Photo Journal

Day 1: November 1, 2005

    This was the first day of the project, and so the main part of the period was spent setting up for taking the photos.  I spent this day setting my distances, checking the manual settings on the camera, and ensuring the delay unit was correctly set up and had good batteries inside.  Had I run into a problem with batteries or a basic component of the setup similar to that later in the picture taking process, it would have become a major set back for me.  This is because I was already aware of the fact that the photos would have to be taken successively and with little intervals in between, considering how tedious it was to get the drop to fall at the correct predictable rate.  Afterwards, I began to take very basic photos for testing.  I checked for location (where the splash hit the surface) and focus. 

Day Two: November 3, 2005

    On this day, I went more in depth and was able to spend the whole period devoted to my photos.  For homework I was required to send in a progress report and bring in any equipment for photos that I needed.  I brought in the push pins, not really expecting to use them.  At this point I still wasn't completely sure of my goal.  It was this day, however, that I finally decided on it.  I would take photos of the splashes on the different surfaces, which turned out really easy.  I got few photos using the push pins, because I was having a lot of trouble focusing.  As you can see in the example below, the drop itself is out of focus, while the background has all focus, drawing too much attention to itself. 

Day Three: November 4, 2005

    On day three, I began really using the push pins and had a little bit of trouble in the beginning with the blue metallic one.  I thought the glare was accentuating the splash, but after uploading it I noticed it only distracted from what was actually going on.  After a few photos of this, I figured it would be better to stick to simple, less shiny pins.  The water reflected enough light anyway, and the pin shouldn't also create glare.  On the left is one of the best photos I obtained from this experiment, as it has the least glare.  The shape was very good on this pin because is was curved just enough to create very steeply angled crown.  In other photos of later stages on this pin, you can see how the cast off is almost flying in a completely horizontal direction.  I worked the rest of the time on flat surface photos (like the one below in blue water) because I knew I'd focus on the yellow pin and red spherical pin the next day of lab.

Day 4 (Last Day): November 7, 2005

    Seeing as how this was the last day I'd be able to take photos, I realized I'd really have to buckle down to make any progress.  I still needed to take good photos of my necessary pins, (the yellow and red ones) and still felt like I had a long way to go to be successful.  However, it only took minutes to get setup and started, and I was happy with my results within the first ten minutes of shooting.  I put the camera on extra sharp to be sure I the pictures were clear, and they turned out well.  The biggest problem I had on this setting was the slight graininess that was prevalent in many of my photos. Notice, also, the reflection on the water standing below the pin.