Self Isolation Photo Projects: Splash shots

It seems a crazy thing to do - photograph water dripping out of a pipe or splashing out of a jug into a bowl of water - but once you get into this little side genre of creative photography, you'll discover an entire subculture of mad photographers producing outstanding splashy results with little more than a camera, close-up lens and, as already mentioned, a bowl of water...

Here's what you need to start:

• Camera (DSLR or mirrorless camera)
• Close-up lens, or Macro lens, or regular lens fitted with an extension tube
• Tripod (essential)
• Electronic cable release or wireless trigger
• High sided tray (like a kitchen baking dish)
• Plastic bags
• Water-soluble dyes, inks or even water colour paints
• Eyedroppers
• A speedlight (flash) can be a useful accessory

Here's how it's done:

• Set camera on tripod
• Ensure that your setup is positioned in good light - preferably not in sunlight
• Fill the tray/glass receptacle with water. Position the camera angle to shoot at same height of the brim (i.e. frame with 50% tray and 50% space above it. Modify this framing as you go)
• Position a sheet of white or coloured paper behind the setup so it fills the background in the viewfinder
• Select Manual Metering mode. Ideally it's best to use a very fast shutter speed (1/500s or even 1/1000s) and an aperture between f8 and f16 (a good depth of field helps take into account movement of the water dripper)
• Set the lens to Manual Focus (MF) and pre-focus on a point over the water tray - do this by resting a ruler across the tray. Use this to line the dripper up correctly
• Stick a small strip of masking tape onto the lens to prevent it being accidentally shifted
• With everything set up and tested, take the eye dripper and gently squeeze water into the glass receptacle as it hits the water surface. This will take 'a few tries', but once set up, you'll get a feel for the timing needed to get the shot
• The final trick is to take a picture at the moment the drops hit the water surface, or preferably just after. I think it's impossible to react in the time it takes for the drop to leave the dripper and hit the water, so set the camera to continuous high speed drive mode and hold the shutter to shoot frames continuously. You'll shoot a lot of frames that have no drops in them at all, but with practice, you should get some awesome-looking water drop shots.

(More on this technique in my UDEMY class entitled 50 Fabulous Photo Techniques)