Low tech approach to shooting milk drops..

[arlon]

Just C/P form another forum..

Actually this was pretty simple.

First I got a plastic water bottle and made a pin hole in it (tiny, took 3 tries) to be my milk "dripper". Suspended over the sink from an expandable curtain rod stuck between the cabinets.

Receiver was a black ceramic cereal bowl set on top of a tupperware container to get the edge above the sink. I hung a black towel on the wall behind the sink (wife hasn' found that yet). I then floated a piece of black construction foam (that real thin stuff you get in sheets at hobby lobby) on the the water in the bowl. Foam was a good splash target. Made a few drops and stuck a straight pin into the foam for my focus target, set the focus, removed the pin. Liquid type/depth makes a big difference in how the drop/splash looks. Experiment.. Red splash was just food coloring in the milk.

Set the camera (on tripod directly in front) level just below the rim of the bowl. Used a remote flash on the left side (setting on another tupperware container in the other sink and slightly BELOW the bowl) triggered with an optical slave. Another flash shooting straight up (bounced off the ceiling to keep it from exposing the container) to trigger the remote flash .

I used a 200mm macro lens (to get back far enough to avoid splashing the lens to bad)and shot most of them at f22 (to underexpose everything but the drop) with the flashes in manual mode at 1/16 power (shortest flash duration). Shutter speed doesn't matter as it's the flash duration that's freezing the drop. If you get the shutter too slow and aperture to wide, you'll start geting fuzzy images as it exposes the shot without the flash. Get a good rhythm going and you can get a pretty good successful capture ratio going.

For water I just used the kitchen faucet..


I have a whole gallery of these things (all done basically the same way) out HERE.

Any specifics, just ask..


Here's a shot of a foam block floating in the bowl with my "focus target" in position..

[Carl_Constantine]

Yeah, it's all the extra flashes and stuff and the wireless transmitter to set off the remote flash that I don't have. I don't even have an offshoe cord for my flash

But this is very interesting and I enjoy learning about the specifics. Will still try stuff like this as it's really interesting and I've seen some really cool images. Some setups I've seen use some sort of remote optical trigger the water droplet hits to set off the shutter and flash(es). Really wild.

[arlon]

The "off camera flash" is a cheap vivitar hotshoe flash of unknown compatability I got of ebay for $8 delivered. Just a junker. Trigger is from a $5 IR remote flash trigger. It will trigger any hotshoe from any flash on a camera. I mask the camera flash with a piece of old exposed film. It's dark enough to kill the flash contribution on the subject but passes IR to the trigger. My entire setup less the camera cost less then $25. It's more about being creative than rich..

Look at ebay item # 150215008874 ($10 delivered). That's what I use to trigger my flashes. I have several of them.. I use ANY cheap hotshoe flash I can find. They never come in contact with the camera so it doesn't matter what they where made for. JUST DON'T STICK A RANDOM FLASH ON YOUR CAMERA.

I've also used a 110v remote flash (self contained remote trigger and flash all in one) that you just stick into a clamp-on light and plug into the wall. It's a flash that's built like a light bulb and fired by the on camera flash (IR, no cords). They are great handy flash accessories and they are so cheap ($20 delivered) you can afford several of them (ebay number 360013881942).

Hope this helps. It really is very easy to do..

[Adrian]

awsome dude thanks a load for the details, ill have to read through it very soon, i just have to sleep now, its late and i dont want to be up all night - which is a habit i dont want to keep to often.