Double Dropper

So Lauren gave me a toughie Get Pushed challenge this week: a water droplet. Yikes! A lot of big misses on this one, but it's all about learning, right!?

So what did I learn today?
1. It's good to have an external flash on the side and behind the droplet... I have neither, so in-camera flash it was.
2. You need a tripod, and remote trigger for least camera shake.
3. The motion is stopped with the flash, not the shutter speed - hence a fast flash is best and shutter speed is unimportant. Turning down the in-camera flash compensation speeds up the flash a bit.
4. It's good to fix your dropper (I used a medicine dropper after some failure with a dripping tap) in place over your tray so that you know where the drop will land and can set up for good focus... I didn't, so it was a bit random as to where that drop might end up!
5. f11 or f14 are best for depth of focus when you know where to focus - since my drops were all over the place, I went up to f22.
6. You need to take a million bazillion pictures to get anything of anything - I found timing that droplet with the flash was VERY tricky! My success rate was abysmal.

Any other tips or advice would be greatly appreciated!

For more info on the Get Pushed challenge:
http://365project.org/discuss/themes-competitions/15011/get-pushed-week-18-november-19-to-25

[Kristin]

@laurenjessopphotography ~ Critique welcomed!

[Graeme Dallas]

brilliant capture, great background for a droplet shot, well done.

[Meredith]

I think this is great for your first attempt! I don't know that I'd have the patience for it, so kudos to you. What's the background of here?

[Kristin]

@mah68 ~ Thanks. The stripes are from a scrap piece of wrapping paper.

[Jo]

Well done. Water drops are on my 'to do' list but so far I haven't found the time, energy or patience to do it. Might give it ago now that I have all your tips as guidelines. Great shot.

[KWind]

Very cool!! I like the colours underneath.

[Lauren J.]

@kph129 I love it - great shot! I've only done it once and I found it both frustrating and fun, so I'm not the best critic, but I think it turned out just perfect!

[Tanja Carda]

Great shot Kristin, love the pov and color of the water. Did you put food coloring in it?

[Kristin]

@tanja_1211 Thanks Tanya! Yep, a bit of green dye in the drop water.

[Ian Fisher]

Great shot - and the background colours are a lovely idea!

[Victoria Stowe]

Love this shot. Thanks for sharing what you learned too. That's so helpful.

[Joanna Payne]

I ended up using a plastic bag suspended (2 chairs on a table with a broom handle across them) above the drip tray. You make a tiny tiny pin prick in the bottom of the bag to get steady drops landing in the same place. Then I placed a round thing so the drop landed right in the middle of it and manually focussed on the front edge. I didn't get as good dof as you so that wouldn't be so crucial for you. Found this amazing tutorial online: http://www.diyphotography.net/the-comprehensive-water-drop-photography-guide
Totally inspiring, and yet made me realise that guy needs to get a life!!!!
Thanks too for the info you used.

[Wendy Bowden]

Brilliant capture, love the colours