Old tap that leaks

In my effort to learn to make something common and uninteresting to be somehow a bit more interesting to see, I took this photo of an old, unused and leaking water tap.

What draws me to this subject is the colors of the tap, the pipe and the background (stone wall) are similar ... and I hope that I'll be able to catch the water drips from the tap.

It takes lots of shoots before I finally get two or three that shows the water droplets, the rest are either I was too early or too late pressing the shutter. This is the one I picked cause I think it's better than the other two.

Critiques and comments are really welcome.

Thanks in advance.
bob

Hi Bob.

Taps have not changed much, have they? I like the piping and the fact that you did not correct for the
vertical. I would like a much more harsher and sharper look..more contrast.

And how about a bowl at the bottom to catch the splash, if the falling drops test your patience!

Thank you for sharing.

p.s how would it look in B&W?

Bob,

Could you show the water drop, maybe with an S-curve and sharpened. It's a lens to what's behind it, so I's love to see what's there.

Asher

Bob Sumitro said:

What draws me to this subject is the colors of the tap, the pipe and the background (stone wall) are similar ... and I hope that I'll be able to catch the water drips from the tap.

Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

Nice colors on that tap. I would try and shoot it from even a shorter distance, if your lens allows. It will increase the size of the tap and its colors, and it will blur the background even a bit more so it becomes a bit less distracting.

Taps are a nice subject to explore ...

Cheers,
Bart

Bart,

Your remark brings me to the drop again and getting it larger. I have asked doug, but what factors alter the size of the drops? I love the lens effect in the round drops.

How can one influence that without changing gravity?

Asher

Hi Bob,

The form of this tap and the drop of water remind me (at an abstract level) of a cartoon of a crouching vulture (like the ones in found in the Lucky Luke strips) with a bad case of flu . Lovely.

Cheers,
(sorry for my twisted imagination)

Asher Kelman said:

Bart,

Your remark brings me to the drop again and getting it larger. I have asked doug, but what factors alter the size of the drops? I love the lens effect in the round drops.

How can one influence that without changing gravity?

Asher

Click to expand...

Hi Asher,

The size of a water drop (or that of any liquid) is dependent on the following factors:
1) Gravity (which is constant)
2) The speed/rate at which the water drop is formed
3) [SIZE=-1]T[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]he surface tension of water (which is constant for pure water)
4) The density of water (which is less when the temperature is lower)
5) The form of the tap forming the drop (I am not certain about this one but my hunch tells me that different taps will produce different sized drops even when all of the above conditions are equal)

You can use solutions (such as adding sugar to water) to make water more viscous and thus a achieve higher surface tension. This will give bigger drops. But a sugar solution will have a higher density than water which in effect will give smaller drops (due to more mass in the same drop size). But I cannot do the math now, you just have to find a solution which increases the surface tension while increasing the density at a lower rate. This will give you bigger drops eventually.

Just rambling...ignore if irrelevant

Cheers,
[/SIZE]

Asher Kelman said:

Bart,

Your remark brings me to the drop again and getting it larger. I have asked doug, but what factors alter the size of the drops? I love the lens effect in the round drops.

How can one influence that without changing gravity?

Click to expand...

The water clings to the rim of the tap end through adhesion (which also depends on the tap's material and surface roughness). So if it has a large area, thick rough walls, it can hang on to the tap a bit longer before gravity becomes stronger than the adhesion force. There is probably also an optimal diameter of the tap end to keep the drop from falling from only the edge, but I'm no fluid dynamics engineer so I don't know how to calculate that. I suppose temperature (=water density) might also have something to do with it, as does mineral content.

Cheers,
Bart

P.S. Ah, I now see Cem has also answered, he mentioned similar parameters.

Thank you very much guys.

Asher, at the time being my skill in post processing is really minimal, and I mean minimal like in almost non existence. I only use DPP (or LR 2.6) for post processing, and the only thing I do is a simple white balance correction (use Whibal card or click on any white object), sharpening, cropping if necessary and then convert to jpeg.
I tried CS, but after the trial period I found that it's too difficult for me to use so I decided to stick with DPP and LR instead. So I do not know how to do it :-(

There's one question that I have, and I hope you guys can enlighten me on this. Don't know if it fits this sub forum, if it's not please move it to a more appropriate forum.

I'm a guy that do not posses visual artistic talent or skill. Taking the picture above was not an easy process for me. I mean I have to think how to make it interesting.

I have to look at it, kind of study it and then think "Hey, maybe it will look good or interesting if I take this kind of picture." even then, it may or may not work. What I'm trying to say is, to me it is a rather long process and not something that happen in an instant.

So my question to you guys, looking at the pictures posted by you guys in this forum... there are definitely talented guys here... how is your creative process ? Or how do you create your pictures? I mean, do you just look at certain thing and then in your mind you say "this is good", set your camera, press the shutter and come up with beautiful pictures?

Thanks,
bob

Bob Sumitro said:

In my effort to learn to make something common and uninteresting to be somehow a bit more interesting to see, I took this photo of an old, unused and leaking water tap.

What draws me to this subject is the colors of the tap, the pipe and the background (stone wall) are similar ... and I hope that I'll be able to catch the water drips from the tap.

It takes lots of shoots before I finally get two or three that shows the water droplets, the rest are either I was too early or too late pressing the shutter. This is the one I picked cause I think it's better than the other two.

Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

To be successful, you need some concept to externalize into an image, do the work and then deliver it to the folks who like what you do. You already have a good ability to find an interesting subject, get that image translated to a photograph and have it well-received.

The main interest of the composition is where our eyes are sent, correct by the rule of thirds, with a sparkly in the large drop, indeed a tiny lens to see the world.There's no distracting b.g. and a strong focus on your concept, a leaking faucet, dripping away, wasting precious life-giving water we need. I could come back to this so many times as there's a lot of hooks for my imagination. It's in short a success! Kudos!

So you have most of what's needed already. You realize it's hard to find the right approach to even a most interesting subject. That strips you of any delusion that the camera makes the picture. So you have already "got it". That struggle you had to compose an interesting image is what's always needed. So how to improve? I believe this advice is true and Ken Tanaka here repeats it often: go to a still life drawing class. That trains the brain and gives a background. Visit museums to see the work done. You are on the right track. Good luck!

Asher