Capturing the splash of an object falling into water makes for some great photos, but to get them you need a few tricks, gadgets, and patience.

This article shows you how to capture the splash of a strawberry in milk up close and personal to help you understand how to capture the kinds of splash shots that often appear in advertising.

It should be noted in advance, especially for those who are looking for perfection, that there are no absolutes in judging such photos, and you may not like your first one or your hundredth one, but it is more important to enjoy the whole shoot.

1. Preparation

Besides strawberries and milk, a tripod and flash are equally necessary. Fill a wide tray with milk and as there is a possibility of getting it dirty everywhere, prepare some towels in advance to put underneath and a large handful of paper towels.

Secure the tripod and camera, and use a telephoto lens to avoid getting splashed. Since it's hard to judge the extent of the splash, give slightly more space in the composition and then just crop it later.

2. Focus in advance

We need to anticipate where the strawberries will fall and focus in advance by placing a small 'weight' in the milk, focusing and then dialing the lens to manual focus to lock it in place.

The next step is to make sure that the strawberry lands in this position: we place a ring directly above the drop point and let the strawberry fall through it, so that the drop point is in the area that we have focused on.

3. Illuminating the splash

We place a flash in the upper left to illuminate the scene, and then use the built-in flash on top of the DSLR to trigger the flash. The built-in flash is used as a secondary flash.

The next step is to turn on the built-in flash of the DSLR, go to the built-in flash option in the flash control menu, dial to a low flash intensity, such as 1/128, and our small flash will trigger the flash on the upper left, which acts as a supplemental flash, which produces the desired shadow.

4. Diffused light

If we hit the light directly on the strawberries it will produce very hard shadows, so we need a reflector. Reflectors are not hard to get, using the silver side, we place the reflector between the flash and the milk tray, which reduces the overly contrasty shadows.

5. Controlling flash intensity

In order to get a nice splash without blurring, we need a very short flash duration. This can be easily achieved by using a low intensity flash, setting the flash to manual at about 1/8th, and setting the camera to M and taking several test shots to adjust.

Also minimize distracting ambient light, turn off the lights and close the curtains to make sure the flash works as well as possible on its own.

6. Start shooting

When you're ready, hold the strawberry in one hand and the camera in the other. Release your hand to put down the strawberry and try to take a picture. Fish up the strawberry, wipe it clean with a paper towel, and keep trying.

The goal of this shot is a clear splash and a visible strawberry. After about an hour of trying and about 140 shots, you'll get 3 or 4 shots that you're happy with.