Here is a 5 x 5 montage of 25 individual high-speed water drop collisions taken using 3 x Ultra flashgun units each working at 9-microseconds.  The combined light output energy of these units allows me to work with the Canon 5D MkII at the minimum f#32 and at ISO 100, an ideal combination for water drop work.  All these images were taken with the same timer settings on the Mumford Time Machine, so the difference in appearance between all the images is purely down to Chaos.  Interesting stuff!  The original TIFF datafile for this image is a massive 2.94Gigs (let’s just get this into perspective, this is tens of thousands of times bigger than the early hard drive capacities!!) and in terms of pixels it is 28,000 x 18,670 so it would give an 80 x 53 inch sized poster if printed out at 350 dots per inch.  This is not to say that it was an easy ride dealing with this huge image in Photoshop.  Yes Photoshop could handle the massive file – BUT – a simple edge crop took over 5-minutes to complete – so although the hardware and software could cope, my patience couldn’t, and this is getting towards the limits of what I can handle image-wise.

 

I used Noel Carboni’s “Star Filter Pro” software to add some sparkle to the bright points on the splash perimeter, seems to come out nicely.

I will keep the water drop rig assembled in my study for the next few weeks to build up a decent portfolio of splash work and then I’ll move back onto HSF of various things shot by an air rifle 🙂

Hmm – that image didn’t downsize too well – see a bigger version here:

Had a fair bit of grief with the system today, rather felt like I was working on the mini-WASP array, but at least this time I sorted the problems out.  Here is a water drop collision in a wine glass taken using a Mumford Time Machine and 3 Ultra high-speed flash units.

Again – the thumbnail hasn’t downsized too well – check out the higher res version here:

 

I have absolutely no idea why I left the Mumford Time Machine languishing under the desk in my study for nearly two years.  Maybe it’s the euphoria of early retirement?  Whatever – I brought out the Time Machine and connected it up to the three Ultra High-Speed Flash units and started playing once again with water drop collisions.  I will keep this setup together for a few weeks now while I build up a small portfolio of water drop collisions and slowly learn the best way to illuminate the splash action 🙂