Droplet

[sawtooth235]

I took this high speed flash photograph of a water drop falling into a plate of water last night. Does anyone have any suggestions on a set-up to get the drop where you want it every time. I thought that there would be a little more DOF at f11, but macro has limits I know.

I took this with a Takumar 50mm f4 macro lens (with adapter and lens set to manual) on a Samsung GX-1L camera using a Sunpak 522 flash triggered with a remote trigger attached to the hotshoe.

Exposure was manual, set to 180th second at f11 with the flash on automatic.

Any comment is welcome!

Ray Smith

[Damn Brit]

Codiac2600 had a video on his blog showing his set up for doing what you want to do.
By the way I really like the way you have 'frozen' that droplet in the middle, it has a very "Matrixy" feel about it, I would love to see what you could come up with for this shot using effects in PP.
Gary

[sawtooth235]

Damn Brit,

What type of manipulation are you referring to, USM, exposure compensation, or something else?

Ray Smith

[Damn Brit]

Originally Posted by sawtooth235

Damn Brit,

What type of manipulation are you referring to, USM, exposure compensation, or something else?

Ray Smith

I'm not too sure Ray, I have little experience, maybe some lighting effects, solarizing, glowing edges, embossing. Something that would isolate the droplet.
Mind if I take a copy to play with?
Gary

[sawtooth235]

Damn Brit,

Knock yourself out! If you need a larger file let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

Ray Smith

[Damn Brit]

Originally Posted by sawtooth235

Damn Brit,

Knock yourself out! If you need a larger file let me know and I'll e-mail it to you.

Ray Smith

Ok, thanks but don't hold your breath.

[Damn Brit]

Here's a feeble attempt. It's hard to draw with your finger on a Macbook. But Hey, I've learnt something new.
Gary

[sawtooth235]

Gary (Damn Brit),

What do yo think of this?

Ray

[Peter Zack]

How about this. Levels adjustment, contrast, colour fill (pale blue) and isolating the drop and adding some blue.

Click on the image to view it in a larger size

There are some odd colours reflected in the water that really come out when the levels are adjusted. I could have removed most of them but this was a 5 minute adjustment. Be very careful with other colours and you might want to try colouring the water with a vibrant primary colour. The shot was over-exposed IMO and it washed out quite a bit of detail. You could have stopped the lens down to f22 or so and gotten more DOF out of it. Macro lenses can usually work well at those apertures.

[Damn Brit]

Originally Posted by sawtooth235

Gary (Damn Brit),

What do yo think of this?

Ray

Awesome! Wow! Very Pop Art!
Gary

[Damn Brit]

Originally Posted by Peter Zack

How about this. Levels adjustment, contrast, colour fill (pale blue) and isolating the drop and adding some blue.

Attachment 12963

There are some odd colours reflected in the water that really come out when the levels are adjusted. I could have removed most of them but this was a 5 minute adjustment. Be very careful with other colours and you might want to try colouring the water with a vibrant primary colour. The shot was over-exposed IMO and it washed out quite a bit of detail. You could have stopped the lens down to f22 or so and gotten more DOF out of it. Macro lenses can usually work well at those apertures.

You put me to shame Peter., Both of you.
Gary

[sawtooth235]

Peter,

The colors you are describing are a pattern in the bottom of the dish that the water is in. The exposure was 1.5 EV darker and I lightened it in post processing becasue I thought the original was too dark.

Ray

[mfc]

a dark plate would bring out the splash and drop more if its isolation youre after.....or a clean drop into stained water...or......or....or
options are endless
id say gewting the drop where you want it is just a mater of narowing down where its droped from lol