objective: Students will use a fast shutter speed to photograph a drop of falling water.

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Shooting Instructions:

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  • Tv Mode
  • FLASH ON
  • Shutter Speed 1/200
  • ISO 1600
  • Drive Mode: Continuous Shooting
  • Focal Length: 55 mm
  • Manual Focus (Pre-focus your shot on the head of the faucet)
We will be shooting water drops falling from a faucet into a glass container of water.  We will use a fast shutter speed to freeze the motion and achieve a clear shot.  Because our shutter speed is fast, we will need a higher ISO and our flash to make sure our images aren't underexposed.

Zoom in as you shoot and CROP IN CLOSE.  Try to eliminate any distracting elements in the background by using simplicity in your composition.

Get as many good shots as you can, and then we will edit and upload our best ones!

Editing in photoshop:

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  • Crop to improve your composition.
  • If you have anything distracting in your photograph (like the sink in the background, or the glass container) crop those elements out.
  • Crop to 10x8, 300 resolution.
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  • Next, sharpen your image.
  • With the top layer selected, go to Filter > Sharpen >  Unsharp mask.
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  • Adjust the amount, radius and threshold until your image is sharpened to your liking.
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  • Be careful not to OVERSHARPEN!
  • If you notice lighter, glowing edges appearing around details in your photo (these are called halos) you have over sharpened.  
  • Decrease the sharpening until the halos go away.
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  • If you have any water spots in the background, remove them.
  • To do this, look to your layer panel, and click on your PHOTO LAYER.
  • Now pick up your SPOT HEALING BRUSH TOOL.
  • Make your brush size just big enough to completely cover the entire water spot.  Use your BRACKET KEYS on your keyboard to change the size.
  • Now just CLICK ONCE on each water spot to remove it. 
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  • Open your file in Photoshop.
  • Make a duplicate copy of your background layer by pressing Command J on your keyboard.
  • Make sure your top layer is selected (highlighted in blue)
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  • Next, increase the vividness and contrast.
  • To do this, you must have your original background layer and the duplicate copy on top.
  • Select the TOP layer.
  • Then look to the blend mode drop down box in the top left-hand corner of your layers panel.
  • Change it to "Soft Light"
  • If the effect is too intense, lower the opacity a bit until it is to you liking (located in the top right-hand corner of the layers panel)
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  • To increase the contrast in your photo, add a "curves adjustment" by click on the "Add Adjustment Layer" button at the bottom of your layers panel (looks like a black and white cookie) and selecting "Curves."
  • Click on the diagonal line somewhere towards the very top, then slightly drag upwards.  This will lighten the light areas of your photo.
  • Then click on the diagonal line somewhere towards the bottom, the slightly drag downwards.  This will darken the dark areas of your photo.
  • By doing this, you should have created a very subtle "S" shaped curve on the graph.  Whenever you have an S shape curve, you increase the contrast.
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  • Next, you may want to experiment with changing the colors a bit.
  • To do this, add a "color balance adjustment layer" by clicking on the "add adjustment layer button" (looks like a black and white cookie) and then selecting "color balance."
  • In the adjustment panel, move the 3 color sliders around to change the colors.
  • Notice at the top you can adjust the colors in shadow areas, mid-tone areas and highlight areas of your photograph.  Play around with all 3. 
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  • Remember to save your work twice!
  • Your file name should be "WaterDrop"
  • Your file should be saved to "Pictures" folder.
  • You should save one copy in Photoshop format (.PSD)
  • Save a second copy in JPEG format (.JPG)