Eye Splash Salem Elrahal and Chip Rotolo The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics March 31, 2008 - April 8, 2008   Home Method Photo Journal Photo Gallery Results

Method

What we wanted to capture

-                         For this high-speed photo we wanted to capture a drop of water landing on a human eyeball, or the best representation we could get. We wanted to capture the drop before it hit, as it was standing on the eye, hitting the eye, and bouncing off.  We would need to get very close up, while still getting a good focus. Good lighting would also be necessary, especially to get the right capturing of the water drop. Also, we wanted the eye to be as realistic as possible, so we would adjust its physical properties so it had similar composure.

Equipment

-                          ● Nikon D50 camera

-                          ● Tap Water as drops

Setup

-                          To capture the image we wanted, we needed extreme stability in the camera, the subject, and the drop of water. For this, we used a splash box with a burette in the top, a small bowl to sit the eye on, a “gummy” eye (until, or if, we could get another representation), and a Nikon D50 camera.

-                          We mounted the camera close to the eye on a tripod, and steadied the splash box.  We set the drop to hit on top of the eye, and also had to set a delay on the photogate, which detected the drop. As the drop went through the photogate, the delay unit assured that the flash would go off when the drop was hitting the eye. For flash, we used two Vivatar 253 flash units, steadied at the same level as the subject from behind. We had them at forty five angles on opposite sides of the subject, so the flash would not directly go into the lens. Also, we didn’t want any unnecessary hot spots from the flashes. The only other thing we did to assure the best picture was set up a black sheet behind to give as simple a background as possible.

Image Capturing

-                          To get the image, we cut off the lights and partially opened the burette, so that water would slowly drip out. We took pictures with a .5 second shutter speed between flashes. After about five trials, we readjusted the flash, aperture, and/or focus to try and capture better shots. We used the raw image quality, an ISO speed of 400, and an f-11 aperture. After getting our best lighting and focus on the raw setting, we decided to vary the timing of the delay. We captured the drop falling, striking the eye, and bouncing up and producing a crown. The delay varied around .2 seconds. With this, we were able to create a slide show of nine of our better shots.