Focus on a water drop

[SONYNUT]

I use a plastic bottle hanging from a c stand with a tiny valve to adjust the drops..

[seanhoxx]

I wonder, and just a guess here if you use soemthing other then water, say coffee, milk, tomato juice, etc. the liquid would be 'slightly' thicker and have more viscosity therefore it would maybe move 'slower' and hold the splash colum 'together' longer making a better or easier to get shot? This is just thinking out loud. ideas, comments?

[Peekayoh]

Yeah, well the dynamic viscosity of water, coffee and milk is not much different.
I think the Tomato juice is a "plastic fluid" so the dynamic viscosity changes with agitation so you may have difficulties with inconsistency.
You could try Olive Oil or cooking oil but the higher viscosity liquids require more energy to generate the same reaction, so you may end up with the drops actually moving faster.
???

[seanhoxx]

Hmmnn, ok who has a degree in math or physics here? come on step up and give us some input LOL!

[SONYNUT]

Ideally you want to drop a heavy mass into the water for a higher/ bigger splash..ball bearings/marbles work well

[SONYNUT]

I wonder, and just a guess here if you use soemthing other then water, say coffee, milk, tomato juice, etc. the liquid would be 'slightly' thicker and have more viscosity therefore it would maybe move 'slower' and hold the splash colum 'together' longer making a better or easier to get shot? This is just thinking out loud. ideas, comments?

what goes up must come down..with gravity being the same they will come back at the same speed..

i take my pics in the dark..i set up the shot,lighting ect..then then take a say, 5 second shot..during the shot i set of a flash...it may take some time but eventually you will get your shot..

for popping balloons ect i have a sound activated relay with a time delay to set off the flash

[S3000]

Another country represented by a Sony user! Welkom hans, where in the Netherlands, my brothers wife is from Holland. Ok way off topic, but whats your favorite local bier?

I am from the south west. Zeeland. Its close to the Belgium border and 5 minutes walking from the beach.
I drink heineken beer.

How many ball bearings do I have to drop in the water before I get a shot with the right timing? I only got 2 ball bearings. Lol !!

Not a bad idea but I think liquid will work better. I will try my luck again tonight. The bottle is also a good idea to try.

[SONYNUT]

oh you are down there..then the drops fall up, right?

[Peekayoh]

what goes up must come down..with gravity being the same they will come back at the same speed..

But only if the splash achieves the same height. I'm simply guessing that the additional energy needed to overcome surface tension in the higher viscosity liquid will result in a higher splash.

The formula for tracking velocity against distance is v=√(2gx) where v=velocity, g=gravitational constant and x=distance travelled.

Anyway applied to a water droplet it simply means that if the (rise and fall) of the drop is
2" the exit and re-entry speed is 8 inches per sec. and for
3" the exit and re-entry speed is 11.3 inches per sec.

This has a significant blurring effect at a shutter speed of 1/320 where the droplet may have moved up to 0.035 of an inch unless you catch it at the top and stationary.

That's why it's best to shoot in darkness using a flash. The flash duration can then be thought of as the shutter speed and can be as short as 1/30,000sec. I'm sure each flash unit is slightly different but, as a rule of thumb, you can take full power use as 1/1,000th sec falling to 1/20,000th at 1/32nd power (this doesn't apply to studio flash where flash duration is much longer).

The motor drive won't help either; the action is all over in 1/2sec and anyway, you don't want the vibration. In Manual Mode, prefocus, lock the shutter open and trigger the flash when you hear the droplet hit the water; you'll need patience and persistence to get it right. A chair and a glass of your favourite tipple will help.

[S3000]

Haha. No, they do fall down. From January to December. We only got one season here.