Due to work and life, I'm not on dpc as much as I'd like to be. However, when I did (eventually) notice the "Water Drop" challenge, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.
A WATER DROP challenge.... Huh?...
A chance to use my beloved D50 again. Did some of my best work with that camera but haven't used it much since getting the D700 (talk about luxury problems ;-)
Anyway, got started as soon as I got home that day. That was the Wednesday. Whole evening, no luck! Took a DAY off work next day to experiment all day. No luck.
I was getting worried because I wasn't getting what I wanted even though I've done thousands and thousands of these type of image. The only consistent thing about getting good water drop shots is the inconsistency of the whole thing.
I use two flashes, hold up the pipette or the plastic part of a syringe (using tap water only) in my right hand, my left hand on the shutter. The good thing about the D50 is that the delete button is also on the right hand side of the camera.
That means: drip, drip - press shutter - glance down to quick-check image - delete; drip, drip - press shutter - glance down to quick-check image - delete;. drip, drip - press shutter - glance down to quick-check image - delete. For hours on end. No wonder my feet are getting flatter ;-))
After I got in from work on the Friday evening I set everything up again (had to take it down every night to be able to use the kitchen as a kitchen ;-) Knew if I didn't get anything really good this time I'd have to give up. I SO wanted to enter this challenge.....
Suddenly, for some reason, I was getting some great stuff this time.... THEN I noticed that one of my flashes had packed in and that was the reason.... To be on the safe side, I did about another 200 shots using only the one flash (and now wonder if I've been doing things wrong for the last 8 years ;-)
In order to let my eyes cool down I waited till the Saturday before checking my shots and fell in love with this one immediately. I love the "thick" water ridges at the top left and the flow of the water on the lower ridges. When you consider that the collision of two tiny drops happen in a millisecond and is not visible to the human eye, the detail of the splashes is astounding. As you can see, I'm utterly fascinated by this type of photography ;-)
Thanks so much for the comments and score. Been a great week... ;-)
Here’s an outtake:
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The moment I saw in my inbox the name of the contest as Water Drop I was almost sure you wd be winning it. You have so much monopolized anything to do with water drop photography!
To make for a level playing field, the DPC admins shd make you 'ineligible' for any contest involving water drops! :)))
Before I joined DPC I came across your amazing photography. The only DPCer I knew about before I knew about DPC. I always thought it involves magic! ;) I still do! Congrats on the well deserved win!
The thing I love about you Irene is that you take no prisoners! There could only be one winner. You pretend it's hard work but you love it. Always an inspiration. Warm congrats on the win!
Well it IS hard work, but you're right, I love it... Thanks for the comment, David. It's one of the best I've had.
The thing I love about you Irene is that you take no prisoners! There could only be one winner. You pretend it's hard work but you love it. Always an inspiration. Warm congrats on the win!
Good for you Irene!!! I was really hoping to see one of your shots in this challenge...no one does them better. AND I love that you explain what you've done to achieve this. I still haven't done one of these (no flash equipment) but you inspire me to try...someday...lol Congratulation on your beautiful image...miss you not being around as much but love the impact you have with your photo's.
I was so hoping this would coax you out of the woodwork :-) You are the undisputed master of this type of photograph. Congrats on the well-deserved ribbon.
Slip sliding away...
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