Water splash focus help

maninsuitcase

maninsuitcase

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Chris
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I spent this evening having a 1st bash at water drops and have a question regarding focus.

I seem to be struggling to get the whole splash in focus for the spout types, the base is fine the top is rather soft. Is this not enough DOF (so need smaller apature and more flash power) or is it I need less flash power to shorten the flash time and freeze the action.

I was using a Tamron 55-200 at 200mm, ISO 400, f5.6 @ 1/200th. Flash is a YN467 set at about 1/8th I think it was with 2 purple quality street wrappers (which I probably won't bother with next time and add in PP as they seems to be about 1.5 stops each)

This is a fairly typical example, you can see focus at the base is fine but at the top the focus is a mile out.

Water splash OOF? by themaninthesuitcase, on Flickr

On the plus side I seem to have gotten about a 65% hit rate of at least getting an impact of some sort, which seems to be pretty high going by what I have read on here.
 
Will open up to f8 ish then next time, will loose the "gels" to give me back 1-2 stops on the flash and PP in some colour after or use a less hungry colour.

I don't think I can do much about the focal plane however as I need to shoot down enough to not see the edges of the baking tray/back drop. There's probably wiggle room but not a huge amount.


This is how I was setup for my 2nd set. 1st setup was direct flash which resulted in a far too harsh light despite the diffuser. If theres any thing I can change next time to help then let me know.


Water splash strobist setup by themaninthesuitcase, on Flickr
 
Oh..sorry can't see your pic there! (got it now, linked off to you flickr)

You could push the ISO a couple of stops to compensate for aperture. Ok it might well show more noise, but if you get the subject within the DoF then that will be a better result.

I'm not experienced in flash to comment, but start off at full power and work down. You will get a sharper shot with less power as you say. Maybe move the flash closer too? A closer light source will be softer or can you shoot through some A4 paper too? Just throwing some ideas around :lol:

I saw someone put their flash in a freezer bag and put it under the baking dish, shooting up through the drop - obviously through a clear pyrex dish;)

I had a few shots like your into a baking dish.....also had that problem with the angle:bonk:
 
AndyB1976 said:
I saw someone put their flash in a freezer bag and put it under the baking dish, shooting up through the drop - obviously through a clear pyrex dish;)
Click to expand...

I used that for another shot which worked very well but I can't post it here as I might want to use it for POTY. Was very effective for what I used but not so sure how well it might work for water drops.

Think I just need to re think how I set up a touch. Bring the drop point forward in the tray and then lower the camera angle as much as I can. That with a few stops on the apature should help enormously.
 
Thanks from the sounds of things I am almost there, just need to open up the aperture a touch and get the camera as flat as I can. Once thats done I should be able to get them spot on.
 
Hi Chris

Rhod pretty much sums it up. You need to keep the flash as short as possible so try reflectors if you're struggling with exposure.
 
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