Want Perfect Water Drop Photos? Check Out the DIY dropController
Martyn Currey's six-valve controller makes it easy to capture water droplet splash photos.
If you’re into photography, then you’ve probably seen some photos of perfect droplets splashing majestically into glasses of water. They look even more stunning with paint or food coloring added. But good luck snapping a photo like that without some special equipment — your timing and reflexes aren’t that good. To capture water drop pictures, you need to control the timing of your flash and shutter very precisely. Fortunately, most decent DSLR cameras have a connection for an external shutter trigger and you just need to take advantage of it. The DIY dropController device can help you do exactly that.
The dropController was developed by maker and photography enthusiast Martyn Currey. As you can see from the sample photos, the dropController makes it easy to capture a photo at the precise moment that a water drop splashes. You can control the exact timing to capture different moments of the splash to get the photo you want. If you aren’t interested in water drop photography, the dropController can be used for all kinds of other shots — essentially anything that can be triggered by the solenoid outputs. You can set up the device for specific shots using either an Android app or a program written for Windows.
If you want your own dropController, you can either build your own or purchase it (either as a kit or assembled device). If you want to create your own, you’ll need a development board like an Arduino Nano. An HC-06 Bluetooth module is required for the app connection. It can be built on a breadboard, a perfboard, or the custom PCB. There are provisions for up to six solenoid valves, which release the water droplets. There are also connections for your camera’s shutter trigger and up to three external flash triggers. The app lets you control the size of the drop, the delay for timing purposes, and the technique used to open and close the solenoid in order to achieve the perfect droplet. The dropController website contains guides on how to configure a rig to actually utilize the device and capture great photos.