It's raining and you're bored. There's nothing to photograph - or is there? I used to think so until I discovered water stop photography - the technique where you stop the motion of water by increasing the speed of your camera.

The image below left was taken on a cold, rainy day. I just set my trusty Fujifilm Finepix S5600 camera to S (shutter priority) and expermented with the shutter speeds until the drops of rain came to look like little pearls of glass. When we look at the EXIF camera data you can see that the exposure was 0.001 seconds. That's pretty fast!

Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S5600 Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1300) Aperture: f/8 Focal Length: 52.2 mm ISO Speed: 800 Exposure Bias: 0/100 EV Flash: Flash did not fire

If you want to take professional looking photos of waterfalls it is good to practice with what is available. In the Crown Street Mall in Wollongong there is a series of man-made waterfalls opposite Wesley Uniting Church that make a good photographic opportunity. In the images below you can see the differences in camera settings produce a range of water effects.

Waterfall photos sequence - taken at Wollongong Mall
	Taken with a Fujifilm FinePix S5600. Exposure: 0.008 sec (1/125) Aperture: f/8 Focal Length: 6.3 mm ISO Speed: 1600 Exposure Bias: 1509949439/1677721600 EV Flash: Flash did not fire Software: FinePixViewer Ver.5.1 Shutter Speed: -1140719616/1677721600
	Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000) Aperture: f/3.2 Focal Length: 6.3 mm ISO Speed: 1600 Exposure Bias: 0/1677721600 EV Flash: Flash did not fire Software: FinePixViewer Ver.5.1 Shutter Speed: -402456576/1677721600
	Taken with a Fujifilm FinePix S5600. Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000) Aperture: f/3.2 Focal Length: 6.3 mm ISO Speed: 1600 Exposure Bias: 0/1677721600 EV Flash: Flash did not fire Software: FinePixViewer Ver.5.1 Shutter Speed: -402456576/1677721600
	Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/750) Aperture: f/7.1 Focal Length: 6.3 mm ISO Speed: 1600 Exposure Bias: 0/1677721600 EV Flash: Flash did not fire Software: FinePixViewer Ver.5.1 Shutter Speed: -1224540160/1677721600
	Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/340) Aperture: f/7.1 ISO Speed: 1600 Exposure Bias: 0/1677721600 EV Flash: Flash did not fire Date and Time (Original): 2006:08:02 14:46:34 Exposure Program: Aperture priority
	Exposure: 0.2 sec (1/5) Aperture: f/8 ISO Speed: 100 Exposure Bias: 33/100 EV Flash: Flash did not fire Date and Time (Original): 2006:08:02 14:44:04 Exposure Program: Shutter priority Flash Strength: 0/100 Software: FinePixViewer Ver.5.1 Sharpness: Hard
	* Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000) * Aperture: f/4.5 * ISO Speed: 1600 * Exposure Bias: 33/100 EV * Flash: Flash did not fire * Date and Time (Original): 2006:08:02 14:45:08 * Exposure Program: Shutter priority * Flash Strength: 0/100 * Sharpness: Hard

If it isn't raining outside then you're still in luck. All you need is a bowl or container of water or just head into the bathroom and fill up the hand basin. That's what I did in the next shot. It was late at night and I was bored so decided to try my luck with my camera and turned the flash on to capture the water drops from the tap. I found I got the best results when the basin was filled almost to the top and photographed from side-on rather than overhead. This way I could capture images of the height of the drops as they fall and the green background creates an interesting contrast.

Camera: Fujifilm FinePix S5600 Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1300) Aperture: f/8 Focal Length: 52.2 mm ISO Speed: 800 Exposure Bias: 0/100 EV Flash: Flash did not fire

Slideshow of water effects