High Speed Photography

[digitalfingers]

I've been meaning to try this for a while, there a couple of methods but I decided to go with the High speed option. I suspended a filled balloon of water from our washing line hoping it would take the strain (surprising how heavy a balloon of water actually is) and let it hang for a bit so I could get my focus. I used my 300mm lens so I was a safe distance from any potential water damage. Handheld, I set the shutter to 1/1600 and the aperture to f6.3 with the release on continuous mode. My friend assisted in the bursting of the balloon. Here are the results. I am impressed with the result and have entered this image into a regional competition.

2 versions, one with the hand edited out but I feel with the hand it adds to the impact of the balloons explosion. I'd love to hear your opinions.


Aqua by D.J.Flynn, on Flickr


Aqua Final by D.J.Flynn, on Flickr

[GladstonePhotography]

Very nice result.I am a beginner when it comes to photography but do agree with you I like the first version with the hand in better.
Good luck with the competition.

[Dean f]

Wow!!!, Love these.
The shot with the hand in works better for me, it adds a little meaning to the shot.
Would love to give this style a go.
Dean

[mlaumann]

Funny experiement indeed!

Im courious to hear about the lightnings? Did you use some kind of speedlight, or was it all natural light - in that case; very lit or how?
If this is your first attempts, its very well done IMO. I like 'em!

Try mixing the water with some fruit color or fill it with....well...lets say; ketchup? For example! That could make some awesome results. (Ofcourse there's alot of cleaning afterwards, but what the hell? )

[digitalfingers]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Malaumann, these were shot outdoors at around 2pm so the light was just right for the shoot. This is all natural light as I don't own any speedlights yet. My friend and I experimented with lots of ideas. We used food colouring (yellow in this case) we put sliced fruit inside some balloons, and even tried one with milk. I have other shots from the experiment but this one is the strongest out of all of them. I was thrilled when I saw this one on my cameras LCD and having been through the rest of the shots, there are some other nice ones but nowhere as good as this one.

Here's one of 2 Balloons burst at the same time. These ones were filled with blue food colouring shot in the exact location of the yellow one.


BCFB by D.J.Flynn, on Flickr

[mlaumann]

OMG I love the new one with the blue colours!!!! Very awesome job, dude

How did you achieve the black background, if it were taken outside? And can you please show us some more? Im in love with the idea (eventho its not that original), but you somehow managed to make them very crisp and sharp to look at.

[digitalfingers]

Thank you. The black background was achieved by hanging a black sheet on the wall behind the washing line, simple. No Flashes were used, these were shot in natural light as explained before. The only editing I try to stick to is level adjustments in Photoshop to bring the focal out more. This is how we did it.


plain water by D.J.Flynn, on Flickr

[mlaumann]

The last photo explained it very well to me, thank you

Now im just left behind with a feeling of im never gonna be able to try make shots like that, here in the cold Denmark! xD Its kinda rare we got that much light, to make so fast shutter speeds... hehe.

Very nice job indeed