10 Masterpieces of High-Speed Water Photography
Mon, Jan 5, 2009
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All images: © Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
Since the iconic images of a moving galloping race horse were revealed in 1887 by English photographer Eadweard Muybridge, high-speed photography has come on in leaps and bounds. Multiple cameras are no longer needed to capture motion, just one, usually hideously expensive, camera is required (and some fancy equipment).
The Needle
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
High-speed photography allows us to view things that ordinarily move too quickly for us register as a single image. Everyday events such as a drop of water falling into a bowl are suddenly transformed into liquid sculpture. Beauty and art replace the mundane.
The Girl
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
Those who specialise in high-speed photography are masters of patience. Trying to capture the perfect shot takes some setting up, and although there are various ways to catch the images, seemingly frozen in time, many photographers have their own personal technique, which they guard closely. The most common technique is to use high-speed flashes with quick shutter times. The images are often then polished up in Photoshop, or some digital imaging package, but only the background and shadows are manipulated, the actual fluid shape is left untouched.
Watermetery
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
Water is often used in high-speed photography, as are other fluids, which are capable of producing infinite organic shapes, depending on how the photographer has set up the shot. Some photographers use specific equipment such as pipettes and drip feeders; others taint the fluid with color, resulting in sometimes strong and impressive images like these by Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA) 2008 finalist, Vladimir Nefedov.
The Crown
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
Vladimir is a recognized authority in the field of high-speed photography and once managed the professional photographic studio, Prozess in his native Russia. He says on his website (in Russian, so roughly translated):
“There is not yet a technique that could embody what occurs inside of us, and science has not thought up how to photograph dreams or happiness. Art of a photo is an attempt of visualization [of these things], made possible by manipulation of the images, given to us in the objective world and in sensations, they are then fixed using a camera, producing something imperceptible and unique…”
Ash Tray
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
The Bell
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
The Lira
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
Red in White
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
Crystal Vase
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
Water Joke
© Vladimir Nefedov, courtesy of Sony World Photography Awards 2009
For your chance to enter the Sony World Photography Awards 2009, read our previous entries: Timon and Pumbaa and Environmental Graffiti Partners with Sony World Photography Awards. The closing date for Prince’s Rainforest Project Awards has been extended to February 28, 2009.
UPDATE: Since writing this post we heard from Vladimir, who very kindly offered a few words to be added to the article:
“If water and temporary life are inseparable, if eternal life for the person begins with immersion in water, don’t you agree that it would be rather strange for the Creator not to have decorated its main substance with gorgeous forms. A snowflake and an iceberg, a forest brook and Niagara, puddles on asphalt and storm surf – this is all the glory of water, perceived with our noble eyesight. And it is impossible to imagine that in the sphere of imperceptible it can suddenly deplete.
“Plus, photography, as a natural piece of art, not suffocated with corset of
aesthetics is always primaeval and will be always finding its authors and viewers. Modern technologies only multiply the freedom of photographer if they are applied as instruments and do not end in themselves.”
Vladimir Nefedov opens to us in a new way unimaginable forms created by the falling drop. In a number of these images, someone will be dazzled with subject associations, someone with Japanese elegance of contemplative “design”, others with a mysterious unrecognisable space.
Thanks again!
*Vladimir has a new website coming soon.
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4 Trackbacks For This Post
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10 obras maestras de la fotografía de alta velocidad a gotas de agua Says:
January 6th, 2009 at 1:17 pm[...] 10 obras maestras de la fotografía de alta velocidad a gotas de agua www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/masterpieces-of-high-… por tarkovsky hace pocos segundos [...]
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high-speed water photography « EnaMorado Says:
January 12th, 2009 at 1:36 pm[...] alexa these images taken by vladimir nefedov are the result of really cool (and fairly new) high-speed photography [...]
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SecondHandPixelsBlog » Blog Archive » 10 Masterpieces of High-Speed Water Photography Says:
February 1st, 2009 at 3:53 pm[...] Multiple cameras are no longer needed to capture motion, just one, usually hideously expensive, camera is required (and some fancy [...]
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40 Stunning Examples of High Speed Photography « Eternity Says:
January 28th, 2010 at 2:09 pm[...] High Speed Water Photography [...]
January 6th, 2009 at 1:37 am
Very Nice!!!!!!!
January 6th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
The bell looks more like a shroom.
January 7th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Awesome photos, just love how different all the splashes are.
January 7th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
the Watermetery photo is my fave… so gorgeous.
January 7th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Those are absolutely gorgeous. I’ve seen many similar shots, but those are beyond surreal. They are from another world entirely.
January 7th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
I love these!
very creative thought.
I want to see more!
January 8th, 2009 at 12:55 am
photoshopped. every one of them, clearly fake. I can see pixels!
*evil grin*
January 8th, 2009 at 1:53 am
You understand the meaning of exquisite. All dreams are contained in a drop of water. Someone just needs to see them. You not only see them, you photograph them. So others can see.
I salute you.
January 8th, 2009 at 3:40 am
As a person who loves water, and is ceasely fascinated with the way water envelopes out lives, it is a pleasure to find a yet different expression. I think water is exquisite, we can’t live with out it, but yet it can deadly as well. People can drown, have their homes destroyed, along with personal belongings, and yet in it’s simplest of forms, the earth is covered by more than 1/3 of it’s surface. In it’s capacities, it is waited for in the deserts of the world, it nurtures the essence of the rain forest, creates beautiful fountains to watch. And you have now added some other unique ways in which to look at simple plops of water, and watch the phases in which plops create images.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:12 am
Would look great on my wall.
January 8th, 2009 at 4:26 am
It’s so easy to procrastinate by looking at awesome pictures like these. The innocence… sometimes I justify it by comparing the fact that I’m not on Digg. But seriously, great photos!
January 8th, 2009 at 5:26 am
Wow.
Those water droplets are made even more beautiful when you stop to realize just how fleeting they are.
Just,”Wow”.
January 8th, 2009 at 7:50 am
I think these photos are amazing! Pretty good work! I prefer “The Needle”!
January 8th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Let us not omit mention of Doc Edgerton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Edgerton), who pioneered and developed the technology that makes these beautiful pictures possible. It is because of his work that we have stroboscopes and electronic flash. On the shoulders of giants, and all that.
January 8th, 2009 at 10:08 pm
Having loved beautiful glass for many years seeing water almost mimic glass in look is amazing. Love your work.
vicki
January 8th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Pretty Dang Cool, I like these.
http://www.softballnews.net
January 9th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Those are absolutely gorgeous. I’ve never seen any similar to these shots.those are beyond surreal. They are from another world entirely.
January 9th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
This is awesome. Amazing pics. I want more…!!
January 9th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Nice highspeed photois!
January 9th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Indeed, that is masterful.
January 10th, 2009 at 12:24 am
very good work
thats nice snapshot
January 10th, 2009 at 12:29 am
One word for these are Beatiful.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:21 am
Wow! Now I want to get into photography!
January 10th, 2009 at 7:56 am
it’s wonderful!
January 10th, 2009 at 8:22 am
amazing! these photos are really terrific!
January 10th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Wow, truly amazing. I think the girl figure was the most astonishing!
January 10th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
hey’re so strange and so beutiful
January 11th, 2009 at 10:04 am
These are so amazing, I wounder how many photos it took to get it just perfect. It must be a bit of a lottery, but every shot must look fantastic. :) Great work, keep it up!
January 13th, 2009 at 4:02 am
wow this is really fantastic!.. loved it
January 13th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
These are awesome! The one looks like a lady on the water.
January 13th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Very awesome. Great collection!
January 13th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
LOVE.IT. Truely inpiring stuff!
January 14th, 2009 at 12:34 am
So Harold Edgerton did this in 1937, why is Vladimir Nefedov so great. For over 70 years people are using HI-speed cameras to capture drops of water…
I don’t have anything with Vladimir, but the internet is full of photos like those…
January 14th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
very strange
January 15th, 2009 at 6:57 am
i’m skeptical… some of these look like they’re small plastic sculptures masquerading as splashes.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
WOW..! these images are really beautiful :)
January 16th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
wow. incredable use of color in these shots
January 17th, 2009 at 12:49 am
amazing, what camera etc is used?
January 17th, 2009 at 7:06 am
Just amazing. simply amazing. keep going
January 17th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
These pictures are all either photoshop (C) or computer generated; what is so difficult or artistic about photography using these methods? I would like to see what they can do with a camera and some creativity.
January 18th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
C’est merveilleux! Merci de partager cela avec nous!
January 20th, 2009 at 2:44 am
Amazing photographer, thanks stumble!
January 20th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
That is some great photography. I really enjoyed viewing these images. Very creative and beautiful photography!
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:32 am
nice pictures…great work….
such creativity with such clarity is really appreciable!
January 24th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Stunning photos! Just gorgeous.
January 31st, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Beautiful!
February 5th, 2009 at 4:05 am
The Lira looks like a vagina.
February 11th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Waow very nice!!
Pascal
http://www.agitatto.com/blog a magazine on art and design
April 27th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
wow.. beautiful and amazing .
May 4th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
geez is this for real?
October 19th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
Thank u very much for the master piece
January 9th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Brilliant droplet photography..the most challenging type in photography.. You need a fast shutter speed to capture the water, and so a lot of light is required..taking droplet photography in morning is advised.
March 8th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
it seems using 3D software. I have using for created image like this.
because the drops was so fake, and the surface seems using sculpt tool on 3d program.
March 12th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
Absoluut fantastiese fotos. Kon nie beter.