Superspeed water balloons .

[Desmond]

I've finally overcome my biggest problem with "high voltage discharge assisted bursting water balloons" .[taking a breath] .
My biggest problem has been the fact that the very bright flash of the wire bursting simply takes over the exposure as in this image.



Tonight I set it all up again but this time I used my D90 and an SB800 flash in high-fp mode. Here we finally have a situation where the pre-flash has made a useful contribution to the final outcome of the image .
I used an optic flash trigger so that the wire would burst when triggered by the pre-flash - this gives the bright flash of the wire bursting time to die down so that as the camera takes the real picture there is no other light besides ambient and the flash - on a sunny day I wouldn't need the flash to face the balloon because I could use the ambient to light the scene .

The victim .....


and at 1/1000th sec .



and another try at 1/4000th sec - we have 'water pudding' .



Now that I have a method for triggering an event at very high shutter speeds I think it's time to get something more flammable in those balloons




.

[capshook]

I can hardly for what you have in store for us!

[wolfd]

Awesome shots. Please be careful though !!

[Desmond]

Originally Posted by capshook

I can hardly for what you have in store for us!

I'm thinking of a water balloon sitting on top of a bag of lpg with the wire running between - filmed at 400fps with the Nikon J1.
As the wire bursts and cuts the balloon open it also ignites the gas which should create a ring of fire around the water ....... hmmmm , maybe I should dig out the gunpowder as well

[Desmond]

Originally Posted by wolfd

Awesome shots. Please be careful though !!

"Yes dear" ..... ooops , I'm getting you mixed up with my wife , she keeps saying that .

[wolfd]

lol Desmond

[Desmond]

Originally Posted by wolfd

lol Desmond

But I will try to be careful though - thanks for the reminder