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I'm beginning to think that the addition of milk is causing some breakdown in the elasticity of the additive-enhanced water I'm using. Or maybe the additive water is getting old, though it still remains viscous. I will probably make a new batch up tonight for tomorrow's shots to see if it makes any difference. Nonetheless, I was able to get a nicely-shaped, symmetrical three-drop collision, and still have the splash transparent enough to allow us to see the top of the column and flyaway drop inside the splashes. Reminds me of an x-ray, under blacklight! And the opaque liquid reminds me of smoke as it is drawn up the column of the splash jet formed by the first drop rebounding.
After yesterday's thick liquid, I decided to try changing my recipe. Instead of adding half-and-half to the liquid to make it opaque, I tried some regular milk. I also changed the additive in the water. The collisions varied, some remaining fairly 'condensed' (no pun intended), but this one was one of several that actually splashed out, and formed holes in the solid plate. I've been trying to achieve this texture for awhile and have gotten some holes, but not in a large plate splash before. So there was some measure of victory, but I'm not sure if it had to do with the additive water, or using milk instead of half-and-half for the opacity. Whatever. It worked!
Changing over to dropping liquid into a basin with a black background is more complicated than I expected. Flashes need to be moved to the front and side, and liquids have to be made opaque or else they will not show up against the black background. The same was true for the crowns earlier this month, but they were being dropped onto a piece of plexiglass, and here, the water must be illuminated at least a little. The drops were made opaque white using a bit of cream, but the basin water remained clear, but with food coloring. The white drops fall into the basin and the ensuing jet/column that rises brings with it some of the basin water and some of the drop water, so you see a mix of the two colors, and luckily some streaks of the basin water show through. Timing is also altered since the liquids are thicker and behave differently than without the cream. Because of the added thickness, it's also harder to get a wide spread on the collisions. Time to put on my thinking cap to see what I can do to 'grow' the splashes.
I like how the hula hoop is formed by the start of the disintegration of the 'plate' that formed when the drop collided with the column. Just a hint of daylight shows through around the column. And don't you know that hula hoopers now require safety helmets!
My final abstract for this challenge turned out to be staring me in the face! I looked at this and immediately saw a perplexed worm with a microphone suspended from his headphone.
Or wait..... is it a frog? Either way, it looks as though its trapped in a device which has a fanny pack and microphone for him to speak into. Maybe needs to call for help...
In trying to keep with the more abstract collisions this "row" I came up with this. Using two valves and three colors, I was able to create a collision involving yellow and blue drops meeting the red drop flying away from the splash column. Looking at the combined multi-drop, I see what looks like the head of a Picasso lady wearing a Carmen Miranda-like headscarf with banana sticking up.
What do you see?
I'm still using my non-splashy additive, but with a bit of other stuff thrown in for variety. I like how this shot came out looking like an ornamental wall fountain, complete with hanging hole! The mixture is thick enough that you can see the colors mixing in both the column and in the back wall of the fountain.
I'm still using the mostly non-splashing mix I made up yesterday looking mostly for abstract patterns created by the falling drops. I thought this collision over the center column was interesting, especially since the colliding blue and yellow falling drops created a strong green center area. All in all, this came out looking like a floating wishbone to me.
