Water Droplets

This tutorial on capturing water droplets with high shutter speeds will provide you with a basic but essential techniques to producing clear, crisp and non-ghosting photographs.

Water Droplets

Water droplets and even just water can always become a fantastic abstract photograph. Falling water droplets offers the chance to really test your cameras
high speed shooting ability, which can lead to other ideas for using high speed photography!

This tutorial on capturing water droplets with high shutter speeds will provide you with a basic but essential techniques to producing clear, crisp and non-ghosting photographs.

The key is to have plenty of light, preferably strobes and flashes (below).

Strobe

After working out your lighting, now switch your camera to MF (Manual Focus) and focus on the surface of the water where the droplets will roughly fall. Have the tap dripping at a slow rate, as after each drop the water becomes turbulent and your flashes will need to charge up again.

To have more in focus make the DOF (Depth Of Field) larger increase the f-number, around f11 (dependant on lighting).

By now you should have a nice set of clear, focused and interesting water-droplet photographs!

Another good idea is to put an object behind your droplets and it will refract inside the drops making a nice feature to the overall shot!

Remember – Light and Timing is the key to successful high speed photographs!

Splash

Water Droplet Refraction of an Apple

Water Crown (green)

Air Pocket

3 Drops

Splash Crown

Written by Mike

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Michael Scott is the publisher and photographer behind Scott Photographics! He is very passionate about his photography and enjoys sharing the best of his experiences for others to enjoy too! Contact Mike via email!