MAKE PORTRAITS THAT POP!

Capture your kids with bursting water balloons for amazing action portraits - James Paterson takes aim

A water balloon can be a wonderful prop for action portraiture. Inspired by the portraits of photographer Tim Tadder, the exploding balloons look almost like wigs or hats of water when frozen mid-blast. 

Aside from all the watery fun, this project is also an exercise in lighting. In order to freeze the fast action of the water, we need to go beyond what our shutter speed is capable of, and instead make use of flash duration. Put simply. this is the length of time the burst of flash lasts, and with the right lights at the right setting we can make it as fast as 1/10,000 sec or more. As long as there's no other light influencing our exposure, the flash duration effectively becomes our shutter speed, allowing us to freeze the splash.

However, that last part about 'other light' poses a problem. It means we need to shoot in near pitch-darkness - otherwise the ambient light would illuminate our scene at moments outside of the flash duration, and cause motion blur in the fast-moving water. Timing is another challenge. We need our flashes to fire at the exact moment the balloon bursts, and this isn't the kind of shoot where we can just press and hope; instead, we'll make use of a sound trigger.

There's lots to think about - the timing of the shot, the lighting setup. the posing, the practicalities of shooting in the dark. It's a slippery challenge, but that's all part of the fun.....

Get set up to capture wonderful water balloon splashes with high-speed flash and a sound sensor

1  DARK ROOM