Liquid

Today I saw some nice water sculptures on the internet, and I though it would be nice to experiment with photographing water (or liquids). As a complete beginner in this area I thought that the easiest way to get some decent shots is not to make it too complex. For this kind of work I figured that I would need a macro-lens, which I don't have. I tried to make some shots with my Canon 450D with my 85mm F/1.8 with a flash attached (Canon 430EXII), handheld, while the water was running slowly (can I say that this way in English?). I took some shots and the results where quite good, althoug not pin sharp. Well, I mean that only the water droplets are not pin sharp, the rest is of the photo is.

I looked back on the internet how to get those crispy sharp shots, and this is it: The flash duration must be extremely short, and  if you know your flash (speedlite) you know that the lower the power, the shorter the flash. So... reduced the power to the minimum of my two Metz 58's (1/256th), made my flashes remotely controlled.

Also I found my 50mm F/1.8 with my 250D closeup filter. I used this combination on my 5Dmk2 for even higher quality. Mounted everyting on a tripod, placed it in the bathroom sink, and from there it was easy. Focus carefully (manual), ISO100, 1/250s, F/8, 2x Metz 58 on 1/256s, 2x Yongnuo CRT301 remote triggers. Make sure the light in the bathroom is off, to be able to freeze all the action with the flash light.
A carefull reader would see that I use 1/250s with flash. This results in a black bar on the left of the mages. This is all cropped out in post.

Here the final result.