In this project we filled and coated balloons with various substances: Jell-O, dishwashing liquid, pudding, honey, water, etc. Then we took high speed photographs of the popping of the balloons. We had two main photo shoots in this project, one with black and white film and one with color film.
See Setup for a complete experimental setup or Setup Picture.
For both sets of photos we used a SLR camera with a Vivitar 283 Flash; we also used a sound trigger in both cases to set of the flash of setting yellow. In the black and white photo shoot we used 400 ISO black and white film speed 400 and a aperture setting of 5.6. The camera's exposure setting was set on B (Manual). The camera was about 1 meter away from the balloon setup, the flash was about a meter from the balloon setup and the trigger was about a half of meter from the balloon setup.
In the color pictures, on the other hand, we used 100 speed film (100 ISO Color) and a filter on the flash. The flash and the camera stayed about a meter away from the popping balloon but the trigger moved closer to about .25 meters away. The aperture was also changed to 4.
See Setup for a complete experimental setup or Setup Picture.
When the photo shoot started in each case, there was usually a person to take the picture, a person to pop the balloon, and a person to control the lights. While the lights were on the balloon was set up and the camera was focused. Then the lights were cut out, the shutter was opened and the balloon was popped. Next, the shutter was closed and the lights were cut on.
This was repeated for each balloon.
After each shoot the film was developed (in the physic's darkroom for black and white, and professionally for color). Next the negatives were scanned into the computer and edited using a photo editing program. Before beginning the color photo shoot we reflected on the pictures and made suggestions for their improvement. See Photo-Journal.