A little over a week ago I wrote about my first attempts at water drop photography using the Sony DSC-RX100 camera, using its BULB setting to hold the shutter open while the flash fires and the drops hit the water. Those first attempts were interesting, but not all that successful. Since then, I have switched to using a different type of infrared sensor, which has given me more consistent results. I also purchased an excellent e-book on the subject called The Ultimate Guide to Water Drop Photograpy, by Corrie White (same last name as me, but no relation). Using the new equipment and several helpful tips from the e-book, I adjusted my setup in several ways. I placed a green-colored translucent sheet over the Yongnuo flash to add color, and I used a larger tray for the water. I found a better way to adjust the focus, by standing a small handbell in the tray of water where the drops hit, and focusing on the bell’s handle. I used microphone stands to hold up the infrared sensors, instead of tripods, so the setup is much less cluttered than before and it is possible to adjust everything so the drops hit in a good location to capture interesting splashes and collision.
Once I had everything set up in the new arrangement, I was able to experiment with the timing of the drops. I think the results this time were definitely better than the results from last week. In the gallery below, there is a shot of the new setup, followed by the actual water drop shots. The first of those shots shows the crown shape that results when a single drop splashes into the water. The other shots all involve double drops. For those shots, the StopShot equipment releases two drops so that one drop will collide with the other. Once the timing is adjusted properly, you can get results like those shown here, when the collisions between the drops produce a fairly dramatic pattern of water spreading out in a circle.
I plan to keep working on this type of photography, and I will post more shots if I find ways to improve the results.
Thank you so much for including the link to my book and the comment on my ebook gallery. It is much appreciated and I’m glad you were able to benefit from the information in the book. Your work is coming along excellently in this field. It is a great hobby.
Thanks — It’s great to hear from you. Your book is an inspiration!