lol I sure do. Although after reading some posts today, it seems like I am not the only one! Hope my bad luck didn't wear off on you guys. :)

lol yeah, I think this site has a grudge against me! So far the score is:

NR.com 6

Phil 0

You keep on running into problems, don't you?

Nice shot though :^)

Here is another. POD for November isn't working...so this may be a double post if it eventually shows up in the POD.

monty11 said:
@jonnyapple, with high speed sync the flash actually burns longer and with a lower power than usually. The reason for this is the movement of the shutter curtains.

The flash sync speed is different for different cameras (it keeps getting faster as the shutter technology improves). When the exposure begins the front curtain opens and at the end of the exposure the rear curtain closes. When the exposure times get short enough, the rear curtain will start closing before the front curtain has fully opened, which means that above a certain shutter speed, the sensor is no longer fully exposed but a slit passes over it.

Flash sync speed is the fastest shutter speed where the sensor is fully exposed. If a flash is fired above that shutter speed, effect will be that only the section of the sensor that was exposed during the flash will record the flash and the rest will be dark.

Thats true unless you have a D70. The problem withe the high speed sync thingi compared to the D70 is that the high speed sync actually occures across a time span of 1/250 of a second which is the time it takes for the shutter to move from top to bottom of the frame. The D70 actually captures 1/8000 th of a second as its an electronic shutter. So if you are trying to photograph something that is around for 1/4000 of a second. you wont be able to get all of it with the high sync method.

Actually syncing your shutter to fire at the precise time is another matter!! :-) (think light or sonic sensor triggers)

jonnyapple said:
Phil, this might make you hate me forever, but I'm not sure you need to get the shutter speed higher. If you're shooting in the dark (or mostly dark, meaning at least a few stops below the flash output), I think your flash duration (around 1/1000 s) is the shutter speed. High speed sync is handy when you want to overpower bright ambient light with the flash, but in the dark I don't think you need it.

Then again, I could be wrong. Maybe the water is moving fast enough that you need the faster speeds. Did you try it with a slower shutter and it wasn't as sharp?

I tried the dark way and yes the flash at low power has a very fast exposure, but it is so hard to actual do the picture, you can not see anything. Phil's way is better, you can see what you are doing and you only have to look at his pictures, it really works

Pete

Great explanation. Thanks monty11!

@jonnyapple, with high speed sync the flash actually burns longer and with a lower power than usually. The reason for this is the movement of the shutter curtains.

The flash sync speed is different for different cameras (it keeps getting faster as the shutter technology improves). When the exposure begins the front curtain opens and at the end of the exposure the rear curtain closes. When the exposure times get short enough, the rear curtain will start closing before the front curtain has fully opened, which means that above a certain shutter speed, the sensor is no longer fully exposed but a slit passes over it.

Flash sync speed is the fastest shutter speed where the sensor is fully exposed. If a flash is fired above that shutter speed, effect will be that only the section of the sensor that was exposed during the flash will record the flash and the rest will be dark.

@jonnyapple, with high speed sync the flash actually burns longer and with a lower power than usually. The reason for this is the movement of the shutter curtains.

The flash sync speed is different for different cameras (it keeps getting faster as the shutter technology improves). When the exposure begins the front curtain opens and at the end of the exposure the rear curtain closes. When the exposure times get short enough, the rear curtain will start closing before the front curtain has fully opened, which means that above a certain shutter speed, the sensor is no longer fully exposed but a slit passes over it.

Flash sync speed is the fastest shutter speed where the sensor is fully exposed. If a flash is fired above that shutter speed, effect will be that only the section of the sensor that was exposed during the flash will record the flash and the rest will be dark.

Actually I did try at a lower shutter speed...but it was so long ago I can't honestly remember the results. I think I just got stuck in the mentality of "faster is better" for this. But you are right, tonight I'll give a slower speed and see what it results in.

I'll keep you posted! Thanks! :)

Phil, this might make you hate me forever, but I'm not sure you need to get the shutter speed higher. If you're shooting in the dark (or mostly dark, meaning at least a few stops below the flash output), I think your flash duration (around 1/1000 s) is the shutter speed. High speed sync is handy when you want to overpower bright ambient light with the flash, but in the dark I don't think you need it.

Then again, I could be wrong. Maybe the water is moving fast enough that you need the faster speeds. Did you try it with a slower shutter and it wasn't as sharp?

PBrigido said:
I just got it started! I hope many others post their methods also. Never hurts to get a nice conglomerate of ideas going. :)

Thanks

Pete

Sorry but I have not done a lot of High Speed flash shooting yet and don't have a SB-800

On a side note, I have a question. I was using my SB-800 to control my SB-900 as a remote. I know that you can use your on camera flash to be setup as the master and have the SB-900 trigger remotely without using the SU-800. The problem I run into is that I am unable to get the shutter speed past 320 when not using the SU-800. I'm sure it is just a simple setting I am missing, but if anyone is willing to drop some advice as to how, I would love you forever!

I just got it started! I hope many others post their methods also. Never hurts to get a nice conglomerate of ideas going. :)

PBrigido said:
Very true! I like your perspective!! :)

I still hope that you will start a new thread with this "Phil’s water drop technique" in the Nikon Wiki area

I would get it going but does not really have anything to add, yet

Pete

Very true! I like your perspective!! :)

She'll be happy if this is the worst you sneak around and do when she's not around :^)

lol Niko! I feel your pain. Fortunately, my wife is a nurse and works only night shift. I typically get a few hours after she leaves for work so I can have my way with the stove.

I am looking forward to tonight. This video gave me some ideas to try...I am curious to see the results!

That video is very neat. Especially the difference between shallow and deep water. You should sue them for copying your water droplet pictures ;^) I have to admit I'm curious to try this but my wife wouldn't like me cluttering up the stove like that Phil :^(
She keeps me away from the stove at all cost ever since I burned my cornflakes one morning!

I think I may have to do that!

I was actually browsing the web and stumbled on this. Talk about taking water drop shots to the next level!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoQ0DQpwwHU&feature=player_embedded

PBrigido said:
Anytime Pete! Just let me know if you have any problems.

Happy shooting! :)

You know you above tip should be posted in the Nikon Wiki Section:

Maybe a "how to shot water drops"

This way I can go back and find and maybe other poster could post their way of doing it also

Pete

Anytime Pete! Just let me know if you have any problems.

Happy shooting! :)

Thanks Phil for sharing, I am going to try this with my Son

Pete

BTW your shot are some of the best that I have seen

Phil’s water drop technique

Well here is my method of photographing water drops in motion. Let be first say that patience is a much needed asset for this process. I’ll start with my setup. I typically have my camera mounted to a tripod. I use my D700 (using between 5000-8000 shutter speed and between 10-30 aperture) with the 105mm macro lens set on manual focus mode. It allows you to get close to the image yet stay far enough away from it. In the picture below, I have altered a few things.

The first thing that was altered in the picture above is the method by which the drops are released. I used a plastic bag with a very small hole in one corner. After trying this, it yielded too small of a droplet falling and the impact was not “explosive” enough when coming into contact with another object (mainly water). I changed the bag of water to a 2x4 with a hole big enough to get an eye dropper through.

The second thing I changed was the location of my remote SB-900 flash. I noticed that the greater the angle, the more the light penetrated below the surface of the water, capturing the color, texture, and appearance of the bottom of the water basin you are using. From the picture, I moved the flash to the surface level of the stove, keeping it an inch or two above the surface level of the water. This allowed me to “skip” the slight off of the surface of the water.

The third thing I changed was the elevation of my camera. I tried to keep it slightly higher than the flash, so when the flash triggered, it didn’t shoot directly into the lens.

The fourth thing was changed is the water in the basin. Even though changing the elevation of the flash to narrow the reflection off of the water, I was still getting some light penetrating below the surface of the water. I added just a bit of milk to the basin to eliminate the problem. The total amount of milk added was right about ¼ of a cup…just enough to cloud the water, but not enough to make the water drops opaque once they rebounded up from the impact of the drop. I still wanted light to penetrate through the drop with a sort of translucent effect. Notice in the below example how the water drop itself is 100% clear, but the rebounding water from the basin is slightly cloudy.

The 5th thing I changed…well, added, was a remote trigger for my camera. I noticed that when I tried to shoot by using the normal trigger on my D700, it would ever so slightly change the positioning of the camera. With the 105mm macro lens in manual mode, even the slightest change to its focus would result in a blurry image

The 6th thing I changed is the cans. I really don’t like beans, so I swapped them out for a more tasty selection of pie filling. This however, is best determined by the personal taste of the photographer.

Outside of those alterations, I have found the optimal height from which to drop the water into the pan was between 12-24 inches. Anything lower than 12 inches didn’t have enough mass to displace sufficient amounts of water to get a rebound column for the next drop to collide into. Anything greater than 24 inches created more of a movement of water away from the impact area…creating more of a crater effect. See below.

Through many trial and error shots, I have found the hardest thing to achieve is the actual releasing of drops with the proper spacing. The goal is to have 2 drops falling. By the time the first one hits and rebounds to create a water column, the next drop is right behind to impact with the top of the column. If it goes as planned, you will get a shot like this (or some variation of it).

The other hard part is the timing of when to shoot the shot. Depending from how high the drop falls, I generally tried to take the shot almost immediately after the 2nd drop was on its way down. I will say that you may have the perfect setup, but just getting the feel of releasing the drops and triggering the camera to take a shot can be the most frustrating part of the entire process.

Lastly, adding one color to the water basin and another color to the eye dropper gives you the ability to go in after the shot is done and do a bit of PP to the image to either enhance or change the colors.

Before PP

After PP

My word of advice, be patient. Getting the shot you are looking for may take a while since the window of opportunity is so narrow. The best part about this whole process is that depending on the user, the results can vary greatly. I have enjoyed looking at each persons shots, they are all unique and bring a very different feel from one image to the next.

Feel free to use my technique or one completely different. But don’t stop posting photos, water drop ones or not…there is a wide variety of talent here. I love enjoying what everyone brings!

Beautiful!