# Water macro



## AcinonyxJG (Jan 3, 2012)

My best picture so far of water photography, tell me what you think and post some of your pictures too!


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## neuroanatomist (Jan 3, 2012)

Very nice!

Here's mine:




EOS 5D Mark II, MP-E 65mm f/2.8 1-5x Macro @ 5x, 1/60 s, f/11, ISO 400, MT-24EX


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## candyman (Jan 3, 2012)

neuroanatomist said:


> Very nice!
> 
> Here's mine:
> 
> ...



Very nice photo! Fascinating those reflections


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## danski0224 (Jan 3, 2012)

neuroanatomist said:


> Very nice!
> 
> Here's mine:



Showoff... 

very nice.


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## handsomerob (Jan 3, 2012)

Great shots, congrats both!


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## kirispupis (Jan 3, 2012)

I just started shooting water drops about two weeks ago, but here are some of my attempts so far.





http://500px.com/photo/4064397





http://500px.com/photo/3957945


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## AcinonyxJG (Jan 3, 2012)

Thanks for the replies, but I think mine is completely overshadowed by the other pictures posted here, absolutely amazing! I'll have to have another go with this tomorrow....


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## AcinonyxJG (Jan 3, 2012)

kirispupis said:


> I just started shooting water drops about two weeks ago, but here are some of my attempts so far.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



On 500px, it says the shutter speed was 1 second? Is this true or an error, if it was 1 second, how is it not blurred?


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## neuroanatomist (Jan 3, 2012)

AcinonyxJG said:


> On 500px, it says the shutter speed was 1 second? Is this true or an error, if it was 1 second, how is it not blurred?



It was shot in a dark room with the only illimunation coming from the flash(es). The illumination from strobes can be much shorter in duration than even the fastest dSLR mechanical shutter, so you leave the shutter open for a while and the light stops the action. That's how fast events - speeding bullets, hummingbird wings, etc. - are captured. Furthermore, capacitor driven strobes (like Speedlites) have only one intensity - full power. Your flash can produce different amount of light, but what you may think is intensity is really duration - if a scene needs more light, the flash just stays on longer. So, if you want to shoot hummingbirds at a feeder, one flash won't do the trick - at higher power, it's enough light but the duration is too long and you get too much wing blur, so instead, you set up multiple flashes and shoot them together at low power.

Courtesy of photosbykev, the flash durations of a 580EX are:

full power = 1/1000 s
1/2 power = 1/2000 s
1/4 power = 1/4000 s
1/8 power = 1/9000 s
1/16 power = 1/15000 s
1/32 power = 1/21000 s
1/64 power = 1/30000 s
1/128 power = 1/35000 s


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## chriswatters (Jan 3, 2012)

AcinonyxJG said:


> On 500px, it says the shutter speed was 1 second? Is this true or an error, if it was 1 second, how is it not blurred?


He might have used a flash to stop motion rather than using a high sutter speed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOayN2U1xZg


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## kirispupis (Jan 4, 2012)

Actually it was not shot in a dark room. However neuroanatomist is correct that the shot was frozen with flash - not with a high shutter speed.

The whole setup was achieved using a Stopshot that I recently purchased. In terms of a 1 second shutter speed, the actual shutter speed was less than that. I had the camera on bulb mode and used the Stopshot to control the shutter time. For some reason Canon seems to register it as 1 second but the shutter speed of the camera doesn't really matter here anyways.

I wrote a guest blog for a friend on the setup - http://www.ronmartblog.com/2011/12/high-speed-drop-photographygetting.html - though I have changed it a bit since (and since I just bought this am changing it each time I shoot).


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## AcinonyxJG (Jan 4, 2012)

Thanks for explaining, I'll have a go at that method, sounds very interesting.


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## Nassen0f (Jan 6, 2012)

Realy nice shots ;D And its always nice to read about how the different shots are made, Thanks


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## D.Sim (Jan 6, 2012)

neuroanatomist said:


> AcinonyxJG said:
> 
> 
> > On 500px, it says the shutter speed was 1 second? Is this true or an error, if it was 1 second, how is it not blurred?
> ...



Oo, interesting article, been wondering what the speeds were... you wouldnt happen to know the durations for the 430EX II would you? been trying to find articles but havent found any yet...


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## thepancakeman (Jan 6, 2012)

candyman said:


> neuroanatomist said:
> 
> 
> > Very nice!
> ...



Yeah, how did you edit yourself out of the reflections?  :


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## neuroanatomist (Jan 6, 2012)

thepancakeman said:


> candyman said:
> 
> 
> > neuroanatomist said:
> ...



No need - it was at at 5x with the MP-E 65mm, the FoV is smaller than the fingernail of your pinky (the white spots are the reflections of the MT-24 EX flash heads).



D.Sim said:


> Oo, interesting article, been wondering what the speeds were... you wouldnt happen to know the durations for the 430EX II would you? been trying to find articles but havent found any yet...



Sorry, no idea. I found one post indicating the 430EX II is ~1/520 s at full power, but that post also stated 1/520 s for 1/2 power, and that can't be correct. I would guess they'll be the same or longer than the 580 for a given flash power, since the 430 has a less powerful flash tube.


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## AcinonyxJG (Jan 6, 2012)

Here are three more, can't post as pictures, I forgot my photobucket password... :-\ but tell me what you think 

http://500px.com/photo/4127815
http://500px.com/photo/4127835
http://500px.com/photo/4127860


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## kirispupis (Jan 7, 2012)

Here's another one I did today


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## acoll123 (Jan 22, 2012)

I finally got a chance to try this out - it is a great technique to know about!


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## thepancakeman (Jan 23, 2012)

kirispupis said:


> Here's another one I did today



Is this image inverted? It looks to my highly untrained eye like the pencil is actually underwater and the surface is at the bottom of the image.


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## kirispupis (Feb 1, 2012)

thepancakeman said:


> Is this image inverted? It looks to my highly untrained eye like the pencil is actually underwater and the surface is at the bottom of the image.



No. The image is not inverted. Below is just the reflection.

Here are two more I took recently.





http://500px.com/photo/4506025





http://500px.com/photo/4397702


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## thepancakeman (Feb 2, 2012)

kirispupis said:


> thepancakeman said:
> 
> 
> > Is this image inverted? It looks to my highly untrained eye like the pencil is actually underwater and the surface is at the bottom of the image.
> ...



BTW, I love your work! I guess the reason that my eye seems to think the one with the pencil is inverted is that coloring and lighting on the pencil has an underwater look to it. Do you add the color in post, or is your lighting set up that way?


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## Lyra Video Productions (Feb 2, 2012)

Great job to everyone posting pictures. These are amazing. I'm fairly new to the forums but am finding this a great place to learn. I shot a lot of macro on a Minolta film camera as a kid--you've all inspired me to dive into it again (as soon as I can convince my wife to let me buy some macro equipment... ;D)


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## kirispupis (Feb 2, 2012)

thepancakeman said:


> BTW, I love your work! I guess the reason that my eye seems to think the one with the pencil is inverted is that coloring and lighting on the pencil has an underwater look to it. Do you add the color in post, or is your lighting set up that way?


Thanks! I do not add color in post, though I often play around with saturation and contrast. In the pencil shot the color came from a geled flash (you can see it a bit on the pencil). Recently I have moved to a setup where I use food coloring on the water in the pan, a different food coloring in the water being dropped, and a different color gel on the background flash.


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## UltraReef (Mar 28, 2012)

Incredible water photos, really got me wanting to try some. Thanks for posting.


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## Orion (Mar 28, 2012)

Here is my latest take on water macros (and other liquids  )

Art Through The Lens





This is liek my mind's eye when I dream. . . . It's like I am looking at a pixel for the eye/retina, where all the imagination is created. . . .


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## kirispupis (Mar 31, 2012)

I took this one today. 





http://500px.com/photo/6193780


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## briansquibb (Mar 31, 2012)

kirispupis said:


> I took this one today.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Fabulous!!


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## Alker (Mar 31, 2012)

Click for fullsize.


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## Marsu42 (Mar 31, 2012)

MazV-L said:


> Think it was close to 800 LOL, and I wittled that down to abt 20



I thought so  ... thus I'm always hesitant to do these kind of shots because I'd reach the shutter breaking point in no time - it's not just a matter of photographic ability (but your shots are great!) but of pure brute force, too. Using live view shooting at least saves the mirror flips...


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## MazV-L (Mar 31, 2012)

Marsu42 said:


> MazV-L said:
> 
> 
> > Took these shots awhile ago to enter a small photo contest- theme of the month was: "water".
> ...


Think it was close to 800 LOL, and I wittled that down to abt 20. The biggest problem was the 550ex wasn't firing everytime. If I was to attempt to take the same shots again I'd use one of my 580exii with Cp-E4, that 'd definitely fix that, but the 550ex was the best speedlite I had at the time. Also the bottle I had rigged to drip the water wouldn't cooperate, so I had to squeeze the water drops out of it with one hand and trigger the shutter(cable) with the other, so alot of the drops fell wide of the field of focus.


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## kirispupis (Mar 31, 2012)

Actually, for the shot I just posted I did not need to take too many shots. When you get to this speed the shutter is not enough to freeze the action. You need to freeze it with flash. I set my flash manually to 1/128th. I use Yongnuo 565EX flashes. I have a 580EX II and 580EX as well but the 580EX does not have a miniport and the one on my 580EX II no longer works. I find it pitiful that I find my Chinese knockoff flashes more reliable than the real things.

To fire the camera and flash at the right moment I use two Stopshots from Cognisys. Even with this there is a tremendous amount of work to do. Everything takes time to setup and then I spend a lot of time trying different things to get what I am aiming for.

In this particular case I started with the column. Once I understood the # of milliseconds at which the drop hits a particular point and I know at what time the water column reaches the point I want, I know how many milliseconds I have to collide another drop with the top. I then fired another drop from a different siphon at a few milliseconds after the drop the forms the umbrella. This was the tricky part as originally my goal was to have this drop fall through the umbrella. I played with the timing a bit to get this happen and then noticed it wasn't as interesting as I thought so I then strove to get the drop just above, which proved a bit challenging. Ironically I kept getting the drop falling through the umbrella - which I was trying to do before but now didn't want.

I really enjoy water drop shots and I am slowly learning different tricks. It's not easy to take these shots but it is very rewarding when you get a good one.


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## Wideopen (Apr 13, 2012)

These pictures are very inspirational. What do most of you recommend as a good macro starter lens?


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## Marsu42 (Apr 13, 2012)

Wideopen said:


> These pictures are very inspirational. What do most of you recommend as a good macro starter lens?



You should have written how much a "starter" price tag is to you - but as my first macro lens I got a used Canon 100mm non-L which sell cheap because there are so many floating around and many people seem to upgrade to the L or 70-200. IQ-wise it's almost like the newer L version, but that sells at almost 100% of the original price.


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## MazV-L (Apr 13, 2012)

Wideopen said:


> These pictures are very inspirational. What do most of you recommend as a good macro starter lens?


For my first (and only) macro lens, I went straight to the 100mm HIS 2.8L and have no regrets. It also doubles as a great portrait lens and the Hybrid Image Stabilisation comes in handy when for some reason you can't set up a tripod for the shot. 
You didn't state if you had an APS-C or Full-frame? I also prefer to use this lens on my APS-C body for macro because the subject is larger in the frame and Depth of Field slightly deeper.


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## zahora (Apr 17, 2012)

What do you think?
Canon 50D + Sigma 50mm 1.4


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## victorwol (May 15, 2012)

some of my water experiments....

Mr Teddy Bear 






http://500px.com/photo/3999337

Thumbs Up!






http://500px.com/photo/4136786

Three






milk?


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## victorwol (May 15, 2012)

neuroanatomist said:


> Very nice!
> 
> Here's mine:
> 
> ...



Cool!! A little universe.


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## chauncey (Jul 19, 2012)

Doing pretty good folks...allow me to add mine


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## rwmson (Jul 20, 2012)

Great composition there chauncey!


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