jsedlak
Jan-16-2007, 05:40 PM
For 2 days straight I have been doing nothing but expirementing with water droplet shots... Here are a couple of the things I have learned...
My first shot, taken with the 24-105L at 105mm. Auto-Focus, four lights, f4 and ISO 1600. Here I learned that focus was wrong with auto-focusing and that I needed more light as well as lower ISO rating.
http://gallery.jsedlak.org/d/1413-1/failed_water.jpg
I moved to using onboard flash in normal mode. I soon realized that the camera (XTi) could not sync past 1/200sec. In this case I need at least 1/1500-1/2500sec shutter speed. I moved to the 50mm f/1.8 at f1.8.
I also moved to clear water because the darker colored water (although awesome looking) required a LOT more light than I could provide.
This one is at ISO200 and 1/2000s shutter with flash.
http://jsedlak.smugmug.com/photos/123645330-M.jpg
And now to my best shot. Moved to ISO400, rearranged the flash to bounce off some white shades that are pointed down. I also took off the diffuser here, and more importantly boosted aperature to f8.
http://jsedlak.smugmug.com/photos/123645341-M.jpg
So to cover what I have learned so far...
- Light is good, there is never enough light available. In the end I have 5 halogen lights and a direct-flash (nondiffused) bounced of shades that are pointed to reflect the light down to the bowl.
- Larger aperature is better. At f/1.8 the shots were easy to get, but the whole crown was never in focus due to DoF. Between f/5.6 and f/10 seems to be the sweet spot, especially on the nifty fifty.
- Manual Focus is the most important part! Focus on the dropping device manually where you are aiming to drop the water. AF will focus on the back of the bowl.
- The higher the shutter speed, the better. I admit that anything under 1/600 will yield pretty useless results with lots of blur. Between 1/2000 and 1/4000 seems to be the sweet spot, but generally the faster the better.
I am going to expirement more with clear water and then move onto things like milk, paint, etc. Adding more color as I get better and better at this...
My first shot, taken with the 24-105L at 105mm. Auto-Focus, four lights, f4 and ISO 1600. Here I learned that focus was wrong with auto-focusing and that I needed more light as well as lower ISO rating.
http://gallery.jsedlak.org/d/1413-1/failed_water.jpg
I moved to using onboard flash in normal mode. I soon realized that the camera (XTi) could not sync past 1/200sec. In this case I need at least 1/1500-1/2500sec shutter speed. I moved to the 50mm f/1.8 at f1.8.
I also moved to clear water because the darker colored water (although awesome looking) required a LOT more light than I could provide.
This one is at ISO200 and 1/2000s shutter with flash.
http://jsedlak.smugmug.com/photos/123645330-M.jpg
And now to my best shot. Moved to ISO400, rearranged the flash to bounce off some white shades that are pointed down. I also took off the diffuser here, and more importantly boosted aperature to f8.
http://jsedlak.smugmug.com/photos/123645341-M.jpg
So to cover what I have learned so far...
- Light is good, there is never enough light available. In the end I have 5 halogen lights and a direct-flash (nondiffused) bounced of shades that are pointed to reflect the light down to the bowl.
- Larger aperature is better. At f/1.8 the shots were easy to get, but the whole crown was never in focus due to DoF. Between f/5.6 and f/10 seems to be the sweet spot, especially on the nifty fifty.
- Manual Focus is the most important part! Focus on the dropping device manually where you are aiming to drop the water. AF will focus on the back of the bowl.
- The higher the shutter speed, the better. I admit that anything under 1/600 will yield pretty useless results with lots of blur. Between 1/2000 and 1/4000 seems to be the sweet spot, but generally the faster the better.
I am going to expirement more with clear water and then move onto things like milk, paint, etc. Adding more color as I get better and better at this...