Capturing Ripple Effect suggestion

[MyNikonD5000]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to capture ripple effect for my project and I would love some suggestions. Ex) Background, color of the bowl...etc
I took some sample shots but haven't uploaded the pictures yet. As soon as I get home, I will upload them here. I'm still not satisfied with the water drops due to some water drops being grainy. Am I suppose to use a faster shutter speed? I recently purchased SB-600 for my Nikon D5000 and I have been able to capture very pretty images w/o the harsh shadows that was caused by regular flash. But when I am using SB-600, my shutter speed is capped out at 1/60 of a sec. Should I use M function for situations like this?

Also I was wondering how I can make the water drops more focused and clear. It it hard enough to focus through the view finder but it's harder when it's something small as a single water drop.

Any suggestions will help! Thank you!

----UPDATE----
I have uploaded some images that I have taken earlier. Any comments or suggestions will be appreciated!
I do want to capture much more clear image of the water drops.

[kazuya]

yes id use the M function, you may find that this allows you to achieve a higher shutter speed of around 200 (it does on the D90)
try bouncing the flash of a wall/ceiling or a reflector
try using a coloured diffuser on the flash to add a touch of colour
also shoot in RAW then alter the white balance later to give a nice cool blue tint

Dave

[Katsi]

Well, you guys are talking way out of my photographical depth, but nonetheless, these are so cool ... I'm finding that I'm loving 'stopped motion' shots more than I realized before... and of course anything macro IMO, is da bomb! (o: Thnx for sharing these w/us!