Some milk drops.







I really wanted to get the white background working, but it is difficult getting strong enough colors. I need to dye the milk in the dropper as well as the target milk drop.

Here are a few of my older shots, nearly all on black:

Wow, interesting shots.

Kenny

Very nice!!

wow, I like those

Yeah, the black contrasts well compared to the white, as do the reflections. Pretty nice shots. Most of the drop shots I've seen use a deeper 'pool' of liquid, interesting to see the effects when hitting plastic...

I see that you use something from HiViz, for the trigger I asssume. Which kit, the photogate? I'm considering getting it but not sure if my assembly skills are adequate. If you are using the photogate, how far apart can the emitter and detector work?

Very cool! They look like molded plastic.

Thank you everyone. I appreciate your comments. They do look a bit like plastic, don't they? I try to add a little texture (the paint speckles) to improve this, but there is no real avoiding it.

rxoyhyyynywx, let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to help. The Hiviz kit definitely works, and that is what I used for all the smaller shots above. (I used the photogate kit with a one-piece photogate. This has the emitter and detector fixed with about a 1cm gap.) However, things kept going wrong with the Hiviz kit, and I really did not enjoy debugging it. (To be fair, I think some of the problems arose because I was and am using an old Vivitar 283, with electronics-killing high voltage across the terminals.)

I am now using an Arduino, and I greatly prefer it to the Hiviz kit. The Arduino is so flexible. It is easy to set the delay to exactly, say, 312.4 ms. With the Hiviz kit, you can only twist a variable resistor, so you don't know what the delay really is, you can't precisely change it by, say, 1 ms, and if you do change it there is no way of getting back to where you were. The Arduino is also easy to understand and troubleshoot, since all the components are separated, instead of being combined in one big, inscrutable circuit. I also added an infrared LED to trigger my camera and now have 1/10 sec shutter sync; this keeps noise down versus a long exposure. (The splashes are frozen entirely by the flash or flashes.) You should be able to source a full Arduino kit for less than $50, and if you are interested I can give you a list of components.

All the shapes above are pretty easy to reproduce. For example, most of the ones in the second row were made by blowing a small bubble in the target drop in the right spot.

wow.. I have a slightly modified Hiviz kit, and have had some really good results with it (http://www.pbase.com/rew9/splashes). I've never heard of Arduino before, but after a quick google search, I want in!!!! Any info you could share please, pm, or email. I'm really interested.

These are some of the best milk drops I've seen, well done. I especially like them against the black, definitely brings out their color and is easier on the eye IMO. Cheers.

Wonderful series- interesting shapes !
Brian v.

like the contrast. nice idea.

Very impressive series greeneggs!

The splash is very sharp

Great shots!

Am I the only one still eyeballing my drop shots?!

Please provide details regarding the following...

You should be able to source a full Arduino kit for less than $50, and if you are interested I can give you a list of components.

...I am using a 7d with 2 Vivitar 285s triggered via radio controller and my computer is a Mac (if that makes any difference).

Any info on other systems, also appreciated. Thanks.

Thank you very much, Rob, Tortie, Lord V, holgerc, rocco61 and 2urn.

Tortie, I agree that the black looks better now, but I still see it as a challenge to get the white background working. It is harder to light the white. I have an image in my eye of what it should look like on white, but haven't gotten there yet.

rocco61, the splash is mostly sharp (although the focus isn't quite there on #2). The limitation is that the Nikon SB-800 flash only goes down to 1/128th power. This is a slightly longer flash duration than I would like. The Vivitar 283 can drop down lower.

2urn, here is a shopping list, working out to $46 + shipping for the main components. I have linked to Sparkfun in almost all cases, to save on shipping. It might be possible to get better prices elsewhere, and lots of these components are probably available locally for comparable prices.

I can also post any information you might need on plugging these components together, and source code for the Arduino.

Arduino:
- Arduino USB board: $30
- USB cable A to B, 6': $4 (You might already own this cable. It is for connecting the Arduino to your computer and powering it; if you don't have a laptop you might want a dedicated Arduino power supply)

Misc. electronics:
- Breadboard: $6
- Hook-up wire: $2.50 (You can cut and strip the wire with scissors or a wire cutter. Two or three colors is useful.)

The drop detector:
- Photo interrupter: $2
- 330 ohm resistor: $0.25 (This resistance value is good for LEDs.)
- If you buy your photo interrupter elsewhere, you might also need a 10K resistor. The photo interrupter linked to above has one built in, but the photo interrupter in the Hiviz kit does not.

Per flash you want to trigger:
- 10K ohm resistor: $0.25
- Sensitive gate SCR (400V or higher, e.g., EC103D-ND): $0.77 at Digikey. I have linked to Digikey for the SCRs because Sparkfun doesn't carry them. Sparkfun sells an optoisolator for $1.25 which will work to trigger any newer flash, but it can only stand 200V. (I ordered one anyway, but it broke when I plugged it into my ~300V Vivitar 283 flash.)
- Some way of getting wire to each of the two flash terminals. This depends on your flash. I have a Nikon SB-800 with a PC port into which I have simply taped two wires. I also have a Vivitar 283 with a Vivitar PC port, for which I have taped wires to the end of the cord. The Hiviz website has details on different options. PC port to audio jack cords are sold by AlienBees and FlashZebra, but they end up being pricey after shipping. I imagine you should be able to trigger your flashes from the camera wirelesly, but I can't vouch for this myself.
- You also need to be able to control the flash power. I can set my SB-800 to 1/128th power and actually I would prefer if it allowed setting it to 1/256th power. For my Vivitar 283 I have stuck a 10K linear variable resistor into the front plugs, as described here.

The following components are optional. You can trigger the camera by hand with, say, a 2 sec shutter speed. Triggering it remotely will allow a shorter shutter speed, reducing noise.

To trigger the camera (optional):
- Infrared LED: $2
- 330 ohm resistor: $0.25
- Mini-breadboard: $4 (It is convenient to have a separate breadboard to place the infrared LED immediately in front of the camera.)

To set the delay in hardware (optional):
- Linear trim pot (variable resistor): $1 (You can easily set the delay in software, with a decent interface even. But it is fun to have a dial to turn. Other interface improvements might include adding buttons and maybe a serial-enabled LED display.)

Wooooosh (the sound of most of that going over my head).... But thank you!!! Perhaps you could post a picture of your gadget. I may have to hire you to put all that together for me afterward, .

Best,
Dimitry

Tag

I want to get back to this when I have time.

Thanks for the info.

Bill

I really like your shots on black. Very cool!

Eli

greeneggs wrote:
The limitation is that the Nikon SB-800 flash only goes down to 1/128th power. This is a slightly longer flash duration than I would like. The Vivitar 283 can drop down lower.

If you drive the flash into TTL mode and use the TTL connector on the side you can go as low as you will. Even 1/512 is possible. You need to set the timings at a high resolution. A small change into this short time range give immediate a lot more power. But increments of 1usec works. If you can use 100nsec increments into the lower power range, it's better. Mark also you flash if you have more than one and give them a number. Into the very low power range there is sometimes a to big difference between multiple flashes. But once you have them calibrated you may go very low. But ofcourse the acquire light is lower. I use them via an ATmega328p wireless controller and use there 1 usec increment steps (max 4 different flashes on one unit). Software need to work optimal into this fast appliocation (I use always assembler). On my CPLD module there I go into 100 nsec steps. CPLD hardware is a lot faster. Even 10 nsec steps are possible but overkilled for this.

Frans.

Thanks, Dpic. Frans, that is excellent advice. I appreciate it. I would certainly like to get a little more sharpness on these shots. I can either play with the TTL control, or I suppose buy a couple more Vivitar 283s.

Good day,
That's really excellent mate, love the colors..
I have always been interested in water/milk/liquid drop photography.. Now trying to get seriously into business with this kind of photos.. It seems like the best way is using high speed photography techniques. Would you be able to help me a little with assembling components together? Perhaps as 2urn suggested, a picture of the gadget put together? As I live in New Zealand I will try to see if I can source the components from here or I may need to order online and get them shipped..

Also can you advise on how you set up your lighting?

Many thanks