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Canon Image Challenge | all galleries >> Challenges From The Past >> 2010 Challenges >> CIC 22 H2O ***Water*** (Hosted by Paul Alters) >> CIC 22 Exhibition > Water Crown
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19-JUN-2010 Paul Alters

Water Crown

Olathe, Kansas

Had to get at least one of my water drop shots into the challenge. I feel the need for rich color!

Canon EOS 50D ,Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM
1/200s f/22.0 at 154.0mm iso200 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time19-Jun-2010 18:21:54
MakeCanon
ModelCanon EOS 50D
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length154 mm
Exposure Time1/200 sec
Aperturef/22
ISO Equivalent200
Exposure Bias
White Balance
Metering Mode (-1)
JPEG Quality
Exposure Program
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
comment
Guest 31-Aug-2010 21:27
It sparkles with color and light, like crown jewels. -Michael
Canon Image Challenge31-Aug-2010 18:01
This really is an excellent water drip shot. And you know I love them! The colors are great here, and the peak of the action is just right! I never tire of seeing (or making) water drip photos. There is something absolutely fascinating about them! Jim H.
Canon Image Challenge30-Aug-2010 12:52
Just to clarify Paul. Frans_VDM (aka fotoopia) is the guy whose work is shown and who built the rig. JimH is a participant in our challenges (not as active as he used to be a while back) and was the guy who originally posted the link to fotoopia's work. Both are talented engineers! JimH posts are great at simplifying complex subjects into usable ideas. I remember your Drops of Gold entry, I voted for it! Regards, -Najinsky
Canon Image Challenge30-Aug-2010 12:31
Talented engineer you say, I guess so. That is some rig he built! A little beyond my capabilities. Seeing that post gives me a few other ideas to try, thanks for posting it cuz I also love shooting water drops.

If I remember correctly I opened the water valve for a a moment first to get a small puddle first then started by adding the dyes. I really don't remember and didn't document either. I do start the camera on HS burst at the same time I open the valve.
I placed a different one from this series back in the minimalism challenge I called drops of gold that finished 8th if I remember correctly. Paul Alters
Canon Image Challenge30-Aug-2010 12:18
PS: The guy is on flickr as fotoopia:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotoopa_hs/2415834081/in/set-72157604178274003/

and posts on DPR as frans_vdm
Canon Image Challenge30-Aug-2010 11:37
A beautiful result Paul, well done. From the setup it sounds like you manually controlled the shutter to release a burst, judging when to release just as the drop hit, and I'm guessing from the quantity red splashes on the plexiglass that you probably got this result with around 20 drops?

If you like building set-ups, you should check out this guy:

http://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/609566/0

Unfortunately it's an old thread and some of the later images have now been removed, but still fascinating nonetheless.

Also if you have time, search the xxD forum for JimH posting on water drops (thats where the above link came from). He loved/s shooting water drops and is/was a talent engineer who built some interesting triggers.

Regards, -Najinsky
Canon Image Challenge30-Aug-2010 03:56
Beautiful, Paul! I love the colors and the shapes of the droplets. ~Sharon
Canon Image Challenge30-Aug-2010 00:11
Well, I love it regardless, and I'm green with envy with what you get out of your 70~200 f4, as opposed to my water cooling tower in Eligible. BTW, those are different shots, not a crop....I think I'll try even a different frame....but you are putting your lens to much better use than I am.

Best Wishes, Traveller
Canon Image Challenge29-Aug-2010 21:38
I also forgot to mention that this image never made it into Photoshop, raw conversion and resize only from DPP. Paul
Canon Image Challenge29-Aug-2010 20:57
My feeling are hurt thinking someone might think that I would resort to photo tricker! Boo hoo, I'm going home to momma. Oh yea, she's dead I can't.

Here's the details. Canon 50D with my favorite and best IQ lens the 70-200 F4. Of course tripod and release cable is a must! I also use the budget flash triggers Cactus V4 to fire a 580EXII and a 430EX both set to very low power for a short duration burst of light. For the water drop control, I built a device that I blogged here.
http://photocamel.com/forum/blogs/palters/732-how-build-simple-device-control-water-drops.html.
This device allows me to let one drop of water at a time fall when I want it to, not gravity.
The surface is a piece of Plexiglas with a black backdrop under it to make a mirror appearance. I dropped several drops of plain water first then I added 2 to 3 drops of of yellow food coloring to the water drops on the surface. Then I dropped more drops of plain water to create the scatter yellow drops and then added a drops of red food coloring and dropped again. You can see the colors blending together. The trick is no trick at all, water has a high surface tension and beads up on certain flat surfaces such as the Plexiglass.
Anytime you use budget remote flash triggers like the Cactus products the camera does not register the flash fired since it only uses the center sync terminal which in reality is a electronic (SCR) switch and no more.

Long winded I know but if anyone has any further questions just ask. One of these days I'll have the piece of mind to shoot setup shots so I can show how it was done.
Water Boy Paul!
Canon Image Challenge29-Aug-2010 19:40
Color you do have here....there seems to be too much viscosity to be water alone, but maybe it is. also the 1/200s seems slow, and you apparently shot this with a lens I have also....Any flash? Could you tell me a little how you got this? Best Wishes, Traveller
Sam Rua29-Aug-2010 18:45
This is outstanding, Paul. Nice timing and detail. (Color, too).