Frozen in time

The greatest achievement for any photographer is when they obtain the result that they wanted. To be able to do this they need to understand the process of light, their equipment and then to have the plan!

So I knew what I had in mind, I know light and my equipment and now I just had to put it together.

I started with some water filled balloons with a twist - the water was coloured with food dye to give a different effect when it was going to explode, Yes, water was going to explode!

So I started with this:

Balloon filled with coloured water.

The next step was to hang it somewhere... mmmm.... okay, the ladder will do. A bit of string and in the sun it went.

Next step was the camera. I mounted a Sony A77 which can capture 12 images per second with a 300mm F2.8 lens on a tripod. I plugged in the remote release and manually focused on the balloon. I set the camera's shutter speed to 1/8000th of a second and was ready... well nearly ready.. I need my trigger man... So the call went out to my son with his toy BB gun.. we would have to co-ordinate pretty well.

So now we are ready... aim, fire and action.....

The first shot

Look at the background - totally black. But we were in full sunlight! Well this is what I spoke about when I said you have to have a knowledge of light and your equipment. At a such a high shutter speed and exposing for the balloon only, all background light is eradicated. Quite a good effect even if I say so myself.

The yellow food colouring turned the water almost orange.

Much prefer the blue water - a nice contrast with the black background.

The mixture of food colouring made this one look like coke!