Water droplet photography can be intimidating for many photographers.  I hope to be able to take the mystery out of it.  It is easier to accomplish with flash but can be done with other light sources as long as the light source is bright enough to keep the shutter speed fast enough to freeze the droplet for a nice sharp image.

Some things you will need:

1. A colorful backdrop.  I made this one out of construction paper taped onto foam core.  Simple.
   
2. Pan of water.  I used a cheap (clean) black cat litter pan that I picked up at the store. You can use a glass Pyrex dish, a paint pan, anything like that.
3. A plastic bag for the water that will drip into the pan.  I used a regular zip bag.
4. A method to suspend the bag of water over the pan of water.*
5. A pin to poke a tiny hole into the bag.
6. A pen to focus on.
7. Light source.  I used strobes.
8. tri-pod.  This is pretty much a must use for this project or you might end up tossing the camera across the room out of frustration.
9. A towel for any splashing or spills.
10. Lots of patience.

This is what my set up looked like:

Flashes were placed behind the pan one on each side aimed at the colorful backdrop which was tilted forward to reflect down onto the surface of the water.  You can use one strobe directly behind the pan as well as long as you can aim it in such a way that it will reflect onto the surface of the water. Any bright light source can be aimed at the backdrop to achieve this.

Once you have all that set up get the camera and set it on the tri-pod.  I shot using a 60mm macro lens on my D200 making it the equivalent of 90mm.  So use macro mode for the best results if you don't have a dedicated macro.

I used my on camera flash only to trigger my other strobes.  It was not used to supply any supplemental light.  There are remotes and slave units which can be used if your camera doesn't have commander mode for the on board flash.  Again any bright light source can be used as long as it is adequate to allow a fast shutter speed.

I set my camera to 1/160 second shutter speed at ISO 200.  I varied my aperture between f 5.6 and f 16. What you choose will depend on the camera and lens. 

Once all that was set up I poked a tiny hole into the bag to allow the drops to fall into the pan of water.  Then I placed a pen with the cap in into the water where the drops were hitting in order to easily focus the camera. 

Once all that is done you are all set to go and that is where the patience will come into play.  Just keep clicking that shutter until you have the timing down and you will get some good shots.  If you are using continuous lighting shoot in bursts to increase your chances of getting a good shot like the ones below.

You can use different color backdrops for all sorts of results. 

Just to show it can be done with a non-DSLR here are a couple that I did with the HS10:

I really hope you will consider giving this a try.  Have fun!

*NOTE:  The frame I used to suspend the bag of water is actually the frame from my DIY light tent without the cover.