MJKZZ WDK User Manual
Contents
1. Collide From a Single Valve After getting a satisfactory Worthington jet the next step is to get two drops colliding in mid air However during this exercise the intention is to observe and grasp some of the key skills required for advanced collision capture including the effects of Flash Delay Delay 1 and Drop Size So it 1s recommended to do this exercise over and over again Prepare the Worthington jet with a drop count of 1 to a satisfactory height the skill learned from last exercise Turn on the camera and connect the camera release port to the WDK controller Connect flashgun s or triggers to the WDK controller Adjust the Flash Delay to capture the tallest Worthington jet E Start with some low value for the flash delay Rule of thumb put in 350 if the height from the tip of the nozzle to the surface of catching water is 0 5 m Ifyou are mathematically inclined the formula is sqrt H 4 9 where H is the height from the tip of the nozzle to the surface of the catching water measured in METERS Ifyou are mathematically inclined the formula is sqrt H 16 where H is the height from the tip of nozzle to the surface of the catching water measured in FEET If the water drop is in mid air in the captured image increase Flash Delay If the jet is NOT as tall as seen with the naked eye increase Flash Delay Repeat until the tallest jet is captured with the camera One trick here is to use the Incremental Execution feature2. of the WDK controller Start with Flash Delay at some reasonably low value Set Advance to 5 Start pressing Incremental Execution on the remote repeatedly until the tallest jet 1s captured Set Drop Count to 2 Set Drop Size to be the same as the first drop Set Delay 1 time delay between the first and second drops to a moderate value If you do not see a collision in the captured image BM Itis probably because the delay between drops is too long so decrease it Or Flash Delay is too short so increase it until at least the second drop can be seen in the captured image E Again Incremental Execution can be very helpful to capture the moment of collision correctly Illustration 9 Example of Using Incremental Execution Here is one example of Incremental Execution with Advance 5 As can be seen in the picture the second drop approaches the jet caused by first drop every 5 ticks Advance until it collides with the jet and forms a splash As time goes by the splash collapses as can be seen in the last picture Once the right Flash Delay and Delay 1 are found and the collision is captured by the camera here are some more exercises which are very important for future captures Increase or decrease Flash Delay and observe how it affects the shape of the collision The longer the Flash Delay the bigger the collision splash until the point where Flash Delay is too long and the shape actually collapses and disappears S
3. on the far right leg of tripod to counterbalance the weight of the whole setup If an alternative arrangement is used it will make life a lot easier if all the wires are kept together and short The controller should be mounted close to the valves to keep the valve wires short Keep the controller mounted on a uni directional base so that it can be viewed from different angles The tripod used to support the water drop system should be sturdy enough to hold everything together in a stable condition The use of a sandbag as a counterweight on the tripod is recommended because as the bottle is filled with liquid water the tripod may tilt Camera and Flash Setup Before setting up the camera and flashgun s to the WDK controller it is necessary to understand some basic high speed photography techniques To capture high speed events such as water drop collisions a high speed camera with a super fast shutter can be used to capture the exact moment of interest However to capture good frozen motion water drop collision requires a shutter speed much higher than 1 10 000 of a second Cameras with such a capability are very expensive and beyond the reach of many consumers High speed events can also be captured using fast flash Normally with this technique the camera s shutter is set to a very low speed or even kept open bulb mode for the duration of the capture The aperture is kept very small so that without flash the image ca
4. water drop photography so always obtain those with the highest output power possible and use them at their lowest power level which will produce the shortest flash and therefore freeze motion very well which increases the sharpness of the captured images Use of Wireless Flashgun Trigger There are two types of wireless flashgun trigger one uses light the other radio signals These remote triggers can make a setup less messy and allow more flexibility in positioning the flashguns Almost all modern IGBT based electronic flashguns have a built in light sensor and will fire when it sees a single flash often emitted by a so called master flash This type of setup has one potential problem there is some delay caused by the sensor circuitry If the master flash is part of the contributing light this delay latency will cause a double or even multiple exposures within one frame To solve the issue caused by light sensor latency a lower power flash can be used triggered by the WDK controller but it should not be used to contribute any or much less light to the capture The best way is to point it away from the scene Another type of wireless trigger is based on radio signals This type of trigger normally consists of two types of unit a transmitter and receiver One transmitter can drive multiple receivers These remote triggers work well if used correctly Just like the light sensor based trigger there is a certain amount of del
5. 2V DC 24VA which provides enough power to drive up to 3 valves and the controller If the WDK controller is used without any solenoid valves connected it can be powered by batteries that can supply 7 5V to 12V DC to make use of its delay capability for sound photography etc It has a detachable screw on type phoenix connector as shown in illustration 1 By default it has a 2 1mm power jack extension attached Output Ports There are three output ports for solenoid valves with a detachable screw on type phoenix connector they are marked as VR VG and VB as in illustration 1 Each solenoid valve output port can supply up to 800mA current and is thermally protected and limited at 1000mA when the current exceeds this amount the port is shutdown In most cases this is more than enough to drive commonly available solenoid valves The solenoid valve output port is also designed to drive the inductive load provided by the valve with a clamping diode to protect the circuit from back EMF Both the flash and camera ports are low current ports and can supply no more than 50mA The camera port is a black 3 5mm stereo phone jack and it is marked CAM The flash port is an orange 3 5mm stereo phone jack and it is marked FLASH as in illustration 1 Illustration 2 shows how the detachable phoenix connector works 4 ZYOAO OOD my _ pai gt ype Illustration 2 Phoenix Connector Input Port The only input por
6. If there is not enough light add more flashguns If it is not possible to add more flashguns increase the power output level but to no more than 1 32 for most flashguns on the market based on experience If a radio wireless flash trigger is used it will probably be necessary to have a device to allow multiple flashguns to be hooked up to ONE receiver If flashguns have to be triggered optically by one master flashgun put the master flashgun far away and pointing away from the subject so that it does not contribute any light to the exposure Please see illustration 8 Use of the same brand and model is recommended preferably from the same manufacturing batch for the optical slave flashguns so that they react to the trigger at the same time Illustration 8 Comparison of Flash Setups Illustration 8 shows the difference between two flash setups It compares two flash configurations The configuration on left uses two flashguns the first one is triggered by wireless radio and the other is triggered by the first one optically As can be seen it has significant double exposure On the other hand the configuration on the right uses three flashguns the first one is triggered by wireless radio and acts as optical master and the other two are triggered by the first one master optically However the optical master flashgun is placed far away so pointing away from the splash so that it does not contribute any exposure to the fin
7. One 1 Decrease Parameter Value by One 1 Increase Parameter Value by Ten 10 Decrease Parameter Value by Ten 10 Start Execution with Default Flash Delay Start Execution with Default Flash Delay Advance Set Default Flash Delay for All Channels Set Advance for All Channels Set Camera Shutter Lag Value for All Channels Set Number of Drops for the Selected Channel R G or B Set Synchronization Delay for the Selected Channel R G or B Set Drop Size for the Selected Channel R G or B Set First Drop Delay for the Selected Channel R G or B Set Second Drop Delay for the Selected Channel R G or B Set Third Drop Delay for the Selected Channel R G or B Set the Size of First Drop for the Selected Channel R G or B Set the Size of Second Drop for the Selected Channel R G or B Set the Size of Third Drop for the Selected Channel R G or B Save Current Parameters to Permanent Memory in Controller Typical Setup Water Drop System Setup Illustration 4 shows a typical setup for a complete single water drop system using the supplied equipment Illustration 4 Typical Setup A Water Bottle B Bottle Clamp C Solenoid Valve and Nozzle Subsystem D Right Angle Bracket E Anodized Aluminum Bar F WDK Controller G PT 04 Wireless Flash Trigger Optional H Camera Tripping Extension Cable In the illustration above a tripod is used to hold everything and there is a sandbag
8. Water Drop Kit User Manual Author Peter Lin Editor Hugh Letheren Version 01 3 12 2013 Introduction The Water Drop Kit is an innovative powerful easy to use high speed water liquid drop photography system It consists primarily of a control unit the controller with LCD display and IR remote plus water tank bottle s solenoid valve s and drop nozzle s subsystems It is innovative because of its IR remote feature which allows easy manipulation of parameters without making physical contact with the controller The IR remote control also allows quick access to parameter settings without the need to flip through a series of menus to find the parameter to be edited just the single push of a button on the remote control All parameter values can be digitally manipulated via up and down arrows on the remote just like changing the volume on a modern digital stereo system With a single push of a button on the IR remote control the whole water liquid drop process can be started once you have everything set up remotely This can make water liquid drop photography much easier and less stressful Without remote control wires will be all over the place increasing the risk of poor connections and possibly creating hazardous situations or even causing damage to equipment Because of this remote control feature the very few wires that are required can be grouped together at a central place away from expensive equipment It is powerful b
9. al scene The two flashguns which do contribute to the exposure are of the same brand and model As evidenced by the comparison the configuration on the right is much better Getting a Worthington Jet from a Single Valve The first exercise is to get a Worthington jet as high as possible It may be simple and easy to do but it is critical for any subsequent shoots This exercise can be done with the naked eye so there is no need to setup flashguns and camera Initially turn off the camera and flash trigger because it can be observed visually with the naked eye Fill the container bottle with water liquid until its level is in the middle of the bottle Set Drop Count press E on you remote to 1 Set First Drop Size press 8 to a moderate amount for example 40 Execute press to see how high the Worthington jet is If the jet is very low increase drop size and try again If a hollow sound can be heard or bubbles are forming on the catching surface the drop size is too big so decrease drop size Repeat until the height of the jet is satisfactory or the height is at peak when any attempt to increase it actually decreases it Ifthe height is still not satisfactory try adding some surface tension reduction agent into the catching water liquid Alternatively adjust the dropping height the height from the nozzle mouth to the catching surface Illustration 7 shows an example of this process 7 0 Illus
10. and the inlet of the nozzle outlet of valve This air gap can cause abnormal drops making it difficult for the drops to follow the same path Even after quite a few drops there may still be an air gap inside the nozzle It is very hard to get rid of this air gap without following the proper procedure as described here There are two ways to get rid of the air gap inside the nozzle Pre fill nozzle method BM Before screwing the nozzle onto the valve fill it with water liquid and block the opening of the nozzle so that liquid will not escape BM Screw the nozzle onto the valve but only screw it in a little bit enough to hold it onto the valve without falling E Put something at the opening of nozzle partially blocking it but leaving a tiny hole and start the dropping process Water liquid can escape from the tiny hole but not fully E Repeat the above process until there is enough water liquid inside the nozzle E Now screw the nozzle all the way in but still blocking the opening of the nozzle fully This action will cause the space inside the nozzle to shrink and the air inside can escape Running water liquid method E Screw the empty nozzle all the way into the valve s outlet Press FD on the IR remote Press R or G or B associated with the valve once and release Press R or G or B and hold until water liquid starts running out of the nozzle Now partially block the nozzle opening leaving a small hole to let water out a b
11. apture the collision E Once collisions can be obtained consistently vary the drop intervals D1 D2 or D3 m Adjust the distance between nozzle to catching water surface to observe the different effects It may be necessary to go back to a single drop again to find the correct drop size Surface Tension Reduction many beginners are quick to start capturing collisions but are then disappointed because it is very hard to produce a high enough jet to form a good collision with plain water Reducing the water surface tension makes a big difference like between night and day Additives in the dropping Water Solution can also make it more manageable than without Pre Focus can greatly affect the sharpness of outcome Use something that has a lot of texture and focus on it Flash Setup and Configuration can also influence the outcome of the capture If a one to many electronic device cannot be obtained and all the flashguns have to be triggered optically put the optical master far away pointing away from the collision so that it will not contribute any light to the exposure Always clean up after a session E When additives are added to the water solution in the bottles they can cause the solenoid valve to become contaminated Clean out the valves thoroughly BM All electronic flashguns have high voltages 300 volts inside impure water particularly when filled with additives can make it conductive so make sure these liquids do
12. ay between the transmitter and receiver This delay can cause double or multiple exposures if each flashgun has its own receiver The correct way to use it is to use only one transmitter and receiver pair and use the receiver to drive all the flashguns Some radio triggers can only drive up to two flashguns so in this case specially designed electronic devices are needed Regardless of what types of flashguns are used the use of the same brand and same model flashguns for those that contribute to exposure 1s recommended Better Practices In order to capture water drop collisions with good repeatability it is critical to follow some basic practices Patience as always patience is a key element to success E After every drop wait until the catching surface settles down Ripples and disturbances in the surface will create different conditions for the next drop making it really hard to get repeatable results So wait until the surface has settled E Start with simple do not try to run before you can walk Always start with simple things and take it step by step E Before trying to make a collision set the number of drops to just one It has been observed that the height of the Worthington Jet water column bounced back up varies with drop size Try to obtain the best height for the first drop for a collision with the second or third and so on E When satisfied with the jet height increase the number of drops to two and c
13. d by pressing the button on the remote Incremental Execution an execution process that has an increment parameter namely Advance added to the Flash Delay each time it is run by pressing E It is designed to help capture a sequence of similar events such as a collision each with a pre defined increase in Flash Delay parameter It is cumulative meaning that every time Incremental Execution is run the Advance value is added to the previous run Advance a time increment parameter that is added to the Flash Delay when Incremental Execution is run This parameter applies to the whole system and is independent of channels To set it press Camera Shutter Lag this is the delay between when camera is triggered and when the camera shutter is actually open It 1s a physical function of the camera itself and varies from camera to camera even for the same brand and same model This parameter applies to the whole system and is independent of the channels To set it press Number of Drops this specifies the number of water liquid drops for each Channel For example it is possible in a multi channel system to choose to produce two red liquid water drops and only one blue drop To specify this parameter press E To change channels press ric or First Drop Size this parameter specifies the size of the first water liquid drop Each channel can have its own value To set it press Ei and to change channels press Ric or S
14. ecause despite its small size the controller can control up to three solenoid valves referred to later as three channels For each channel solenoid valve the number of drops drop size the same for all drops and the delay between drops can be specified In addition it supports a special feature execution with a presettable automatic increment in flash delay This feature allows water liquid splashes to be captured at different stages such as during a collision Finally the setting parameters can be saved to the controller so that when it is powered up next time these parameters can be recalled easily Hardware Specification The Water Drop Kit TM is made up of the controller the liquid water container bottle s and the solenoid valve s with specially designed nozzle s The controller has five output ports three channels for solenoid valves one camera port and one flash port It has one input that can be used to trigger the controller electronically Illustration 1 WDK Controller Power Supply The Water Drop Kit TM can operate from 7 5V to 12V The actual voltage and power rating i e current rating depends upon what type of solenoid valve is used because this power supply is used to drive them For example if a 12V DC solenoid valve the supplied one is used a 12V DC power supply is needed The supplied solenoid valve is a 12V DC 6VA pneumatic valve with 2 5mm orifice area so the power supply provided is 1
15. econd Drop Size this parameter specifies the size of the second water liquid drop Each channel can have its own value To set it press E and to change channels press oo B Third Drop Size this parameter specifies the size of the third water liquid drop Each channel can have its own value To set it press Di and to change channels press ric Or Sync this parameter sets the time delay from the Execution button press to the point when the drops are released for each channel This is channel dependent each channel has its own value To set it press on To change channels press Rici or Drop Delay 1 this value specifies the time delay between the first drop and the second drop It is irrelevant if Number of Drop is less than two 1 e zero or one drop and each channel can have its own value To set it press f To change channels press Rici or B Drop Delay 2 this value specifies the time delay between the second and the third drops It is irrelevant if Number of Drop is less than three and each channel can have its own value To set it press To change channels press Rici or Drop Delay 3 this value specifies the time delay between the third drop and the fourth drop It is irrelevant if Number of Drop is less than four and each channel can have its own value To set it press To change channels press Rici or B General Glossary Timeline a timeline is a sequence of events in chronological order T
16. ee Illustration 10 Increase or decrease Delay 1 and observe The larger the value of Delay 1 is the higher the collision is up the jet column until when Delay 1 1s too large there will be no collision at all This effect is shown in Illustration 10 Another important factor is the Drop Size for the second drop Vary it from small to large and observe the effect it has on the shape of collision Illustration 10 Effect of Delay 1 on Height of Collision When the delay between the first and second drop Delay 1 increases the collision height increases as well The above picture shows this effect The Flash Delay should be increased by a similar amount to the increase in Delay 1
17. els are executed concurrently and are independent of each other Synchronization between water drop timelines between channels is achieved by setting Sync timing delay for each channel the Sync parameter for each channel can be considered as the delay between the start of Execution and the first drop for that channel Because of Syne parameter and water drop timeline concurrency the water drop timeline of each channel can be designed independently When all water drop timelines reach their respective end for all channels the controller simply waits for the flash timeline to end to finish the Execution The delays between drops for a particular channel start when the previous drop finishes 1 e when the solenoid valve closes after it has opened to start dropping Techniques amp Tips Water Solution Additives It is a well known secret amongst water drop photography enthusiasts that thicker water is easier to control To make water thicker additives can be mixed with water The following are some commonly used additives Guar gum powder This is usually used to make ice cream thicker Xanthan gum powder This is also another additive used when making ice cream Corn syrup Glycerine Milk While it is not strictly an additive milk is thicker than water and easier to control The only purpose of these additives is to make the water drop solution thicker Some of the additives make the resultant solution less clear and a
18. good DSLR it is about 200ms Dropping Height the height from the opening of the drop forming nozzle to the catching surface Worthington Jet or simply Jet is the column of liquid which forms after a drop of liquid hits a liquid surface Please see illustration 6 Illustration 6 Worthington Jet Understanding of Timeline In order to design a collision sequence it is essential to understand how the Water Drop Kit TM controller controls timing sequences timelines There are three timelines running concurrently the flash firing timeline the camera tripping timeline and the water drop timeline The camera timeline 1s dependent on flash timeline but both camera and flash timeline are independent of the water drop timeline Here are some important factors The Flash firing timeline is the driving timeline it starts when the Execution button 1s pressed and ends with the flash being triggered capturing the image even if the water drop timeline is not finished This means the flash timeline dominates both the water drop and camera timelines The camera timeline is dependent on the flash timeline the camera 1s tripped when the timing reaches Flash Delay minus Camera Shutter Lag Please note that if Camera Shutter Lag is larger than Flash Delay the camera is tripped at the beginning of Execution and if the camera lag is set too short the camera will not be tripped at all The water drop timelines for all the chann
19. here are three timelines in the Water Drop Kit TM control system namely flash timeline camera timeline and water drop timeline All three timelines are executed concurrently Surface Tension is a contractive tendency of the surface of a liquid that allows it to resist an external force The stronger the surface tension the lower the Worthington jet will be Surfactant is a compound which when added to a liquid reduces surface tension Flash Duration when an electronic flash fires a pulse of light of predetermined length is produced this time is called the flash duration Modern portable electronic speedlites speedlights use electronic switches and the power level is set by varying the flash duration The longer the duration the higher output level For water drop photography the shorter duration the less motion blur there is producing a cleaner image Stroboscopic Photography is a photographic technique which relies upon the flash power level to achieve the correct exposure The shutter is kept open for a relatively long period of time and the aperture is kept small to reduce the contribution from ambient light Camera Shutter Lag this is an inherent property of the camera being used It refers to the time between the shutter being triggered either by the button on the camera or an electrical command and when the shutter is fully open It varies from camera to camera even within the same brand and model For a
20. it but not fully Do this until there is no air gap inside the nozzle as show in Illustration 7 1 Camera Preparation Plug in the camera tripping cable into the camera and WDK controller If the camera being used has an auto focus feature put your camera into auto focus AF mode Prepare a focus aid such as a small piece of cardboard a piece of paper marked with a symbol or anything with a lot of texture on it While the camera is in auto focus AF put the focus aid at the same plane as the water would drop along Once the camera is focused put it into manual focus mode immediately A plumb line a length of thread with a small weight attached blu tacked to the water drop nozzle can be used to identify the point at which the drop will land Of course you can always put your camera into manual focus MF mode and focus on the focus aid manually adjusting the focus ring on the lens Take a picture and see if the lighting conditions are satisfactory increase or decrease aperture ISO as well if necessary Move the flashgun s around to get a better background this 1s a creative judgment and it is really up to the individual s taste Important note the smaller the aperture the sharper the image will be Once everything is satisfactory do not move anything get ready for shooting Flashgun Preparation Set the output of the IGBT Flashgun to its lowest possible setting to freeze the motion and thereby get a sharper image
21. not leak into the inside of the flashguns Basic Skills All the exercises shown here are done with the setup shown in illustration 6 and all the pictures are taken with guar gum water solution in the water bottles and rinse aid in the catching water In illustration 6 a large bowl is used as the catching container However many enthusiasts use a special tray in order to capture reflections of collisions These basic skills are very important for the successful capture of a collision and for the more advanced exercises Nozzle Preparation The nozzle is an integral part of the system and it needs to be cleaned often so that there is nothing clogging it or affecting the drops A dirty nozzle can cause stray drops and make it very difficult to produce repeatable collisions as drops will not follow the same path from one trial to another Another important factor with the nozzle 1s air bubbles inside the nozzle These bubbles cannot be seen with a metal or opaque nozzle but with the help of a semi transparent plastic nozzle it is easy to see how an air bubble is destroying the formation of clean water drops and changing the fall path Illustration 7 1 shows air bubbles and what a well prepared nozzle looks like mys Illustration 7 1 Preparation of Nozzle As can be seen in the illustration above when a nozzle is first screwed onto the valve and the first few drops are produced there is a large air gap between the nozzle opening
22. ppear cloudy The best and most often used 1s probably guar gum solution Surface Tension Reduction The cohesive forces between liquid molecules are responsible for the phenomenon known as surface tension The molecules at the surface do not have other like molecules on all sides of them and consequently they stick more strongly to those directly associated with them on the surface This forms a surface film which makes it more difficult to move an object through the surface than to move it when it is completely submersed When a water or liquid drop falls onto a water surface if the surface tension is high the water drop will not bounce up very far so the jet coming back up will not be very high and the collision with a second drop or a third fourth will not be high making it less attractive to capture To reduce surface tension and increase dramatically the shape and dynamics of the collision a surfactant an additive which reduces surface tension is added to the catching tray Here are some popular surfactants Detergent Rinse Aid Coloring It is probably not very interesting to see plain water liquid colliding so the addition of color or colors to the dropping water liquid and catching water liquid can be very interesting If different colors are added to the dropping and catching water it could be even more interesting Food dyes are commonly used for coloring purpose Food dyes are Safer The
23. ptured is close to a black image When the high speed event is synchronized with a very fast flash the camera will have enough light from the flashgun s to properly expose an image of the high speed event This technique 1s called stroboscopic photography The WDK controller is designed around stroboscopic photography and its function is to synchronize a water drop collision with the camera and flash triggering Illustration 5 shows a typical setup using a radio wireless trigger In this setup shutter speed does not have to be in bulb mode because the WDK controller can synchronize the camera shutter as well This allows moderate ambient light to be used making it a much easier environment in which to work To start the process the IR remote can be used Here are some typical settings Set the camera to manual focus mode to prevent the delay introduced by the autofocus action The camera shutter speed is set to 1 8 of second The camera aperture is set to 9 with two flashguns On the WDK controller the camera lag is set to 200 approximately 200ms The camera is connected to the WDK controller s camera output black colored stereo jack in the middle The flash output is connected to the transmitter of a wireless radio flash trigger This radio trigger can be replaced with a wired cable to trigger the flashguns Set the flash power to 1 128 and the ISO to 200 It may be necessary to vary flash power aperture and ISO all of which in
24. t is simply a TTL level input with a 10K pull up resistor There is no amplification on this port It is used to connect an external device to trigger the WDK controller electronically This can be any device that can pull the input port to ground logic zero These include but are not limited to Laser sensor A simple photodiode or phototransistor with reverse biased configuration can be used Sound sensor When used with a sound sensor the timer function is useful Lightning sensor You can use lightning as a water drop background Radio triggers for flash This is useful to remotely trigger the WDK controller when the IR remote is out of range or if the camera is in the bulb mode and the camera is used to send a out flash signal to the WDK to start the water drop process IR Remote The IR technology used in the Water Drop Kit TM is very sensitive with excellent range up to 3 meters 10 feet It has been tested to have a range of 5 meters 15 feet when the battery in the remote is fresh Sometimes even if the remote is not pointing at the controller the IR signals can still be picked up making it very easy and reliable to use The IR remote control has 21 buttons on it as shown in Illustration 3 and it is powered by a single 3 0V lithium button battery CR2025 Illustration 3 IR Remote Control Remote Description SYN Select Red Channel Select Green Channel Select Blue Channel Increase Parameter Value by
25. teract to obtain the correct exposure Illustration 5 Typical Camera amp Flash Connection A Camera port of the WDK controller B Flash port of the WDK controller C Flash wireless radio trigger optional it can be a wired cable D IR remote control E Camera s remote release port Concepts amp Glossary In most documents the glossary is usually found at the end of documents but since the Water Drop Kit TM is designed around some concepts that are critical to understanding how to achieve the best results and to better understand this manual it is shown here Concepts Related to WDK TM Channel a channel refers to a solenoid valve they are named R channel G channel and B channel accordingly These channel names loosely corresponds to Red Green and Blue for the liquid color each valve might control But for example the R Channel does not have to control red water liquid it is merely a convention The same applies to the G and B channels To select a channel press Do or B Flash Delay the time delay between when the system starts and the flash output is triggered This delay is independent of all other timing parameters This parameter applies to the whole system and is independent of the channels To set this value press Execution an execution means a complete process from releasing water liquid drops delays triggering the camera and finally firing the flash This is accomplishe
26. tration 7 Effect of Drop Size on Jet Height This illustration shows that as drop size increases the height of the Worthington jet is also increases Of course when drop size increases to a certain point the jet actually collapses and normally a hollow sound can be heard and bubbles form if the catching tray has surfactant Note keep Flash Delay at a constant value so that there is no variation caused by it There 1s an important thing to keep in mind during this exercise keep the water liquid level in the container bottle at nearly the same level If after many trials without a satisfactory jet height add water to at least its original level Learning the Effects of the Water Level in the Bottle In the previous exercise an important note must be observed keeping the water level in the container bottle approximately the same This is important as it has a significant effect on how the Worthington jet is formed Now instead of filling the bottle to the middle fill it all the way up to almost full The higher the water liquid level in the bottle the more pressure there is at the nozzle opening producing a larger drop size which drops more quickly It is less controllable than when the level in the bottle is lower Instead of filling it full fill it to about 1 4 full this has the opposite effect on drops compared with a higher level in the bottle It is much more controllable and produces less stray drops Getting Two Drops to
27. y are transparent Easy to use There is a large selection of colors available They can be easily washed off Flashgun Selection A flashgun is an electronic device that stores a large amount of energy in capacitors and then releases the stored energy in a short period of time There are for the purpose of water drop photography basically two types of flashgun The first type is often called studio strobes which are very powerful but very slow relative to the other type These strobes are not suitable for water drop photography because their duration is very long in the range from one to tens of milliseconds depending upon the power level The other type are often referred to as speedlites Canon term speedlights Nikon term or simply IGBT flash other manufacturers The way this type of flash works is to use an electronic device called an IGBT to cut the flash duration short to achieve a defined power output level Some of these flashguns can produce a 1 10 000 of second duration at 1 128 power output level Therefore this is the type of flashgun that is well suited to this system Depending upon the functionality and manufacturer the price for this type of flashgun varies greatly If the requirement is limited to water drop photography then it is better to obtain so called manual flashguns which do not have the capability of following commands from a specific camera brand You will always be short of flash power when doing
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