Question on freezing water droplet.

[Linnl71]

Hi guys,

I've taken interest in freezing water droplet.

I'm using A230 with pop-up flash and shutter speed of 1/160s (fastest when enabled with flash already). However, no matter how many shots I've tried, I am still unable to capture a shot whereby the water droplet hits the pool of water.

My question is, is 1/160s with flash fast enough to capture that moment or is it too slow :dunno:?

 

[tunge]

i've also been thinking of trying such a shot... i think it's more of timing than anything. experts pls correct me if i'm wrong

 

[Linnl71]

I would post a picture of what I took if I could, but for some reason, flickr/photobucket/imageshack is unable to upload my picture :S.

I have to agree with you about timing. Patience is very important as well. I made multiple attempts to capture what I want but still unable to. Therefore I conclude that is either my timing is not right, or my shutter speed is too slow, haha!

 

[Stoppable]

i think 1/160 may be too slow. But I guess you are limited by your flash. Why do you really need a flash? Try higher ISO and faster shutter w/o flash. I admit I never done this before.

 

[3in1c]

Try bum up your ISO and use continous shooting mode, 2 frames have better chances than single shot.

 

[1Ds]

Here.http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-photograph-water-drops-with-one.html

 

[rgy1993]

oh wow... 1/160... i think for water droplets you'd be talking 1/500 - 1/1000 kind of speed, i think instead of using the pop up flash... but a couple of really bright, like 30 watt or something light bulbs, get it to shine on the water droplet, and use just normal shutter speeds with a slightly higher iso. from there its really just timing..

good luck

 

[Linnl71]

i think 1/160 may be too slow. But I guess you are limited by your flash. Why do you really need a flash? Try higher ISO and faster shutter w/o flash. I admit I never done this before.

That's right, after all I'm only using the pop-up flash :bsmilie:. I had to use the flash as I'd be taking my shot in the kitchen with very poor lighting. But you've got a point, I should try higher ISO and faster shutter w/o flash. I'll take note. Thanks for your advise!

Try bum up your ISO and use continous shooting mode, 2 frames have better chances than single shot.

That's right, I should look for other alternatives since my shutter speed setting is very limited with used with flash. Moreover, continuous shooting with flash is very very slow because the flash needs to charge 1st, haha.

Here.http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-photograph-water-drops-with-one.html

Thanks for the link, very very useful indeed. Greatly appreciated.

oh wow... 1/160... i think for water droplets you'd be talking 1/500 - 1/1000 kind of speed, i think instead of using the pop up flash... but a couple of really bright, like 30 watt or something light bulbs, get it to shine on the water droplet, and use just normal shutter speeds with a slightly higher iso. from there its really just timing..

good luck

Dang, and I thought 1/160 would be quite sufficient at first haha. No wonder I was unable capture that specific moment I wanted. Thanks for your advise, it seems the pop-up flash wouldn't be very useful in this situation since it limits the speed of my shutter.

I'll give it a try and hopefully get a successful shot and then post it here if my picture can be uploaded .

Thanks all for your constructive replies :angel:

Shot with A230 + 18-55mm Kit lens
Shutter speed 1/160s
Aperture F5.6
Flash enabled

Finally managed to upload my picture with imageshack. This is a shot I took last night. I understand the droplet is OOF (probably due to insufficient DOF as F number was 5.6) but just thought I share my first try on water photography haha.

Will try again soon with advises and techniques you all have suggested.

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

no you don't need a faster shutter speed than 1/160 because the flash duration is in the 1/thousandth of a second. you should kill off as much ambient light as possible (cover windows, etc) and rely on the flash pulse to freeze the motion of the water droplet. poor lighting in your kitchen is a good thing!

i suspect your problem is the pre-flash (used to determine the appropriate level of flash exposure) causing a lag between the moment u press the shutter button and the final moment of exposure, thus resulting in you missing the splash moment.

i suggest you either try to figure out the lag time and press the shutter button before the water droplet hits the water surface, or set up a rig that drips water droplets at regular intervals and try and try until you get 1 good shot.

 

[catchlights]

if you need to freeze the movement of water droplet falling with flash photography, you are not depend on the camera shutter speed, but the short duration of the flash light.

let says you have no issue of pacing your timing of triggering shutter, shutter lag, get the water in focus, enough depth of field. most probably you have too bright ambient light for causing "ghost" images of the water droplet.

how to know whether is ambient light dark enough? just do a simple test, on the same set up, take a shot with the same setting but WITHOUT the flash, if you see the image is almost black out, that is the correct setting. but if you still can see some of the background or even droplets, that is the cause of "ghost" image.

btw, another possible reason is your lens extended too much, blocking the built in flash to light on the water droplet.

 

[catchlights]

[vid]pTV47eSSO94[/vid]

 

[catchlights]

[vid]kfTLLmbAezc[/vid]

 

[catchlights]

[vid]OUHHzl1swwY[/vid]

 

[Linnl71]

Awesome! Thanks for the tips and videos guys. Can't wait to get started, though only with my very simple humble step-up of:

A230 with 18-55mm kit lens
Pop-up flash
Tripod
Afew pieces of white paper
Transparent blue cup.

Will try tips and advises noted from all of you. Thank you all !

 

[Linnl71]

Shot with A230 with 55-200mm kit lens
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/160s
Aperture F13.0
Flash enabled.

Tadah!

Ok after many many attempts and over heating my flash (thank god it's still working). I finally managed to shoot something better and more focused (though still a bit soft). I won't say it's good though. So I'm still learning to improve on my future takes.

I've tried not using flash with higher ISO and shutter speed with indoor lighting. However due to equipment constrains (not enough flash/light bulb for lighting). The picture will become either too dark or too noisy. So I still had to settle for the pop-up flash with very little ambient light.

Well I would not have improved without the help from fellow CSers. So thanks all for your constructive suggestions and advises guys :thumbsup:.

 

[tunge]

great attempt...
think e next thing to try is to drop items into the water, example fruits like grapes or strawberry and capture the splash...

 

[Linnl71]

Ya that's right! Would be interesting to take fruits as well too. Just got to plan of my set-up though, hhmm.. :think:

 

[ivangoh]

might want to drop a durian in too?

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

Shot with A230 with 55-200mm kit lens
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/160s
Aperture F13.0
Flash enabled.

Tadah!

Ok after many many attempts and over heating my flash (thank god it's still working). I finally managed to shoot something better and more focused (though still a bit soft). I won't say it's good though. So I'm still learning to improve on my future takes.

I've tried not using flash with higher ISO and shutter speed with indoor lighting. However due to equipment constrains (not enough flash/light bulb for lighting). The picture will become either too dark or too noisy. So I still had to settle for the pop-up flash with very little ambient light.

Well I would not have improved without the help from fellow CSers. So thanks all for your constructive suggestions and advises guys :thumbsup:.

nicely done! i think you're on the right track with the use of the flash to freeze motion.

think the softness is probably due to still too much ambient lighting "contaminating" your shot. try to get the surroundings even darker on yr next try.

 

[syc77]

[vid]OUHHzl1swwY[/vid]

OOT abit.
anyone knows what kind of ballhead is that?