Have fun with the kids and highspeed photography.
By Howard Seelig
23 September 2007
A friend of mine showed me a video, shot with a highspeed camera of a waterballoon being popped.
I thought I would give it a try with my Canon 30D.
I enlisted my kids to help out, which wasn't hard because it involved waterballoons. My older son hates it when the camera comes out and does not like his picture taken but he made an exception this time. The payment for helping was when the camera was put away, they could throw balloons at me.
They loved seeing the result after each try. As you can see, some shots are great others a split second off.
I set my camera to the high fps rate. Shutter at 1/2000 - 1/5000, counted down from three and with some luck got some suspended animation.
At one point, I got lucky and didn't get the pin in my hand. So much for trying a different angle.
The only shot I could not get was of the pin just entering the balloon (more balloon less water).
If you have some free time and want to get the kids off the couch, this little example taught them about the power of photography and gravity, plus we all had fun.
Moral of the story:
A safety pin is not safe around a waterballoon.
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