Due to the heatwave and life getting in the way I haven't had chance to shoot as much as I would like recently. So this weekend, undeterred, I decided to see if my new pixapro lights made droplet photography with the Pluto pump any easier.

In short they did massively improve my hit rate with consistent light output and proper modifiers took lighting out of the equation as a problem. Next time I will try to do more with the gels, I have a purple on the right and an orange on the left here with a blue or white gridded light from above. The orange isn't really coming through so will go with a different colour next time.

The main issue I was having was settings on the pump. It took me about two hours to get anywhere until I watched this video. This video unlocked the whole thing, basically me telling you my settings won't really help you, follow the method in this video. I also had to change my settings when the pump ran low, when I put ink in and if I moved the pump.

Another thing to be aware of is getting the correct focus. Im not far off here in my opinion, I'm using a macro lens so my depth of field was very fine. I got there basically by putting a drop into the bowl, then sticking a tube of toothpaste in the bowl so the writing on the back was visible, then I focused my camera on the writing. This is the best method Ive found so far.

All settings are roughly the same on each shot:

90mm, f8, 1/125 secs, iso100 all with the Sony 90mm f2.8 macro