Summary

Our project was originally meant to feature images of a soda can opened by a person clicking the top, but we had to change our plans, as this was not easily done.  In our final project, we photographed the opening and smashing of shaken soda cans.  We were able to capture unique compositions with both interesting flashes and shapes of the can in its various stages of collapsing under a hammer, and we feel that we were able to get neat pictures out of a fun project although it wasn't exactly what we had first planned to do.

We used a digital Sony DKC-FP3 camera, a Vivitar 283 flash unit, and a sound trigger with a special delay unit as our equipment.  In our setup, we used a desk to prop the soda can, and the back wall of physics Lab 3 with black plastic and cloth covering as a background.  We sometimes used a hammer to smash the cans rather than open them using their pop-tops.  To see a diagram of our setup, visit our Diagram page.

We found that an aperture of f/6.2 worked best along with an ISO of 100.  We also found that the best distances to use were:

Though we had to make several changes in location, camera, and style (see Photo Journal), we were able to end up with several pictures that we liked.  To see these pictures, visit our Photo Gallery.