# Dripping tap and fast shutter speed



## DwainDibley (Jul 26, 2007)

I've had a go at freezing the motion of water droplets out of a tap, as I love those kinds of shots! Used the camera on full manual, they are a bit dark but thought that added to the effect. Taken using my Canon EOS 300D and 50mm f1.8 lens.

Taken at a fairly fast shutter speed (1/640, ISO 100, f1.8), though not quite frozen the water!







Taken at a slightly faster shutter speed than the previous picture (1/800, ISO 100, f1.8) has very nearly frozen the water droplets!






Looking for more C&C on these, any comments on how I could improve!  Perhaps I could have increased the ISO to 200 or 400 to get a faster shutter speed to really freeze the droplets?


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## Digital Matt (Jul 26, 2007)

Use a flash to freeze the movement of the water.  You'll never achieve sharp results at f/1.8.  You need some depth of field to get all of the water in focus.  You'll also get a better exposure.  These are dull and underexposed.  Give yourself a plain background.  If you can, hang a sheet or towel behind to give some contrast.


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## DwainDibley (Jul 26, 2007)

Cheers for the feedback Matt!  I did try to compose the shot so that those two out of focus jugs kind of framed the shot, not sure if it worked though!

I didn't use the flash as I didn't think you could use the flash effectively at higher shutter speeds (except for effect),  I think the fastest shutter speed I can get with my 300D with the flash is something like 1/125.  I only currently have the small pop-up flash currently sadly!

Will have another go probably tomorrow using the flash and will try at f4 or somewhere thereabouts and see what I come up with, though I may have to increase the ISO to get the fast shutter speeds.  I'll see if I can drape something behind the shot too.


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## Vaporous (Jul 26, 2007)

I would set your shutter speed as high as the camera will allow and set your flash to rear curtain. I think thats pretty much what I did when I attemped water shots.


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## Digital Matt (Jul 26, 2007)

You don't need a fast shutter speed with a flash.  The flash duration is so short that it will freeze the action.


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## skieur (Jul 26, 2007)

I would use a flash too and as Matt said it freezes the action but I would also use velvet in the background since it does not reflect light.  I went to a materials store and picked up a good sized piece of black velvet to use as a background.

skieur


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## DSLR noob (Jul 26, 2007)

Yeah I found if I set my tabletop fan to the highest setting and used my XT's built-in flash, the blades would freeze with flash even at 1/15 (very slight ghosting) everything above 1/60 was tack sharp, and to get the same results without flash I turned on REALLY bright lights and got the shutter speed to 1/2000


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