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On this final day of my September 30-Day Challenge, I had already picked out a name for my entry, and had to come up with an idea for a photo that would fit the picture. I think that's a little backwards, but that's just what happened.
My camera will be thanking me, since it took over 480 shots today to get this image. Each time you add another drop to the image, you have to figure out, in milliseconds, the size of the drop, the delay between drops, and the flash delay to capture the collision at the optimum time. Since one drop (the green one today) comes up from below, there is also an additional need to keep the pressure up on the sprayer, as well as figure out the delay necessary to sync the upward drop to pass through the downward drops, so those variables also come into play in figuring out timing and drop sizes.
I am delighted that I was able to figure out programming to capture the upward jet after it had completely left the nozzle, and still get the falling drops to collide with it. It gives a fabulous feeling of satisfaction to know that I managed to do it!
So, after a month of many, many shots to get the 30 I have posted, I can say that am very pleased with my photos and I have learned much and hopefully opened up some new neural synapses to stave off brain atrophy. :)
Thanks for following me on this adventure. I hope you have enjoyed the variety of splashes I was able to capture that show so much of what takes place without our ever seeing it, without the assistance of a camera to stop the action.
** Again, apologies for the darkness of the picture in the blog. It can be seen on Flickr and Worth1000 in its proper color.
This actually reminded me of a lady from the 1800's or so, dressed up in her fancy skirt and petticoats, wearing a wide brimmed hat. Sort of like Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke, walking down the boardwalk of Dodge City, Kansas.
I'm enjoying the shooting up from a different valve, but having to rethink numbers and delays and sync times, while good for brain exercise, is getting tiring! Not for once in awhile, but on a daily basis, I find myself talking aloud to myself to make sure I'm understanding what I need to do to realign numbers.
And let's not even talk about eyestrain from hours of trying to focus on small water collisions, both for camera focusing and at the monitor later, to discern the best out of many, many shots taken at each session.
Enough of a pity party. It hasn't been all bad, by a longshot, and I'm certainly coming away with a much better understanding of the secret life of water drops (thanks go to EssjayNZ for this wonderful description) and how to capture them. :)
***Again, this image, despite much tweaking of the original, which shows up fine in the thumbnail and at Worth, is still dark and splotchy at this site, and I don't know why. My apologies.
Well, I seem to be getting better with the bubbles! No errant bubbles bursting all over my basin, table or external flashes! I wasn't sure how the bubble would handle the upward jet, so I tried for a simple collision, and once I got the numbers straightened out to get the collision in the right place (no small task), I got this image on the first shot I took after blowing the bubble onto the basin! Wow! No late night for me today!
This is fun, but I am really ready for the 30 days to be over. This has taken way more effort than I thought it would, but on the other hand, I'm very pleased with what I have learned and the images I have captured.
***Again, apologies for the dark and banded picture. Blogspot has done that the last 3 days on pics I've uploaded to Worth and Flickr with no problems. I'm too tired to try to figure it out!
For some reason I had more trouble getting this shoot-from-below collision than I did on my first attempt at this technique yesterday! With more water in the basin, which isn't particularly rigid, the nozzle ended up further below water level, causing difficulty getting the upward jet to go high enough, and smooth enough. Along with the other "regular" issues of variables, it took me awhile to figure out what the problem was. By that time, I was frustrated and tired!
So, the shot, while fun, isn't what I'd planned to try to achieve. But I'm happy to have succeeded both yesterday and today in capturing longer cylinders without having the splash collapse, something I've not been able to do from dropping from above. So there is a consolation!
Oh and thanks to MadamMtnLion, who decided this splash looks like a Western hat's brim and a fringed skirt below! I now have a title for the image!
** I do not know why the main images yesterday and today came out so much darker than they appear in the thumbnail, which is the truer color. Both were taken from the same image with no alteration. I don't know why the larger pictures have gotten so dark when I've uploaded them here, but remain the correct colors on Worth and/or Flickr.
My favorite water drop mentor, Peter (N7000) from Switzerland, visited me again today and brought me a 'kit' he had assembled with nozzles and pressurized sprayer, which now allows me to divert one of my valves and shoot a water jet upward. All of my photos so far have been of collisions created by dropping a drop from above, and waiting for it to rebound back up so it could collide with another later-released drop. Now, I have the option of shooting a jet upward, and simultaneously, or almost so, releasing a drop (or several) from above. With proper timing and alignment, a collision will occur.
Setting up and coordinating the new was easy. Peter did it! Figuring out all the new math (numbers in milliseconds to determine size of drops, delays between drops, when the flashes would go off, etc., etc.) was a bit harder, as was "locating" the collision zone in a place that would be attractive and visible in the camera's field of view. Not too low, not too high. Plus all the other variables that come into play also made us put on our thinking caps.
We got a few basic collisions after working on it for awhile, then it was time for a quick lunch and back to the airport for Peter, who returns back to Switzerland tonight!
What a great friend, and a wonderful inspiration and mentor! Thank you, Peter!
This is a homage to the volcano now erupting in Iceland. One of our guides from our trip last year has been posting the most awesome night images of the molten lava , so I decided to give those colors a try! This is a 2-valve shot. One dropped the milky white liquid, the other dropped a clear red liquid. The first drop, the white, fell into the basin which originally had clear yellow water, until many failed splashes of both the red and white drops created a milky orange liquid. As the white drop fell into the basin and rebounded, it brought the original yellow color back up with it, through the orange top layer. Capturing the splash a bit earlier would have allowed the column to remain intact (yellow on bottom, white on top), but the red splash with attached bucket didn't show up as nicely. So it was a trade off! So many options!
Another day, another adventure in recipe-making. I have three different additives in this mixture, along with some surfactant to try to make it 'fly' out a bit more. I had some fun results today, but I liked the stateliness and almost perfect symmetry of this splash the best.
And because I love the idea of "finding hidden images" in the splashes, here is a bonus. I couldn't help but think of Mary Poppins when I saw this splash during my shoot.
Bonus Splash: Mary Poppins
