Water Drop Star Effect

Freester · 28 Jul 2009

Had a go at water drops tonight. My second ever attempt. I've just got a 580EXII and wanted to give it a run out. Was trying various setups but this one seemed to work well.

Pyrex bowl filled with water and tap dripping into it. A piece of black card behind.

I manually focussed my 70-200 @ 200mm with manual exposure f/13 0.5s. Kitchen was pretty much dark - I used the flash to capture the water. This image I bounced the flash off the ceiling with +1 stop flash exposure compensation (shooting ETTL).

Not the best shape but I liked the star. C&C really appreciated. Any tips for improvement would be great

Splog · 29 Jul 2009

Hi Freester
Looks like you've got most of it sorted :clap:

Love the star effect on the drop and it's nice and sharp!
Why the black card though? the angle of the shot doesn't use it! Try a bright background with a bit of colour to really liven up the shot :thinking:

Freester · 29 Jul 2009

Splog said:
Hi Freester
Looks like you've got most of it sorted Love the star effect on the drop and it's nice and sharp!

Thanks!

Why the black card though?

The main reason behind my thinking was the kitchen sink background was distracting, I also used the black card to dampen any reflections and mainly to go for the 'low key' sort of look. There is an image in particular in my head where there is a very vivid waterdrop from a side on angle - completely black background with a crystal water colour. Trouble is I am not getting side on yet - and so I am beginning to realise this approach isn't quite working.

Try a bright background with a bit of colour to really liven up the shot

Great advice. Thanks! Will have another go tonight.

JohnD76 · 29 Jul 2009

What ISO did you use?

The image sems very noisy.

I agree with using a bright backghrouns though, try a multicoloures one if you can too.

Freester · 29 Jul 2009

JohnD76 said:
What ISO did you use?

The image sems very noisy.

I agree with using a bright backghrouns though, try a multicoloures one if you can too.

Cheers for the reply. It was ISO400 but I did up the exposure a tad in Lightroom which exaggerates the noise.