have done the blobs but didn't know how to do a crown-now I know to use less water. I also always forget about ISO so I will adjust that-I will give it a go soon.
Very nice tutorial! Taking 100 shots of something is not really my cup of tea, so I'm not sure yet I will do it for this project, but I definitely want to try when I have more time, just for the technical aspect, fun, curiosity :-)
Your shots are all wonderful Michelle. The Danbo one is cool!
@herussell Hope, I know this is not the best answer out there, but its a case of getting intuned to the water flow. After you have hit the trigger a few times you can generally start to 'feel' the right time.
@michelleyoung Thank you so much for sharing all this, I only tried this last week and it was a disaster.Now I know where I was going wrong, water too deep and light bad. I wil try this soon.Thanks again.
You are the star, Michelle. Another wonderful example of this great community. Fab tutorial - think I need to stop taking cottage pics and go back to water at some point. :)
@michelleyoung I just want to say I think this is really great and I hope other photographers will do the same with their specialties. Thank you for sharing your expertise with all of us at 365.
@michelleyoung Thanks you so much fro taking the time to share this info with all of us. I'm not sure I'm ready to devote the time/energy to this right now, but maybe at a later time when I feel like I have more time... though I'm not sure that ever really happens. :)
@michelleyoung what do you use to make the drips. I'm guessing size of drip can make a big difference to the outcome. Also, what kind of height? Not too much height and you don't get much time to press the shutter after the drop "drops" but too much height and you have the opposite effect and I think the force of the water doesn't then form a crown?
@olivetreeann Ann, thank you for your comment.. I think its good to share :)
@marilyn Marilyn it can be time consuming and very addictive.
@sprogz Carl, I have given your question some thought.. I always use the kitchen tap dripping, and i would say that it drips medium sized drops.. The height is normally around 10 inches.. I dont know if that helps?
Hi Michelle, I started trying water crowns soon after I saw yours when I started this project. Now I too realise I was using water which was too deep. i just took this one in my kitchen sink, using nothing but the bottom of the sink. Next plan is to inject some colour and get more clarity, I just LOVE your shot at the top of the page!!
I'm going to try this someday...thanks for the lesson now, as I'm sure it will save some frustration later. You are always so generous to share tips on this site and for that I am thankful. This to me is what the site is for-to learn and grow. You're awesome!
@michelleyoung This is awesome for you to spend time helping others who want to do this. This is a dumb question, i am sure, but how do you use the kitchen tap to drip the water (in the sink?) and get a clear shot of that? It looks like you are dropping onto something set up on a table to be able to get the angles you are getting.
I have a couple of questions concerning the drips. Do you use an eye dropper or something of the sort to make them? Also, is there a particular height that is best for a good crown? Maybe I’m over thinking this, but I was just curious.
@threeplusone Lisa, thats a fantastic crown well done :)
@geertje Awwww Geertje, they are amazing.. Simple when you know the basics :) Awesome shots & well done on the PP.. I have just returned home after 5 days, so I am catching up.
@juls Julie :) Imagine the feeling when you achieve one :)
@espyetta MaryBeth, The tap drips onto the draining side and not into the sink, i think you would struggle with light in the sink. My tap is high, so I just turn it so its over the drainer, and generally set up from that angel, looking straight at the crown as its hitting a flat surface.
@mary1440 Mary, I can try to explain :) Anything reflected comes from the backdrop. SO for my shots I would place a lap tray covered in wrapping paper behind the tap so its vertical. My drip target would have to have a deeper water level, but still shallow 1cm, and i would use another dark tray to hold this water in. The reflection is caused when you bounce light off the vertical tray onto the target tray.. The reflections then appear in the water,.
@lisjam1 Hey Lisabell, For the drips, I just let my good old kitchen tap drip, nothing fancy in any shape or form. The helight from the faucet on the tap to the target area is about 8 -10 inches, which gives the drips plenty of falling space. Tjough I have still achieved them when I have reduced the drop height ie for Danbo.
@threeplusone Lisa thats a briliant crown, have you tried photographing from a much lower place, so you are almost looking at the crown from the side angle, but just a inch or two above it?
Well done :) And thank you x
@michelleyoung like everyone else Michelle, I'd just like to say thank you so very much for sharing this, also like alot of people I had given this a try, but with my water way too deep. I'm going to give this another try in the next few days...thanks for the inspiring us to try again.
@sullivan Oh well done Paul.. Many moons ago I did a crown on a spoon in my project.. Yours has come out wonderfully.. Brilliant focus on a excellent crown :)
I was doing these recently and wondered this: what is the best angle to aim the camera at the subject? I tried everything from a steep angle to nearly straight on, and couldn't decide what angle was most appealing. Any thoughts on that?
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@elke Elke, you are so very welcome and thank you :)
@sprogz Carl, it just saved me repeating myself every time I did one lol ;)
@ladybug71012 Good luck Ladybug & thank you :)
@lolanae Brandie, Good luck :)
@5unflow3r Aww Trina, thank you so much for the lovely comment :)
@exposure4u So welcome Wendy :)
@deens Nadine, it makes a massive difference, you are better off with none at all to begin with. Good luck x
@janmaki Awww Jani, awesome!! Thats fantastic news :) x
@tigervolleyball Sarah, good luck :)
@crisd Cris, I have a huge philosophy in life, knowledge is worth nothing unless its shared :) Thank you :)
I do have a question: At what point of releasing the drop do you try to take the photo. Before? At the same moment? A little lag? Thanks
Your shots are all wonderful Michelle. The Danbo one is cool!
@pennymilner Thank you Penny :)
@cazink Carly I love your processing on that shot, well done x
@geertje Geertje, my early crowns were done with a P&S, all of the later ones were taken with my dslr. So go for it :)
@mandyashton Mandy just go for it :) Nothng ventured nothing gained :)
@lynlong Good luck Lyn :)
@scatcat Awwww Muse thank you
@pintopony Thank you Heather :)
@russianblue Kass, all of your photos are always amazing :)
@altadc Alta, you are so welcome and thank you
@miata2u Awww Peggy thank you
@olivetreeann Ann, thank you for your comment.. I think its good to share :)
@marilyn Marilyn it can be time consuming and very addictive.
@sprogz Carl, I have given your question some thought.. I always use the kitchen tap dripping, and i would say that it drips medium sized drops.. The height is normally around 10 inches.. I dont know if that helps?
@geertje Awwww Geertje, they are amazing.. Simple when you know the basics :) Awesome shots & well done on the PP.. I have just returned home after 5 days, so I am catching up.
@juls Julie :) Imagine the feeling when you achieve one :)
@mikew Thank you Michael
@espyetta MaryBeth, The tap drips onto the draining side and not into the sink, i think you would struggle with light in the sink. My tap is high, so I just turn it so its over the drainer, and generally set up from that angel, looking straight at the crown as its hitting a flat surface.
Well done :) And thank you x
I used a Nikon SB900 with a defuser on it and seemed to work