gold and purple

I like this image. Is the drop falling in the bottom of a wine glass? For your DF you could try a telephoto lens so that you can move back a bit, plus that may protect your gear also.

I like this a lot. Never tried it, but I see your problem; no way to focus stack a dynamic process like this and your subject requires a significant DoF. Can you go to f/32? Diffraction may not be a significant negative with this. Does your sensor have sufficient sensor density to allow you to back off on the magnification ratio and make it up with a crop? On here your going down to 1200 pixels on the longest side anyway so you could probably crop to 1/4 and wind up with a 1:1 effective magnification ratio with a 1:4 initial focus. That should substantially improve the depth of acceptable focus.

It'll be interested to see ideas others might have. This might be fun to try over the winter months.

I don't recall seeing a water drop close up posted at NPN before, Raied. I have no problem with it being posted in this gallery. Personally, I think this is an excellent capture. I really don't have an issue with the dof. It's sharp throughout the entire center of the drop, and I think that's where it sharpness is needed. I really like the gold and purple reflective light. Great job with the lighting. My only reservation is that, to me, the image feels a little cut off at the bottom, but I am sure you cropped it where you did for good reason, and the overall end result is excellent.

Thanks All for the reviews and recommendations. This is what makes this site so great and addictive. :)
I will try again considering your suggestions and post again. Wish me luck!