Orange Juice Help

thegreenegg

I would like some help on taking pictures in fast shutter speeds. I was hoping I could get some advice that did not include different lens because right now I do not have the money. This is one of the shots I took of orange juice outside on my patio. What do you think? Thanks for any comments.
Ashley

TristanP

It's pretty good. The rim of the glass is a little distracting. How are you lighting it and what lens are you using?

Lucky Hack

thegreenegg wrote:

I would like some help on taking pictures in fast shutter speeds. I was hoping I could get some advice that did not include different lens because right now I do not have the money. This is one of the shots I took of orange juice outside on my patio. What do you think? Thanks for any comments.
Ashley

Hey Ashley, cool shot, it looks like you're doing just fine already, but here goes. From my limited experience, without buying a 2.8 ultrasonic super-cala-fraga-listico-magica-distag-alator lens that compensates for the earths rotation and those pesky gamma particles, the only way to get good photos at high shutterspeeds is to make sure there's enough light, whether that means a flash or bright sunlight is up to you. Also each camera is different and I would set up a dripping faucet and take a bunch of pictures so you figure out exactly when to press the shutter button. I'm sure other's will post tidbits that'll help, but that's about all I know... hope this helps.

hoping this message finds you well -Ian

thegreenegg

I was walking one day in my backyard and realized that it was bright enough in the sun to take shots...below. I used 4000 shutter speed and the lens that came with my camera EFS 18-55mm. My brother helped me by splashing the orange juice so I could focus better on the orange juice. This is the one in the water behind my house.
Thanks for the comments,
Ashley

DoctorIt

So you're off to a good start.

As a fluid mechanician and geek photographer, I really must pass on this link to you:

http://www.eyestorm.com/artist/Doc_Edgerton_all.aspx

Doc Edgerton is famous among geeks for his droplet captures. He is the pioneer of scientific high speed / stop action photography.

This doesn't help you with your shots, does it? Hack is right though. You really don't need fancy glass for this, although something that has some macro ability is a big key. As a matter of fact, you don't want fast glass because you really want to be working with some DOF field anyway, to capture the whole action (I usually use something around f/10). But the key indeed is light. Flash is pretty much essential. The good news, is that you don't need a fancy one. Most all flashes have a true exposure time that rivals the fastest shutterspeed on even the best dslrs. So the best situation is actually a darker studio, the flash doing all the freezing and exposure. Reflectors work well also - I'm talking tin foil here. I got my best results using a tin foil "dome" around a saucer and the flash mounted on my camera. It was this one that I've posted before:

[url="javascript:window.open('http://DoctorIt.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=15766383','exif15766383','toolbar=no,scrollbars=no,resizable=yes,width=300,height=500'); void('');"][/url]

but this is the important part, settings. Click the photo for the exif and you'll be shocked when you see the shutterspeed was only 1/15 second!!! So from the fluid mechanics side, i can tell you that there is no way you can freeze a water droplet on that time scale. You need somewhere between 1/4000 to 1/10,000 and up to 1/50,000 for the smaller satellite droplets that get ejected from the rim of the crown.

So there you have it. I'm glad someone gave me the chance to post all this in one place

digital faerie

my best advice was to ask Doc, so since he's already posted, there ya have it, .

cool shots!