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Water Droplets

Creative Project

As challenging as it sounds

When it is a lonely cloudy day and too cold to go outside to photograph the world, a good way to consume your time is to photograph water droplets. I have to admit it was quit a challenge for me, and even after about three hours of shooting, I did not come out feeling all too successful. I did manage to capture some interesting images, but I have no doubt I could do better.

A good way to set up the image is to fill a sink up with water and then set the faucet so that it is just dropping water every few seconds. Then you can, at your leisure, photograph them as they splash. It takes a bit of practice to get used to the timing of the drops, snapping the picture at JUST the right moment. If you're real comfortable with this, it can be fun messing around by trying to drop things in the water (like fruit) and capture they're splash. I recommend setting a pretty high shutter speed, up to 1/800 at least as the drops are moving so fast you need a very high shutter speed to freeze the movement. With that high of a shutter speed, lighting may be a problem and even with a very low f-stop and higher ISO (both of which will increase the amount of light), you may still need to add some additional lighting, something as simple as a lamp will work. The whole process can be a bit frustrating but it uses up time and improves some of your skills as a photographer no doubt.

About the Author

Nicholas Klein

Founder and visual artist, specializing in all aspects of a businesses presence from imagery and video to graphics and web. A graduate of IPFW with a Bachelor in Fine Arts, Concentration Photography as well as an Associates Degree in Business. His personal photography works are focused on landscape, travel, and aerial photography.