Rain comes and goes, but as shown in alexpikkert’s water droplet photography write-up, the exact moment of impact can look spectacular when magnified. Capturing that, however, takes a specialized system — and his latest build facilitates shots nicely with an Arduino Uno controller and solenoid valve.

The rig, which is based on a design from photobuilds.co.uk, positions the solenoid dropper at a certain distance off of the ground. The DSLR camera and flash can then be configured to shoot the splash.

To snap a pic, the Arduino opens the valve to release up to three drops at carefully timed intervals. After an appropriate delay, it triggers the photography setup using opto-isolators to capture the action.

Interested in creating your own bouncing droplet photos? More details can be found in alexpikkert’s tutorial.