How To Take... Water Splashes

I've often seen other people's photos of water splashing into a surface and thought I should have a go at it myself. With the My Year In Pictures project, I've kept a list of subjects I should try, to give some inspiration on days when it's not nice outdoors or I just can't think what to take.

Today, I had a go at some macro shots of water splashes. It's harder than it looks! You need a fast shutter speed to freeze the action, and a small aperture to give you maximum depth of field. Both of which mean you will have to use a high ISO setting and/or flood the image with light.

Some photographers use a high-speed stroboscopic flash to do the job for them - it recharges in a fraction of a second and allows several shots to be taken in one burst. But I don't have one, so I dug out an old 1000W video lamp from the back of a cupboard and tried that:

[Setup in my kitchen - bowl of water on stripey wrapping paper; camera turned vertically on tripod on left; the 1000W video light on second tripod to the right]

[Closer view of the camera and bowl with water bottle cap just seen at the top]

I was using my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 lens, fitted with a 12mm extension tube which allowed much closer focussing and greater magnification.

After much trial and error with the placement of the bowl, focus, position of the light and camera settings, I came up with the following as a reasonable set-up:

• ISO speed: 500
• Shutter speed: 1/1250th
• Aperture: f/6.3

I had tried using 1/1000th and f/4.0 but they weren't as sharp as I'd have liked - so I moved the light closer to the subject and got a better exposure.

The trick then is to drop a broken stream of water from the nozzle of a drinking water bottle with a sports cap. I had pre-focussed on a fork poked into the surface of the water (to get a proper focus point, otherwise you are focussed on the wrapping paper below which is no good for the splashes).

Then you have to try and aim the water drops into the same place as the fork was, whilst holding down the shutter button - I had the camera on high-speed motor drive. Take tens of shots and find the best half dozen!

[Splash! The water surface breaks up nicely when the first drops hit]

[Gravity Well - I like the way the falling stream makes a hole in the surface]

[Bubble Group - taking shots after the disturbances have died down can be equally rewarding]

The last picture here and my Pic of the Day for Day #29 show that you don't always have to photograph the turbulence to get some good pictures - handy if you don't have high speed motor drive.

I'll certainly be having another go at this sort of picture, perhaps with some different backgrounds and lighting. Why not give it a shot too?

Coast & Cornwall Day 4 - Eden Project & Mevagissey

I thought the day would be quite disappointing when I woke up to grey clouds and a forecast for heavy downpours. But then it occurred to me that being inside a massive greenhouse was probably the best place to be during the rain, so I headed off to the Eden Project mid-morning.

The first Biome I visited was the tropical one - bad news for photography because as soon as you enter, everything mists up with condensation. Quite annoying, and although I took a few pictures (they all have "built-in soft-focus filter") but they weren't up to much.

Thankfully, as soon as you come out of the hothouse, things get back to normal with the camera and the Temperate Biome was much better for picture opportunities. Here are a couple of examples:[Inner workings of a tulip revealed when a couple of petals have fallen away]

This robin was quite happy to wander around inside the Biome and pose for photographs!

[Robin in the Biome]

After another massive downpour around 4pm, I decided to leave Eden and head back to my hotel. But I'd been in the car for about 10 minutes and the sun came out - so I headed off to the picturesque fishing harbour at Mevagissey, spending over an hour taking pictures in the evening sunshine:

[Mevagissey Reflections]

Then I enjoyed a lovely dinner in a local fish restaurant - Cornish Monkfish!

The weather promises to be better tomorrow, and I plan to drive around the Roseland Peninsular on the way to Falmouth.

See a few more photos from today in my Flickrstream.

Coast & Cornwall Day 2 - Durdle Door & Swanage

The weather was a little hazy again today but I did manage to get some quite nice shots. I decided to visit the Purbeck Jurassic Coast today, and started off at the picturesque Durdle Door:

[The cliff top approach to Durdle Door]

After a couple of hours scrambling up and down the cliffs, I headed off to Norden Station to catch the Swanage Railway to Swanage for the afternoon:

[Changing the header board at Swanage Station]

The ride from Norden is a pleasant one, and takes about half an hour. The train drops you right in the centre of Swanage and after finding some lunch, I went for a potter around the bay. Folks were out enjoying the beach, pier, diving, fishing, rowing etc. Here's one guy setting off for a paddle around the bay:

[Captain Carolina heads off for a paddle]

To round off the day, I drove up to Studland Head where the South West Coast Path starts - all 630 miles of it - to Minehead:

[Fancy a walk?]

I'm being rather lazy and doing my coastal tour in the car!

See a few more photos from today in my Flickrstream.