Chat for weekly comp - Droplets - 28th Dec - 3rd Jan

[oRGie]

The subject for next weeks competition is .....

"Droplets"

Allways wanted to give this art form a try. I know a few of you have done this with great results, so if there are any tips for set up please post them 

Rules:

Pictures to be taken between 00.01am Monday 28th to Sunday 3rd January.
Pictures to be posted in the entries thread no later than 23.59pm Monday 4th January.
Poll will be up Tuesday 5th January until 23.59pm Friday 8th January.
Winner to be announced Saturday 9th (winner should post the new topic no later than 23.59 Sunday 10th January).


The Rules for the weekly competition are...

By entering you agree to take responsibility to
post a topic on the Sunday following your declared win
create an entries thread
create a chat thread
create a poll for that weeks comp and declare the winner on the Saturday
(if for any reason there is a problem and no subject is posted by the winner by Monday night admin will advise second place winner to post the topic asap, do the poll etc)

In case of a tie, the first entry posted wins.

photos to be taken during the specified dates, ie sunday xx to Monday xx

pictures to be posted in the entries thread no later than 23.59 Monday night

Poll to be created Tuesday to run till Friday, winner declared Saturday

Editing limits to be specified by the person choosing the competition subject, if nothing is mentioned then there is no limit to editing allowed.

Montage images should only contain images taken within specified dates

Please don't vote for your own entry

Everyone is welcome and comments and critique on the entries are also welcome

Posting your entries, and settiing up the poll.  Instructions are here: http://cameracraniums.com/forum/index.php?topic=382.0

[Hinfrance]

I've had a go at this once before without too much success. Must be time to improve on past c*ck-ups.

[picsfor]

Of course, a droplet does not have to be on of those carefully crafted shots of a water drop causing a splash!
So a close up of a droplet on a leaf or hanging off a leaf is equally is interesting.
Condensation on windows is made up of hundreds of droplets.

I'm definitely gonna try and give this a go - just not sure what angle to take on it yet.

[bones615]

Looks like I had a go at this a day too early & posted a couple from the kitchen sink. Have a read of this http://drippy2009.blogspot.com/ there are some great shots and surprisingly shutter speed has nothing to do with it, set up in a darkened room and flash duration is the key. The blog suggests using a flash off camera (but I dont have a trigger) and using coloured gels over the flash, had to use my flash on camera with an empty stella bottle as my gel.

Simon

[picsfor]

interesting article.

Now to find the space to test it out

[alan1572]

Looks like I had a go at this a day too early & posted a couple from the kitchen sink. Have a read of this http://drippy2009.blogspot.com/ there are some great shots and surprisingly shutter speed has nothing to do with it, set up in a darkened room and flash duration is the key. The blog suggests using a flash off camera (but I dont have a trigger) and using coloured gels over the flash, had to use my flash on camera with an empty stella bottle as my gel.

Simon

i tried this tip with the Stella but it wasn't any good....but there again i do buy cans.

[jimthetrain]

Well looking at Bones's entry this week, it's going to take an awesome picture to beat it.

[oRGie]

Yup, I now truly appreciate your entry bones     had my first attempt at this art form earlier today with no success at all lol..

After having a go I did some reading and I see what you mean about shutter/flash etc.

So have been doing some thinking on my plan for tommorow, mirror lock up, remote release, longer lens (I dont have a macro lens), flash off cam, set at a low power to make the duration less, f16-22 ish, baking tray for recepticle and I am going to try and put an interesting background into the mix. I am not confident lol, as I have no good way to produce the drops from a good height, but I will enter something 

[bones615]

Yup, I now truly appreciate your entry bones     had my first attempt at this art form earlier today with no success at all lol..

After having a go I did some reading and I see what you mean about shutter/flash etc.

So have been doing some thinking on my plan for tommorow, mirror lock up, remote release, longer lens (I dont have a macro lens), flash off cam, set at a low power to make the duration less, f16-22 ish, baking tray for recepticle and I am going to try and put an interesting background into the mix. I am not confident lol, as I have no good way to produce the drops from a good height, but I will enter something 

Had another go tonight & the one i posted must have been a fluke, got some nice shots though. Its difficult to get enough light with the flash turned down, 1/32 seems a happy medium. Mirror lock is not needed just set the drips going click the shutter release until the battery dies. I put a pint mug in the top cupboard & a siphon tube with a tap on the end making the drips (knew that homebrew gear would come in handy).
Posted the best of the rest here if you are interested.

http://cid-c3b781754176c72e.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Water%20Drops

Simon

[oRGie]

The one you posted is the best so far, but I like quite a few of the ones you got, I like the crown type too..

Check the droplet pic in this thread over at potn, about half way down the page

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=760327&page=141

It was that shot that got me interested in trying this out..  seen even more fantstic work on teh web since I set the comp, amazing stuff when you get it down.

[bones615]

The one you posted is the best so far, but I like quite a few of the ones you got, I like the crown type too..

Check the droplet pic in this thread over at potn, about half way down the page

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=760327&page=141

It was that shot that got me interested in trying this out..  seen even more fantstic work on teh web since I set the comp, amazing stuff when you get it down.

Those type are pretty impressive, you need to time the drop to hit the spout from the previous one then hit the shutter at the right time, no idea how???

Have a look through this http://drippy2009.blogspot.com/ he is using 2 different coloured liquids to make some really nice images.

[oRGie]

Amazing stuff in that blog, I allways thought droplet shots were good, but now trying to do it I realise just how good they are..

I havent managed to get a good shot yet (2 hours messing about in the kitchen), I need a better set up, more height especially. This one is allmost an hdr, not my entry, far too much photoshop to be fair to the spirit of the comp, but at least I have a reasonable exposure and starting to get focus. I just needed to share something from my efforts tonight lol

[bones615]

That looks good to me, I like the gold but how did you get it just around the drop? I have been using a piece of coloured card against the back wall that casts a reflection over everything.
We need to be careful on the amount of time spent in the kitchen, my wife thinks I may be turning into a "new man" and finds it very easy to call and say "while you are in there could you just....." , I might even have to learn how to operate the washing machine

[Mick]

Don't forget the trickling / dripping tap method, that's what I used for these old shots.  Catch the droplets as they fall. 



A few shots colourised and put together in Elements. 



1: Canon 30D with Tamron SP 90mm macro lens
2: Glass of water standing on (empty) beer can in sink. Frying pan behind to provide background lol...
3: Turned on tap to a slow trickle, and fired a few shots hand held. Onboard flash was used, and manual focus.

Shot from about 5" and cropped the shot.

[Zenmer]

Wish this had been last week during the freeze