Water droplet / Splash setups.

yoby

yoby

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Was a bit bored earlier and thought I'd have a go at some water droplets and splashy type things for the first time. Watched a setup video I found on strobist which was handy for where to aim the flash etc, and then grabbed all my stuff.

Had the camera on a tripod, high speed clicks with remote shutter, f8 with shutterspeed 1/250. Flash was bounced off of some plain white paper behind the glass, and I focussed on a pen (where the drips would be) and locked it off manually. All should have worked rather well, but the end results were extremely dissapointing. What I thought was a clean glass, quite clearly wasn't, and no matter what I wiped it with, all I got were smears all over the place.

Also, when I started dropping objects in (like grapes and a dairylea slice) the knobbing glass fell over. Had to clear up before the Mrs got home and abandoned the shoot after that.

What do you guys use to clean your glasses, how do you make sure the glass is anchored to the table, is it possible to take these photos without making a real mess, or should I have gone and got a fish tank or something instead.
 
Not sure if this is similar to what you where doing:

splash02.JPG



But i did this is a clear fruit bowl with water. However I didnt do high speed clicks. I did a great method of a pitch black room, and a flash linked up to a microphone. So as the object (in my case above, vaseline) hits the water, the sound trips the flash (this is about 1/2000 second). Camera is in bulb mode in the dark room - Very hard to do in a pitch black room and does make a little water mess.
 
Was supposed to be something like that, but in a glass..
Just couln't get the smears and smudges off it. Will definitely be having another crack at this, just noticed a clear vase but have to wait until the wife's not looking before I dump the contents....

Never thought about locking myself in a dark room though, and like the thought of a noise sensitive flash - Going to google that now......
 
think a glass might be too small. i did try fish tank but that blocked the sound to the microphone. vase or big clear bowl will work. Also with the extra water in it compared to a glass it should weigh it down nicely for you.

Worth noting i got a bit of wood and laid it over the bath, so any spillages, splashes were not a problem, like this:

splashyyy02.JPG


just remember to fill water right to top, overflow it if need be :)
 
I did some strawberry into a glass shots in the kitchen. I used a wireless trigger and then it was drop, pause, trigger and experimenting to get the shot right.

But you are causing splashes, so you can get a bit of a mess. I didn't knock over the glass, even when using a champagne flute. You don't have to drop from very high
 
Dave450 said:
Not sure if this is similar to what you where doing:

splash02.JPG



But i did this is a clear fruit bowl with water. However I didnt do high speed clicks. I did a great method of a pitch black room, and a flash linked up to a microphone. So as the object (in my case above, vaseline) hits the water, the sound trips the flash (this is about 1/2000 second). Camera is in bulb mode in the dark room - Very hard to do in a pitch black room and does make a little water mess.
Click to expand...

Could you give us some more info on the microphone/flash setup?
Is it something you can buy or something you made?
Cheers
 
http://www.diyphotography.net/diy_high_speed_photography_at_home

is where I started. You need to make a circuit where the microphone signal is turned to a flash signal. If you have good knowledge of electronics and live near a maplin then go for it! Its good fun!!

If you have the time, patience and willingness to make a mess, then this is the results you can achieve (my favourite shot ive done) :

smash02.JPG
 
Use a marriott siphon to drop the drops into a small bowl filled with water within a bigger lower bowl to catch the overspill.

21.jpg
 
Whenever I get around to having a weekend off I want to try a setup like this, was even PM'ing another member about their setup this morning.

I was thinking of getting 4 wine glasses, each with a different colour liquid in, shoot an air rifle down through each glass then rig a mic/flash to capture it all.

I can see that being expensive though!
 
Similar to this:

qazqaz02.JPG


not to bad in price if you live near an Ikea - 6 champagne glasses for £2.96 !!! But its in the dark so someone has to aim at the glasses, lights off, camera in bulb mode, shoots the glasses, lights on. We did this in a garden with dust sheets all over the floor (ease of tidying up)

In brief, very messy but very fun!
 
where bouts in west sussex are you? can show you the flash trigger I made one day
 
Chichester, just down the road from you :)

My electronics skills are pretty good, so thats not the issue, just the time really!

But I still wouldnt mind a look ;)

EDIT: I have been thinking, doing this in my garage, covered in white sheets, showing the colour going everywhere?
 
Luke_ said:
EDIT: I have been thinking, doing this in my garage, covered in white sheets, showing the colour going everywhere?
Click to expand...


sounds like a plan to me!! have to link up one day!!
 
Yea ok, ill drop you a PM when I get round to it...
 
yoby said:
Was a bit bored earlier and thought I'd have a go at some water droplets and splashy type things for the first time. Watched a setup video I found on strobist which was handy for where to aim the flash etc, and then grabbed all my stuff.

Had the camera on a tripod, high speed clicks with remote shutter, f8 with shutterspeed 1/250. Flash was bounced off of some plain white paper behind the glass, and I focussed on a pen (where the drips would be) and locked it off manually. All should have worked rather well, but the end results were extremely dissapointing. What I thought was a clean glass, quite clearly wasn't, and no matter what I wiped it with, all I got were smears all over the place.

Also, when I started dropping objects in (like grapes and a dairylea slice) the knobbing glass fell over. Had to clear up before the Mrs got home and abandoned the shoot after that.

What do you guys use to clean your glasses, how do you make sure the glass is anchored to the table, is it possible to take these photos without making a real mess, or should I have gone and got a fish tank or something instead.
Click to expand...

I think you've already been given some good advice here :) I also take these shots in a darkened room and use flash on a very short duration to freeze the action and expose the shot, I typically use exposure times of 1 to 2 seconds! what power setting are you using for the flash?

You could always post up some of the your shots into this thread? for a few more suggestions :thinking:

Have you tried blu-tac on the base of the glass to help keep it stable!
 
The heavier the object you drop in the better - I dropped a small potato :p into a mug of cold tea:

3830447212_9d6cfc616a.jpg


No flash, just lens wide open, taken outdoors.
 
poor Gromit - Tea's not very cold though - his nose is still a bit red
 
Thanks for the info guys.
Is there any where you could possibly buy a switch if one is not so electrical minded?
 
Thank you all for the great advice and ideas, the strobist video was what got me started in the first place. Been really busy since I posted this and not had the opportunity to try it again, but will be giving it another go at the weekend. Managed to commandeer the vase I mentioned earlier, and looking forward to having a crack. I;ll post the results here good or bad to let you know how I got on.
 
Thanks for the info on here, the mic is a good idea and much cheaper option to some of the setups I have seen.
Yoby, you do not need to use big container or have big mess for water droplet shots, one of the guys I follow on Flickr uses an egg cup ! (look at splogs Flickr then go from there). The shot I did with the strawberry dipped in red food colour and dropped into the glass - I ended up with red food colouring everywhere, including the cieling.
 
RBHD1 said:
Thanks for the info guys.
Is there any where you could possibly buy a switch if one is not so electrical minded?
Click to expand...

When I make mine I could make two and send you one down?
 
Right,
As the forum was down this morning, decided to have another crack at these. Was a bit slapdash in that I used the sink (and never cleaned it first), the Tameron 17-50mm (should have used the Tamron tele with macro). And the flash was bounced off of our breadboard. Still quite pleased with the results despite the heavy cropping........

Definitely going to set this up properly and have another go or 7...... Thanks everyone for the advice.

3936810576_14cef92bc8_o.jpg


3936045389_b0bb19009b_o.jpg
 
For the first two, I just had a frying pan under a dripping tap in the kitchen sink.

048.jpg


052.jpg



For the this one I just replaced the frying pan with a plastic drinking cup.

046.jpg


All shots were taken triggering the shutter manually - and yes I took loads where I missed anything of significance.
 
Dave450 said:
think a glass might be too small. i did try fish tank but that blocked the sound to the microphone. vase or big clear bowl will work. Also with the extra water in it compared to a glass it should weigh it down nicely for you.

Worth noting i got a bit of wood and laid it over the bath, so any spillages, splashes were not a problem, like this:

splashyyy02.JPG


just remember to fill water right to top, overflow it if need be :)
Click to expand...
You have the same tripod as me i think did you get it out of aldi ? I got mines for only £10 becouse they werent selling
 
iirc those shots work well with shutter at B
so you dont rely on any camera workings..just the light strobe
 
universal_trigger_sm-sound_slave_trigger1.png

is what I used to make the trigger. On this version there is an option for a photo-diode for light sensors, I removed this and just stuck with the microphone.

Below are the part numbers and descriptions from maplin:

QQ10L MOC3020 TRIAC DRIVER OPTOISOLATOR
QQ14Q BC547C TRANSISTOR NPN TO-92 50V
AT98G 10UF 50V LOW IMPEDANCE ELECTROLYT CAP
VH03D 1UF 250V 10% MET POLYESTER CAPACITOR
M4K7 4K7 0.1% 0.4W PRECISION RESISTOR
M2K2 2K2 0.1% 0.4W PRECISION RESISTOR
M220K 220K 0.1% 0.4W PRECISION RESISTOR
M10K 10K 0.1% 0.4W PRECISION RESISTOR
M1M 1M 0.1% 0.4W PRECISION RESISTOR
FS43W PCB MOUNTING MICROPHONE INSERT
JP47B STRIP BOARD


:) Its good fun :)
 
Scott1979, thanks for the link, those are impressive first shots.
Dave450, you are a star, thanks for that.
 
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