First Blog. Attempts at water drops using natural light, well, mostly.
Hello *waves*,
I thought I'd give this Blogging malarky a go. I am bored, so I thought why not?
Today was water drop day.
I'm practising using manual mode on a Canon 600d with 100mm macro. I don't yet have a flash-gun (it's on the wishlist) so I took the majority of these using light from the kitchen window with a very "Heath Robinson" set-up consisting of a twig tree with a water-filled sandwich bag hanging from it (held on with pegs) which was dripping water on to various table chargers with water in them, plus the odd drop of blue food colouring.
It's helped me a lot with getting to grips with changing settings on the fly without having to keep looking at the camera controls. Getting the faster shutter speeds was quite a challenge so I pushed the ISO up to 1600 on a few of them and I've misplaced my tripod mount (it's that Gremlin again) so they're all taken hand held. I did use the inbuilt flash a couple of times but I got impatient with waiting for the flash to recharge.
I really enjoyed this little challenge today, the photos aren't that great and I can see plenty of errors (which for me is educational in itself) but I think it's a good starting point and I look forward to trying this again when I have a flash and tripod so that I can compare the quality and hopefully see improvement.
Thank you for looking,
Debs
I was disappointed that this one didn't come out sharper, I think it could have made quite an interesting composition.
- Debs J's blog
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what a super set of shots Debs especially for your first attempt, I failed miserably at mine and there were none worth keeping!!
thanks for sharing
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brilliant natural light shots. all good but those crowns are spot on. love them all
web http://www.wix.com/waterdropphotos/tabletop
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carn't do this type of photography Deb so excellent from me
http://www.myfinepix.co.uk/competition/add/599259
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fantastic stuff i like 4th bottom, i presume this was on continous mode or was it just correct timing ? i tried this on allthough timing deemed right it didnt look right maybe water was to deep
"Sharper than a page of Oscar Wilde witticisms rolled up in to a point, sprinkled
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Wow hand held very impressed I still have not got any where near this well done.
All the best
Steve
http://www.myfinepix.com/gallery/330281
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevesmout/
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Thanks very much for all the lovely comments. I really enjoyed doing this and it was a good learning experience.
I learnt from doing this that the faster the shutter speed the better the outcome and as much light as possible. I did have a quick dabble at it a couple of days ago trying to use a pippet in one hand and camera in the other but I made the mistake of using the larger apertures and ended up with the majority being out of focus.
The camera was on continuous mode but once I'd got the hang of manually focusing and getting the settings right(ish) I speeded up the drop rate which gave different types of drop and more keepers (I say keepers in a loose sense, have you ever googled them, wow is all I can say). The crown type drops were in maybe 3 mm's of water, I think it also made a difference how hard/fast the drops came down and from what height.
*Ponders* I think I might have another go with my fuji camera tomorrow if the weather is good. It's time I picked it back up again and see what it can do now I'm a bit more confident with photography basics.
Sorry, I'm rambling out loud here...
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Brilliant, Debs. I wish mine had come out like these. I must try again.
www.myfinepix.co.uk/gallery/627135: www.myfinepix.co.uk/blog/627135:
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great shots...would love to try something like this but my husband already looks at me strangely when I take certain photo's. hahah maybe will try when he's at work
Sue
http://www.myfinepix.com/blog/570584
http://www.myfinepix.com/gallery/570584
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4082 water drop pick's later I had to stop, found them very addictive, managed to get a good few good ones though.
have fun and enjoy.
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4082 water drop pick's later I had to stop, found them very addictive, managed to get a good few good ones though.
have fun and enjoy.
nb. appols for the double post
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Fabulous! Loved them all, and now on my 'must have a go at' list, therfore also inspirational!! Gill
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well done debs.... ive done a lot of this myself in the past and i know how hard this can be to capture just the right shot, i have a couple in my gallery i think lol... but i love messing about with things like this, keep it up, you have done a great job
regard paul x
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You must be very 'chuffed' with these shots~well done you.
x
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Great shots Debs. I know how hard the timing, focus, lighting is to do these shots. I took hundreds to achieve a handful before I mastered the focus and clarity of shot. Well done. My latest photoblog Alison visits Viv in York http://www.myfinepix.com/blog/77182/493459
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hi deb fantastic i think what you have achieved on your first attemp is outstanding well done love the colours also, i see you used the 600d thats my next camera ist it good mind you the 65o is out now.
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Wow, amazing set of shots! gotta have a go at this myself one of these days...
Photophile