Trying to figure out these types of micro explosions for a Photo project

[james471]

So I'm working on a new photo project, one that uses high speed strobes to capture micro explosions with powders and liquids. I found some small examples and I was wondering if anyone could help me to figure out how these were done. I'm guessing they are some sort of an airburst created by a chemical reaction. Take a peek, they are very cool images. Any help would be great!!

 

Thank you!

[Peret]

Not knowing the source of those pics I may be wrong, but it looks very much like they were done with Photoshop. The lighting is wrong. In the first pic there are two light sources, reflections to the left on the lipstick and to the right on the drop. It's bogus.

[james471]

Not knowing the source of those pics I may be wrong, but it looks very much like they were done with Photoshop. The lighting is wrong. In the first pic there are two light sources, reflections to the left on the lipstick and to the right on the drop. It's bogus.

 

Well they are certainly manipulated, but I'm sure something made those blasts.

[Arthur]

There are some really tiny squibs used in the SFX pyro industry that would lift a small charge of water (first image) or powder (second image) You would have to do LOTS of tests to get the right delay for a very fast flash tube setup to freeze the effect. Also there is a lot of manipulation in those pictures.

 

Remember that the image needs to be taken for about 1/10,000 second or less to freeze the motion, and light power at that speed is hard to get (and that's probably why the images are if small items).

[james471]

There are some really tiny squibs used in the SFX pyro industry that would lift a small charge of water (first image) or powder (second image) You would have to do LOTS of tests to get the right delay for a very fast flash tube setup to freeze the effect. Also there is a lot of manipulation in those pictures.

 

Remember that the image needs to be taken for about 1/10,000 second or less to freeze the motion, and light power at that speed is hard to get (and that's probably why the images are if small items).

 

Flash duration is no issue, the packs I use have a flash duration of about 1/12,000 of a second, they are fast. I'm not worried about anything other than figuring out what kind of a small explosive this is. I've worked with gun shots, micro-scopes and splashes, just never explosions. I just need some guidance as to where I can either find someone with this kind of experience or if there is a legal, safe method that can be used to make this happen.

[asilentbob]

IMO, the first picture looks completely fake and just taken from stock pics or something. The second is more curious. I want to say some sort of projectile(s) impacting... but its hard to say.

 

If your wanting to try to work with small explosions, I'd say start with small firecrackers, blackcats or the equivalent.

 

Well... since most pyros would tend to love to see still frames or super slow video of this kinda stuff... I'd say find a special effects company, show them some of your past work and ask them if they could help you work with some small explosions or something.

Edited October 19, 2010 by asilentbob

[optimus]

It's hard to tell from such low-res images, but they look like stock water splashes to me. Heavily retouched of course, looks like the colour has been added.

[ChrisNZ]

I hope this will help, I've made images like this before.

 

If you look at both of them carefully and metally block out the lipstick and makeup the splash/explosion you're left with a '2D' (flat image) that just looks like grains of sugar (or powder) spilt on a dark background, it doesn't look '3D' (depth added) until the lipstick and makeup are added (probley simple layer mask) in. The lighting on the products and the fact that (in your mind) your eyes are drawn to them instead of the rest of the picture (the spilt powder) give it a kind of non-focused-effect that at first glance looks like a splash or explosion.

 

So, go grab a black napkin if you want a black background, experiment with tipping salt/sugger/KNO3/whatever on it in the same kind of fashion. Take photos of a few different arrangements. Bring them into Photoshop a layer per each. Adjust levels so the dark is darker, lights are lighter (you'll know when it's right) mask out the black background on the top-most layers and then bring in the 'product' between a few layers, play with the layers so it has some powder layers behind it some infront to give it the 'depth' required.

 

It'll take some practice, but you'll find you can probley even get better results than those two you supplied.

 

 

Edit:

Obviously the more 'concentrated' areas are just thicker layers of powder. If you go back and look now after reading this, you'll see powder instead of splashes or explosions though which kind of wreck the effect for yourself.

Edited November 8, 2010 by ChrisNZ

[Updup]

I hope this will help, I've made images like this before.

 

If you look at both of them carefully and metally block out the lipstick and makeup the splash/explosion you're left with a '2D' (flat image) that just looks like grains of sugar (or powder) spilt on a dark background, it doesn't look '3D' (depth added) until the lipstick and makeup are added (probley simple layer mask) in. The lighting on the products and the fact that (in your mind) your eyes are drawn to them instead of the rest of the picture (the spilt powder) give it a kind of non-focused-effect that at first glance looks like a splash or explosion.

 

So, go grab a black napkin if you want a black background, experiment with tipping salt/sugger/KNO3/whatever on it in the same kind of fashion. Take photos of a few different arrangements. Bring them into Photoshop a layer per each. Adjust levels so the dark is darker, lights are lighter (you'll know when it's right) mask out the black background on the top-most layers and then bring in the 'product' between a few layers, play with the layers so it has some powder layers behind it some infront to give it the 'depth' required.

 

It'll take some practice, but you'll find you can probley even get better results than those two you supplied.

 

 

Edit:

Obviously the more 'concentrated' areas are just thicker layers of powder. If you go back and look now after reading this, you'll see powder instead of splashes or explosions though which kind of wreck the effect for yourself.

 

Wow! Thats really cool, I never would have thunk it =/

[ChrisNZ]

Quickly made this in Photoshop to give you an idea. It's not perfect, but the powder is an image that can be found with a Google Image Search, it's used twice on a layer behind the tool box (also of Google Images) and then again on top of it.

 

Could use layer blending with it's black background but i just magic wand to get rid of some of the black pixels... It looks like an explosion though, same way as I believe the above images would have been created.

 

Q: Why would they use spilt powder designs, etc?

A: Well you can spend as many frames as you want on it, it's not moving. try making a mini explosion 20-50 times trying to capture both the 'explosion' and the 'perfect' shot.

 

Another case of Efficiency is intelligent laziness.

(Laziness and efficiency both come from wanting less work, so the most efficient people are sometimes those most motivated in their laziness.)

 

 

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/142/powdersplashexplosion.jpg