SPOTLIGHT- Water drop photography

Water drop photography is a sudden passion of mine, especially over the winter (when I've been too scared to risk my equipment for some good winter shots, I've really got to get over that!). I've seen photos here and there on the web and found it fascinating...soon I was reading as many tutorials as I could in my spare time.

I started with an aluminum pan and an eye dropper...and today, I haven't upgraded to much more than that. I feel the most important tool I have is my speed flash. Right now I only use one, but more would be ideal.

If you were to Google "images for water drop photography", you would see thousands and thousands of them...the hard part is to make yours different from the other thousands you see on the web. To do this, you can use different backgrounds, different lighting, even include a colored gel on your flash, add food dye to the water, or use the colored glass stones or marbles in the bottom of the tank. Experiment with different color combinations. I've gone as far as surrounding my tank with CDs for the rainbow effects you see in some of my photos, or putting glitter in the water, or adding bubble soap. This will add to the viscosity of the water, actually slowing the water down (hint: the colder the water, the higher the viscosity). Another trick I have found that helps a lot is shooting in dim room so that the flash is freezing the water drop, not outside light. Sometimes I shoot from outside a glass tank so I can literally shoot from any angle, above the water, under the water, or exactly level so you can see the disruption in the water from above and below. Other times I shoot in an open tub (either black, white, or silver). You can pretty much use anything as a tank...even a wine glass! You can also shoot from any distance. Would you like to see more of the water? Or like me, I like to show the close up water drop so you can see the detail within the water.

Manipulating water is so much fun. You never really know what you're going to get until you see a beautiful liquid sculpture captured in time. This is a fun project for any photography enthusiast!!

If you are interested in this...here are a couple of tutorials I have found incredibly helpful!

http://strobist.blogspot.com/2009/05/how-to-photograph-water-drops-with-one.html
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/water-drops-behind-the-shot
http://arwenarts.deviantart.com/gallery/10746987#/d34aweg
http://www.cognisys-inc.com/HowTo/water_drops.php (for if you're super serious and have money burning a hole in your pocket, but it includes some really cool water shots!)
OR just Google "water drop photography tutorials" and there will be a wealth of knowledge at your fingertips!

Have fun with your new found hobby...it's really a lot of fun and addicting cause the possibilities are endless!! With the new age of digital cameras, you can take hundreds of photos and pick your best...and trust me, you will need to do this. Water drop photography takes perseverance and patients...but I promise you, it will pay off in the end!!