So, this is a story of marriage, one between photography and plain luck.
A photographer back in 2017 did a couple of water drop projects to capture milk dropping into a pool of milk. Closeups of a drop hitting the surface can reveal some interesting things not normally seen with the naked eye. The DIY, do-it-yourself, aspect was top priority and the image was just the outcome.
Bear with me on this. I like to give a little context.
At the time, the photographer was into and still likes to tinker with do-it-yourself electronic projects. For this project he decided to build his own remote trigger for a Nikon D7000. Yes you could buy one but he wanted something a little more sophisticated. The project would have him write his own code to trigger the camera once a beam of light was triggered. Sounds easy enough until one learns how a remote triggers a D7000. I know your eyes are rolling up, so we’ll move on.
Last week photographer’s neighborhood camera club(with 7 members attending a meeting a howling success) decided to photograph water was the theme this month. So this time he takes out his old trigger device and goes at it again. He notices that the water drops aren’t breaking the beam like opaque milk drops 4 years ago.
He needs to do something different. So fancy schmancy trigger remote this time, but some photography skills and a little luck. The technical skills had a D7000, which could have been any camera, prefocused on impact area. It was then only “f/8 and be there.” A single flash unit behind a stainless steel bowl, filled with water, was the only light source. The black/darkness comes from shadows to provide a background. The bowl set precariously above the sink with faucet dripping drops a slow steady pace. This time the shutter is tripped manually. Since the mirror wasn’t locked up as in previous setup he could see when drops landed below. That was the photography part. It was only needed to trip shutter at the right time. He decided the best time would be before or after one of those steady drops hit water below. Remembering an old saying “if you see it you missed it” he decided to trip shutter a moment before seeing a drop splash. When the “right moment” was needed luck stepped in.
So there you have it. This story ends with photography finding luck to produce a beautiful baby, the attached image. Babies are always beautiful to the parents.
