Black Hole

This surprisingly space-oriented image is actually a shot of a drop of water splashing into a pie pan of water. The vortex on the bottom is the cavitation caused by the collapse of the column of water that “bounced” upward following the initial splash of the first drop. The sphere above it is the secondary drop that was at the top of that column. The room is dark, and the light source is a strobe with a round diffuser aimed at the pan from about 10:00. The colors you see are caused by refraction in a bunch of tiny bubbles that formed on the bottom of the glass pie pan.

Tomorrow, we’ll try some other lighting for a totally different look.

Genesis 1:3

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

Headlights

This headlight shot was not gelled, because the flash was at a different angle, and it mostly overpowered the light from the headlamp. What little yellow tint is visible I thought was a nice bit of color for the shot.

Sexy Solstice

Taken in a dark garage with the headlights on. Exposure was f/11 for 0.5 seconds with a handheld speedlite (gelled with a 1/2 CTO) just over the passenger seatback.

Bee in Pollen

Here’s one of my sharpest bee photos yet. I was trying to get a shot of a bee in flight, but this guy was lined up nicely for me, so I couldn’t pass it up. Look at all the pollen stuck to him. I never realized that was the purpose of all the little hairs all over the bee. I’m not sure what he’s going to do with the pollen, because I never had that little talk with my dad, but I’m sure it’s important.

Water

This is a fresh new brush head for my Oral B. I’m dripping water onto it while it’s running, and the strobe freezes the droplets from behind.

Fire

I thought about doing matches for this one, but I’ve done those in the past and thought I’d try something different—lighting a blowtorch with a flint spark igniter. This shot uses a strobe to freeze the igniter, which is just handheld, and to light the outside surface of the torch. I also dragged the shutter for 0.5 seconds to capture the blue flames and the sparks. Do you like this one as much as I do? Maybe I’m just a pyro.