Ok, since we have a competition coming up with the theme of close ups, I thought I would show you guys how to get some neat images that you may be able to use.

Below you will find some example photos I shot today in about an hour. If you know how to pull this off you can get some quite extraordinary shots.



Here's how it's done.

At the bottom of this post you will see my setup pictures. One flash, macro lens, glass baking dish, tripod, camera and colorful background. I used a red towel and a blue book binder to start and anything I could find that was translucent to go in front of it. The translucent item will bend the light and create an interesting shape.

The flash needs to be off camera so it can be moved around to the desired position. You can use a flash cable or get one of the cheep wireless eBay triggers which is what I used. If you don't have either one of these I would suggest getting something that will work in the future. If you're not shooting off camera yet, you will be someday if you plan on getting better.

I set the flash to full power and dialed in my f-stop till I got the exposure I needed. To determine that, I just watched the view screen on the back of the camera. You're looking for a small f-stop (f22 and higher) to extend your depth of field. (as a side note, the flash I was using was just a cheep Minolta I picked up at a swap meet for $5).

In most cases, what ever you have for your main background color will need to be illuminated with the flash and the light from your background will reflect back to the water drop.

To focus, just temporality put something where the water drop is hitting the water and focus on that.

Shutter speed should fall around 250 or what ever your sync speed is for you camera. We are not worrying about ambient at this point so we let it fall to black. The flash is going to do all the work.

To get my water drop, I used the kitchen facet. Mine has a hose you can pull out to around 5 feet, but I just needed it to extend out far enough to provide a drop where I needed it so I scrounged around in the garage and found a ruler. Then taped it to the facet hose so I got my extension.

I then played around with the valve till I got my water drop rate to around 1 ever 5 sec.

Positioned my camera and focused.

With one hand on the trigger and the other holding the flash, I began shooting and moving the flash till I got the look I wanted. The best advice I can give is to watch the top of the facet. You will begin to recognize about when the drop is going to come out. With a little practice, you'll slowly developed a rhythm.

The rest is just trial and error. It's up to you to be creative.

Watch your preview screen for interesting background patterns. Move things around till you find something interesting. Catching the water drop at the right time is just half the problem. The other is getting something interesting to complement it.

Color is important but don't get carried away with colorful patterns. Keep it simple. Smooth flowing lines are all you need. Anything more will make your photo too complex.

This is a lot of fun to do and once you are finished you can put another star on your photographic experience checklist.

Have fun!!