water drops

I read a post over on strobist.com on water droplet photos, so I decided that I needed to try taking some. For my first attempt, I think they turned out pretty good. I used a pyrex 13”x9” pan filled almost to the top with water, a ziplock bag with a small hole in it, some pvc I had lying around to hang the bag from, my light stand, a Nikon SB-600 strobe, my radio triggers, a piece of white posterboard to bounce the flash off of, my homemade grid snoot, and my roscoe gel samples. I was using my 18mm-200mm lens. I was working at 1/200s between f/5.6 and f/8. I attached the gel samples to the front of the grid snoot with masking tape.

Next time, I’m going to line the 13”x9” pan with a black plastic trash bag so that you don’t see the “Pyrex” and “Made in…” in the bottom of the pan. Also, I’m going to take more time and care with the focusing. I’m also going to move the pan closer to the camera. I was working at 200mm and was having trouble filling the frame and not getting the edges of the pan. All of these issues aside, I got a couple of images that I think turned out well. I’ll try taking some more soon. I’ll also probably try taking some without the grid snoot just to compare/contrast to those taken with the snoot in place.