Droplet needs

Do I need specialist equipment to take shots of a water droplet exploding from the surface of the water? Joseph Hall What you need most of all are patience, some space for a little studio, a way to

focus closely and a flashgun. There are a couple of other minor things that will be handy, but these are the basics. There are lots of great videos on how to do this on YouTube, so I’d suggest you take a look – but it is relatively easy to do without the specialist equipment I’ve seen being used. It’s best, though not essential, to be able to fire the flashgun off-camera so you can position it as close to the subject as possible.

To take my photo, I fixed a sealed freezer bag filled with water above a bowl, then put a pin in it so that it dripped steadily into a bowl that was full to the brim. I set the flashgun on 1/4 power, then manually focused very carefully with a 100mm macro on the point the droplet was hitting the water’s surface. With the camera on its fastest sync speed, I then tried to time firing the shutter with the dripping of the water into the bowl.

My approach used the absolute basics. You can get dedicated drip kits, but I always think it’s worth experimenting with the simplest approach before buying specialist equipment. The other essential piece of equipment I forgot at the start is a towel. You’ll definitely get a bit wet playing around with this!