How Do You Capture 'Splashes'
Discussion
OK - I worked out light blurs thanks to the help of the good folks here... 
Next is splashes - I'm determined to work these out as well. By splahes I mean this sort of thing from Leighton's thread
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
but I didn't want to hijack his thread and ask there.
I have a Canon 400d with both a 18 - 55mm kit lens and a Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 APO Macro Super DG Lens. I can of course select shutter priority and adjust the speed accordingly (I'm assuming a fast speed is needed here) and the camers selects the aperture but I wondered if I needed to venture to full manual for these sorts of pics and of course will these lenses actually be any good for it...
Any help gratefully received and of course if I ever manage to get a picture I'll post the results up!
Cheers
DC
Next is splashes - I'm determined to work these out as well. By splahes I mean this sort of thing from Leighton's thread
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...
but I didn't want to hijack his thread and ask there.
I have a Canon 400d with both a 18 - 55mm kit lens and a Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 APO Macro Super DG Lens. I can of course select shutter priority and adjust the speed accordingly (I'm assuming a fast speed is needed here) and the camers selects the aperture but I wondered if I needed to venture to full manual for these sorts of pics and of course will these lenses actually be any good for it...
Any help gratefully received and of course if I ever manage to get a picture I'll post the results up!
Cheers
DC
Pretty difficult to do DC, and is mostly pot luck
The best thing to do is let the tap drip and manually focus on the splashes without taking any shots. This will let you see where to focus the camera. It's all then down to timing with the shutter release..
I have done a couple:
I use a sturdy tripod, cable release, and flash. This is the exif from the shots above (with the camera on manual).
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/14
Focal Length: 100 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Flash: Flash fired
You will not be able to go above 1/250 if using a flash on the 400D (unless I'm wrong?)..
The best thing to do is let the tap drip and manually focus on the splashes without taking any shots. This will let you see where to focus the camera. It's all then down to timing with the shutter release..
I have done a couple:
I use a sturdy tripod, cable release, and flash. This is the exif from the shots above (with the camera on manual).
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/14
Focal Length: 100 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Flash: Flash fired
You will not be able to go above 1/250 if using a flash on the 400D (unless I'm wrong?)..
Edited by 4hero on Wednesday 18th June 15:28
There's a couple of alternative approaches but as 4hero says luck does have a major part to play. One alternative is continuous shutter, so just keep your finger on it and fire, then hopefully you'll capture just the moment you need.
The ones the pros use though is actually to do it in a completely blacked out room (no light at all) and use a laser / ir beam connected to a flash. Stick the camera on bulb mode, press the shutter, release the object drop whatever. That then breaks the laser / ir beam and interupts a circuit that fires the flash and hopefully captures the object hitting the surface. Then shutter off. Obviously there's some timing but these circuits have delays built in which you can change. This method sounds costly, but actually you can rig it up yourself for about $30 (US) and you don't need any electronics experience, have a look at http://www.hiviz.com/index.html. I bought one of these and had a play, quite good fun really and good results.
The ones the pros use though is actually to do it in a completely blacked out room (no light at all) and use a laser / ir beam connected to a flash. Stick the camera on bulb mode, press the shutter, release the object drop whatever. That then breaks the laser / ir beam and interupts a circuit that fires the flash and hopefully captures the object hitting the surface. Then shutter off. Obviously there's some timing but these circuits have delays built in which you can change. This method sounds costly, but actually you can rig it up yourself for about $30 (US) and you don't need any electronics experience, have a look at http://www.hiviz.com/index.html. I bought one of these and had a play, quite good fun really and good results.
someone told me this guy uses the sound of impact apparently?
HAVE A LOOK AT THIS:
http://www.martin-klimas.de/
HAVE A LOOK AT THIS:
http://www.martin-klimas.de/
Dogsey said:
Try it with milk to see if you capture the crown.
I'll give it a go though isn't it supposed to be harder to capture than water for some reason...didn't get in until late last night so couldn't have a play but fingers crossed for tonight...
Cheers
DC
ETC spelling
Edited by Dai Capp on Thursday 19th June 09:40
I have the exact same camera and Sigma lens as you. The fastest shutter speed you'll get when having the flash trigger is 1/200. I set mine to use continuous mode as well and there are a couple of ways you can do the shot. One is to use a running tap or another is to use a dish and drop water in to it. We use the latter approach and have a pipette for controlling the drops. However, lining the pipette up to drop the water in the same place every time is hard work!
To add colour to your pictures you can either use food colouring or place some colour underneath the dish you use to collect the water. I believe if you use shallow water you get more of a crown effect from the splash and if you use deeper water then you get more of a blob type effect. On our first attempt at this we took about 200-300 pictures and spent about 3hrs trying it! There was lots of trial and error involved!
Second time around we knew what we were doing and set the tripod up, camera manually focused (as mentioned previously) and we were away. Unfortunately for us the drops were all over the place but we got some semi decent ones.
Here's two of mine:-
To add colour to your pictures you can either use food colouring or place some colour underneath the dish you use to collect the water. I believe if you use shallow water you get more of a crown effect from the splash and if you use deeper water then you get more of a blob type effect. On our first attempt at this we took about 200-300 pictures and spent about 3hrs trying it! There was lots of trial and error involved!
Second time around we knew what we were doing and set the tripod up, camera manually focused (as mentioned previously) and we were away. Unfortunately for us the drops were all over the place but we got some semi decent ones.
Here's two of mine:-
Scott W said:
I have the exact same camera and Sigma lens as you. The fastest shutter speed you'll get when having the flash trigger is 1/200. I set mine to use continuous mode as well and there are a couple of ways you can do the shot. One is to use a running tap or another is to use a dish and drop water in to it. We use the latter approach and have a pipette for controlling the drops. However, lining the pipette up to drop the water in the same place every time is hard work!
To add colour to your pictures you can either use food colouring or place some colour underneath the dish you use to collect the water. I believe if you use shallow water you get more of a crown effect from the splash and if you use deeper water then you get more of a blob type effect. On our first attempt at this we took about 200-300 pictures and spent about 3hrs trying it! There was lots of trial and error involved!
Second time around we knew what we were doing and set the tripod up, camera manually focused (as mentioned previously) and we were away. Unfortunately for us the drops were all over the place but we got some semi decent ones.
Here's two of mine:-
They're great shots...To add colour to your pictures you can either use food colouring or place some colour underneath the dish you use to collect the water. I believe if you use shallow water you get more of a crown effect from the splash and if you use deeper water then you get more of a blob type effect. On our first attempt at this we took about 200-300 pictures and spent about 3hrs trying it! There was lots of trial and error involved!
Second time around we knew what we were doing and set the tripod up, camera manually focused (as mentioned previously) and we were away. Unfortunately for us the drops were all over the place but we got some semi decent ones.
Here's two of mine:-
Planning on using a plain white pasta bowl with food dye and a pippet as I figured it would be hard get a decent angle down into a sink for the shot
I'll brace myself for 3 hours of effort and set the camera to continuous bursts - think the 400d does 3 per second. Hopefully I'll get at least one picture worth posting!
Thanks for the tips...
Cheers
DC
Thanks for the positive comments!
I'm going to go for macro setting with my sigma lens next time and as mentioned before food dye and also milk to make the shot more interesting. I'll also darken the room to see what happens...
I'll also take more shots - these were selected from only 18.
Next thing to conquer is depth of field but I'll need a new lens to get the effects I want (wide open aperture so I get a very shallow depth). ETA - believe this is called Bokeh (there's a name for everything isn't there!)
Cheers
DC
I'm going to go for macro setting with my sigma lens next time and as mentioned before food dye and also milk to make the shot more interesting. I'll also darken the room to see what happens...
I'll also take more shots - these were selected from only 18.
Next thing to conquer is depth of field but I'll need a new lens to get the effects I want (wide open aperture so I get a very shallow depth). ETA - believe this is called Bokeh (there's a name for everything isn't there!)
Cheers
DC
Edited by Dai Capp on Friday 20th June 10:03
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