Drip. . . Drip. . . . Drip

It had been a long while since I had done any water drop shots, so the other day I decided it was about time.  Normally, I would have grabbed the 5D Mk III or the 1Dx and the 100mm Macro lens to shoot these, but instead decided to go with something a little more basic.  These were all captured using the Canon EOS Rebel SL1 with the EF-S 18-135 STM lens and the EF 12 Extension Tube.  For light, I used a pair of 600 EX-RT Speedlights and the ST-E3 to control them.  I must say, the SL1 did a fantastic job!

And, just in case you wondered, here's the setup.

Water Drops

This past weekend, I spent some time working on water drops.  I think I have the lighting dialed in pretty well.  Now I need to work on getting collisions.  Here's a few of my favorites from this round.

  

Now, a little about my setup.

I used three speedlights to light my drops.  They were fired using my Radiopopper triggers.  The two lights at the back were fired at the white backdrop, bouncing light onto the drops from behind.  The third light was placed to allow a little bit of  spill light to hit the front of the drop, while most hit the backdrop.  I used various gels to alter the colors.  Part way through, I colored the water green.  

The drops come from a reservoir suspended above the glass.  They are controlled by an electronic valve.  The water was mixed with glycerin.  Roughly 1 part glycerin to 3 parts water.  The glycerin slows down the drops and "strengthens" the water for better formation of drops.  That's about it, I'm happy to answer any questions.

Water Drops

This weekend, I got out my water drop setup and cranked through some shots.  I got some decent results, but I'm just not getting the results I'm looking for.  Time to try changing some things up a bit.

Here's a few of the better results.

Drops

For a while, I've been wanting to shoot some more water drops.  Well, a couple of weeks ago I finally got around to it.  I like what I ended up with, but I'd still like to refine things so that I am getting collisions.  

And, just because I know that someone will ask for it, here's a shot of my setup.

Some white seamless as a backdrop.  Three flashes were used.  One, gelled red, pointed at the backdrop.  The other two gelled blue, lighting up the drops.  The black card was an attempt to limit some of the light spill from the red flash.  It helped, but wasn't enough.  The drops were coming from a new gadget, a reservoir of water with an electronically controlled valve.  The flashes were fired using my Radio Poppers and I used a cable release to run the camera.  Some red food coloring in the glass to add more color.  Oh, and I borrowed some bubbles from the kids to add the bubble on top of the glass.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I thought I'd post a sneak peek from a recent outing to Farmington Bay.  I've got a pile of good images from the other morning, but they've got to wait a few more days before I can get to them.  The second image is from the other nigh.  Again, some great images to work on, but they've got to wait.  It's been a busy couple of weeks for me and I've got some work to finish up before I can spend time on these other projects.  I've got to finish up some wedding images, a family portrait shoot, and I've got to get prints ready for a show coming up in March.  It's good to be busy, right?