Totem Drop

Ok, this is a bit out of my normal fare. However, for the last couple of years I have been off and on working with a consumer level high speed video camera, the Casio EX-F1. It can take video up to 1200 fps and can also take full frame 6MP stills at up to 60fps, 0.5 seconds before the shutter is tripped and 0.5 seconds after the shutter is tripped. This way you always catch the action.

A few of months ago I ran across a video segment from the Discovery Channel show Time Warp. I am always interested in things to video at high speed and this show has been a great inspiration. The video segment was of water drops hitting a pool and at slow motion it is absolutely amazing. I have been trying to capture those water drops ever since. I have tried many set ups trying to use natural lighting rather than studio lighting. I thought the Casio would do the job for me but it has proven much harder than I thought. I am still trying to do this with natural light, but I have had to succumb to the studio to at least have some success.

I am not the first to make photos like this, but it is a first for me. I am still learning the ins and outs of this stuff, but I am very excited. Although this is water, and a natural subject, the lighting is studio. SO I thought Photo Art would be the best place to post this.

I used two strobes at reduced power output. red to the right side and blue bounced off a white background directly behind the drop. Shutter speed at 1/250 sec and aperture at f16, ISO 100 on a D2x using my 80-200mm zoom with a closeup +2 diopter filter lens.

On the day I made this photo, I must have exposed over 500 frames and only captured about 20 frames in focus with something interesting happening. I'll post more, but here is the first successful photo.

Your comments and critiques much appreciated.