Ch32 - drip drip drip...

DoctorIt

I got a new 580EX on friday and went to town. I do fluids research in my lab and I have a badass high speed camera for imaging flow instabilities. The classic "high speed" fluids image however, is the falling drop. A pioneer in this field was the famous Doc Edgerton (look him up if you're curious). So I've been trying to get results like this with my own equipment for a long time. The 580 finally let me do so. Yet another proof that glass and camera are secondary to perfect lighting.



I still can't believe I captured the beautiful crown, fingers, and even a few ejected satellite drops! This is fast stuff people! Over 100 frames and this was the only good crown I got. I really wanted to use the clone tool to fix a few of the smaller drops, it would look so clean, but even now, I love the results. But what do you think? Is it right for the challenge?

How bout some less fluid action, more red:

spockling

For what my opinion is worth....the first one doesn't have enough red, the second one needs to be closer, so could you get closer and down more at the height of the "splash" and try to get it splashing up? Like the Bud commercials. Perhaps some back lighting that would show through the droplets? Just my $0.02:D

DoctorIt

spockling wrote:

For what my opinion is worth....the first one doesn't have enough red, the second one needs to be closer, so could you get closer and down more at the height of the "splash" and try to get it splashing up? Like the Bud commercials. Perhaps some back lighting that would show through the droplets? Just my $0.02:D

Those are all easy to do...



...If you send over a proper macro lens! Say, that Canon MPE-65mm??? (there are small droplets)

Man, that hurts, I'm presenting science meets art, and you want a Bud commercial?!

digital faerie

spockling wrote:

For what my opinion is worth....the first one doesn't have enough red, the second one needs to be closer, so could you get closer and down more at the height of the "splash" and try to get it splashing up? Like the Bud commercials. Perhaps some back lighting that would show through the droplets? Just my $0.02:D

I really like the idea of this shot, and will have to 2nd Spockling's opinion here. This has a lot of potential. isn't it so gratifying though to finally get that one shot out of what seems like a gazillion?

DoctorIt

digital faerie wrote:

I really like the idea of this shot, and will have to 2nd Spockling's opinion here. This has a lot of potential. isn't it so gratifying though to finally get that one shot out of what seems like a gazillion?

Gratifying yes.

so you agree with the more red, or less overhead perspective? More red is easy, but I have a compositional problem with the overhead persepective. I guess I'm not conveying the radial beauty of these patterns. How do I make people get less hung up on the splash? Shooting from the side gives you a totally different picture, one that I don't like. It's been done a million times and is too scientific - i've taken a score of these in the lab with the $35,000 camera and $$$ macro lens:

digital faerie

DoctorIt wrote:

Gratifying yes.

so you agree with the more red, or less overhead perspective? More red is easy, but I have a compositional problem with the overhead persepective. I guess I'm not conveying the radial beauty of these patterns. How do I make people get less hung up on the splash? Shooting from the side gives you a totally different picture, one that I don't like. It's been done a million times and is too scientific - i've taken a score of these in the lab with the $35,000 camera and $$$ macro lens:

I sent you a pm but here's another thought. Is it possible to add light from the side of the container? It looks like you've got a clear container. I wonder how the light would refract in the liquid....since you're using milk it may just diffuse but I'm wondering how to light the ripples, as you so eloquently put it "the radial beauty"

spockling

DoctorIt wrote:

Gratifying yes.

so you agree with the more red, or less overhead perspective? More red is easy, but I have a compositional problem with the overhead persepective. I guess I'm not conveying the radial beauty of these patterns. How do I make people get less hung up on the splash? Shooting from the side gives you a totally different picture, one that I don't like. It's been done a million times and is too scientific - i've taken a score of these in the lab with the $35,000 camera and $$$ macro lens:

How about......having the "fluid" drop onto a piece of glass and have the camera under that? Get the picture from underneath. Justa thought......

DoctorIt

digital faerie wrote:

I sent you a pm but here's another thought. Is it possible to add light from the side of the container? It looks like you've got a clear container. I wonder how the light would refract in the liquid....since you're using milk it may just diffuse but I'm wondering how to light the ripples, as you so eloquently put it "the radial beauty"

so actually, my setup was:

regular old white plate.
thin layer of milk
drops of cranberry juice from an eye dropper (handheld)
on-camera 580EX, angled down 7 degrees
28-135mm lens, at full extension (this presents the problem... and why the lower portion of the frame is darker)
Tripod (of course) mounted, so camera is about 16" away from plate at about a 45 degree angle downward.

So, a shorter lens would be good. Maybe I'll give it a go with my 50mm.

DoctorIt

spockling wrote:

How about......having the "fluid" drop onto a piece of glass and have the camera under that? Get the picture from underneath. Justa thought......

Funny you should suggest that, DigFaerie just suggested the same thing.

So here's the response I gave her:

Underneath is an interesting idea, but tough for a couple reasons.

1. I'd need a clear surface to shoot through. Unfortunately, clear surfaces are highly reflective, so my flash will make some ugly flare.

2. the drops and ripples look better with a non-transparent fluid. Hence the reason I used milk at home. In the lab, we only use clear fluids and they get very contrasty and shadowy since the light goes through so easily.

A challenge for sure. I'm going to try my setup here in the lab with some other light sources that I have at my disposal. At home, all I had was the flash.

And here's where you need to understand the fluid dynamics - there is no way to do this without flash. You have to fire a flash to freeze the action, otherwise it'll be a mess of motion blur.

You're thinking high shutter speed... well, that would work, if you could supply enough ambient lighting to work at 1/4000th of a second or so. That's a LOT of light! I actually believe the flash fires at less than 1/4000th, close to 1/6000th. I know this because the high speed video camera I work with runs anywhere from 1000 to 90,000 frames per second!!! to get good freezing action in each frame, I have to run over 4000 fps, usually 8000 fps.

Thanks all, keep 'em coming. I have some good ideas for improvement already. First and foremost being a macro lens and another 580EX

digital faerie

DoctorIt wrote:

Funny you should suggest that, DigFaerie just suggested the same thing.

So here's the response I gave her:

Underneath is an interesting idea, but tough for a couple reasons.

1. I'd need a clear surface to shoot through. Unfortunately, clear surfaces are highly reflective, so my flash will make some ugly flare.

2. the drops and ripples look better with a non-transparent fluid. Hence the reason I used milk at home. In the lab, we only use clear fluids and they get very contrasty and shadowy since the light goes through so easily.

A challenge for sure. I'm going to try my setup here in the lab with some other light sources that I have at my disposal. At home, all I had was the flash.

And here's where you need to understand the fluid dynamics - there is no way to do this without flash. You have to fire a flash to freeze the action, otherwise it'll be a mess of motion blur.

You're thinking high shutter speed... well, that would work, if you could supply enough ambient lighting to work at 1/4000th of a second or so. That's a LOT of light! I actually believe the flash fires at less than 1/4000th, close to 1/6000th. I know this because the high speed video camera I work with runs anywhere from 1000 to 90,000 frames per second!!! to get good freezing action in each frame, I have to run over 4000 fps, usually 8000 fps.

Thanks all, keep 'em coming. I have some good ideas for improvement already. First and foremost being a macro lens and another 580EX

don't forget winning the lottery

Angelo

interesting thread of sugestions... will look forward to your next post but for what it's worth I like #1.

Andy

how about trying from underneath, but with the flash level or slightly above where the drop is, and off to the side. a snoot would help here....

DoctorIt

andy wrote:

how about trying from underneath, but with the flash level or slightly above where the drop is, and off to the side. a snoot would help here....

are you calling me names???

No really, I've heard the term, but I don't know what a snoot is

Angelo

Look at your own Avatar... it's where your finger is!

DoctorIt wrote:

are you calling me names???

No really, I've heard the term, but I don't know what a snoot is

snapapple

DoctorIt wrote:

I got a new 580EX on friday and went to town. I do fluids research in my lab and I have a badass high speed camera for imaging flow instabilities. The classic "high speed" fluids image however, is the falling drop. A pioneer in this field was the famous Doc Edgerton (look him up if you're curious). So I've been trying to get results like this with my own equipment for a long time. The 580 finally let me do so. Yet another proof that glass and camera are secondary to perfect lighting.



I still can't believe I captured the beautiful crown, fingers, and even a few ejected satellite drops! This is fast stuff people! Over 100 frames and this was the only good crown I got. I really wanted to use the clone tool to fix a few of the smaller drops, it would look so clean, but even now, I love the results. But what do you think? Is it right for the challenge?

Eric,
For what it's worth, I really love the crown effect in No. 1. I know drips are not easy to do, and I can really appreciate the effect here. But, for the challenge, it does not fit the predominant color theme. Darn! :cry
I'd say try to spread out the red -pink?- or leave it white.

I'm looking forward to your new ideas.