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Pleasure Pier
2011-11-04 This is the Santa Monica Pier, which I've photographed many a time before. I felt like going down to the ocean to get a shot after it rained. Little did I know it would still be raining... You can't tell in this 9 second exposure, but believe me, I was getting wet. I kept the camera reasonably dry with a combination of a bandana, a tissue and hovering over the lens. Even so, most of my shots had drops in them, but this one came out almost totally clean. I also really like how the colors turned out. Read more about the shot, including what it looked like SOOC - Photo Setup Blog Post Have a great weekend! [last year] culinary experiment...
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![<span id="date">__01/07/11__</span> <span id="title">Dome Drop</span>
<em>Water Drops, Day 1</em>
I've been itching to photograph some water drops since I took a short hands-on lighting class months ago at the <a href="http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/">Aquarium of the Pacific</a> on <a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Animals/Aquarium-of-the-Pacific">Photographer's Night</a> with <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/pva1964/">Paul Van Allen</a>. His setup was so simple, I don't know why it's taken me this long to do it.
I would have included a setup photo but I want to play around more - this was just my first attempt. I took dozens of photos, as you might imagine, but this was the most interesting to me because of it's unique shape and nice symmetry. I cranked the noise reduction to give it a nice smooth look.
Read my <a href="http://blog.jawsnap.net/2011/02/water-droplet-photography-lessons-learned/">blog post on water droplet photography</a>!
By the way, don't forget to check out my <a href="http://blog.jawsnap.net/2011/01/8-crazy-days-in-hawaii/">8 Crazy Days in Hawaii</a> post!
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#759801589_qLn2u">[last year]</a> <em>I did go back, and I got <a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year3/11272102_ACXDJ#1016227748_Jx9PW">this</a>...</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Utility/Patterns/i-RwSQfrv/2/ef95d5c3/Ti/2011-01-07%20Dome%20Drop-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/09/11__</span> <span id="title">Sphere</span>
<em>Water Drops, Day 2</em>
My second attempt at water droplet photography. Today I used off-camera flash and a bigger bowl than <a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year3/11272102_ACXDJ#1150062728_VAfLo">Friday's photo</a>. Embarassingly, I had my off-camera flash set up on Friday but I forgot to turn it on. I was so focused on the timing of the drops that I didn't notice the only light was coming from on-camera.
I added quite a bit of contrast for definition and noise reduction for smoothing. I would have done a setup photo but it's a little late, sorry! I'll do one eventually.
I'm still a bit in shock about yesterday's attack. I learned that in addition to the man who was 2 years ahead of me in my high school, Giffords herself attended, and the deceased includes a member of my parents church. Tragedies like this affect so many people.
Read my <a href="http://blog.jawsnap.net/2011/02/water-droplet-photography-lessons-learned/">blog post on water droplet photography</a>!
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#761209124_uyWRg">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Utility/Patterns/i-TbxLv2z/2/c33e29aa/Ti/2011-01-09%20Sphere-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/14/11__</span> <span id="title">Sunset Splash</span>
<em>Water Drops, Day 3</em>
Day 3 of water droplet photography, featuring a 'splash crown' - I'm not sure if that's a real term or not. Today I played with colored backgrounds and taking the photo at the same level as the water. I'm compiling everything I'm learning into a blog post, but I do have a <a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Utility/Setups/8246339_SpVpq#1157079109_RNKa5">setup photo</a> for you today. I still have a few more things to try before I'm ready to share all my secrets.
I really liked this shot because of the nice high 'crown' and the pleasing arrangement of the mini-drops flying off. Out of hundreds of photos, I got about 20 shots of this phenomenon. There are some extra colors (pink, green) because of the other backgrounds I was using. I wish the focus was on the front waves instead of the back, but oh well. Next time.
Read my <a href="http://blog.jawsnap.net/2011/02/water-droplet-photography-lessons-learned/">blog post on water droplet photography</a>!
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#764977298_LQ5Ez">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Utility/Patterns/i-wVT2Wpd/2/e64fe604/Ti/2011-01-14%20Sunset%20Splash-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/17/11__</span> <span id="title">Aqua Splash</span>
<em>Water Drops, Day 4</em>
My fourth water droplet photograph! The splash formation is similar to my <a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year3/11272102_ACXDJ#1157053533_4A7Uw">1/14/11 photo</a>, but today I changed up the lighting and used colored milk instead of water. I wish I could say that this photo is unaltered but even with tons of food coloring, the SOOC photo was a bit dull. The photo has been cropped a bit, and the white balance changed to give more a blue/aqua color.
Oh yeah, of course I have a <a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Utility/Setups/8246339_SpVpq#1160338498_xyNkD">setup photo</a>. I think I'll probably do one more photo with some more experimentation, and then I'll compile all my hard-learned lessons into a blog post.
Read my <a href="http://blog.jawsnap.net/2011/02/water-droplet-photography-lessons-learned/">blog post on water droplet photography</a>!
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#767045531_FasRo">[last year]</a>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Utility/Patterns/i-Mkg8Q9Q/2/6f077090/Ti/2011-01-17%20Blue%20Splash-Ti.jpg)
![<span id="date">__01/26/11__</span> <span id="title">Bottle Drop</span>
<em>Water Drops, Day 5</em>
Well this is it, my fifth and final water drop photo. For now, anyways.
Over the past 3 weeks I've posted 4 other water drop photos and I pushed myself to keep experimenting with each subsequent photo. Today's photo doesn't represent any great leaps in technique - it's mostly that I used a water bottle instead of a much wider container. I also played with half-and-half as a liquid, but I ran into some limitations - read my upcoming blog post to see what I mean.
That's right, I'm sharing all of my hard-earned secrets with you! Eventually... I have to write them down first. Stay tuned.
Read my <a href="http://blog.jawsnap.net/2011/02/water-droplet-photography-lessons-learned/">blog post on water droplet photography</a>!
<a href="http://www.jawsnap.net/Daily/year2/7157835_BfJPF#774423305_2D3pf">[last year]</a> <em>firey...</em>](https://photos.smugmug.com/Utility/Patterns/i-v8PgMXn/2/b6a5b4d9/Ti/2011-01-26%20Bottle%20Drop-Ti.jpg)
fotoeffects
on November 6, 2011Fantastic; hard to believe it was raining!
barbarasan
on November 6, 2011Beautiful. The rain gives a nice saturation of colors.
Vandana Raman
on November 5, 2011wonderful night shot
Scianghetti
on November 5, 2011very cool night shot - love the tones!