55mm, 1/250th of a second, f/16, ISO 200, keylight (SB-800) upper camera right about 8 inches from surface of water, iTTL (automatic) mode.
This purple water droplet crater is dedicated to EV who is rather fond of purple.
I took approximately 250 shots of water droplets tonight trying different angles of view, color gels on the flash, different apertures, and different backgrounds. It turns out that simple is the way to go--purple construction paper under the clear glass bowl, no gel on the flash, and a relatively low angle of view, flash handheld to upper camera right.
Again, I manually prefocused because there's no way my camera could focus quickly enough for a shot like this. I'm not sure any current camera could focus that quickly.
I ended up with more defined specular highlights this time and I'm still considering why that is the case. If you know why, please leave a comment enlightening the rest of us.
If you're tired of water studies, please come back tomorrow.
i don't know what 'specular highlights' are, but i like the flash reflected in the droplets. isn't that funny how sometimes the simplest thing is the best? i find that too. i'll take a first shot - then try all these other angles trying to do it better, and end up going with my first, off the cuff shot.
Posted by: r-dean | January 30, 2009 at 03:46 AM
What camera are you using? I'm assuming it's a Nikon because you use Nikon flashes. If my assumption is correct, my next question is, do you use CLS from the camera to trigger your flash?
Nice shot.
Posted by: MasterBuilder | February 04, 2009 at 08:19 PM
nice shot - the biggest issue I come across trying to recreate these shots is finding a way to deliver a steady stream of drops. What did you use?
Posted by: Rob | June 29, 2009 at 11:43 AM