High-speed, or freeze-motion, photography has joys multifaceted: It can reveal brilliant colors and patterns and enlighten us as to the way things work. Those things that happen so quickly that they are not registered by the human eye, often explosive in a nature yet so minuscule that one would hardly notice, can be also be some of the most entertaining events on the planet – as the following 10 amazing high-speed photos attest. I tried to pick a few unconventional examples, some you might not have seen before – see if you can use them for graphic design inspiration!
A bullet searing through a line of crayons spouts colored wax pellets in a random speckled pattern that might make a good backdrop for an explosive ad.
Ebenezer Scrooge would be proud of the hillbilly who got a lump of coal for Christmas instead of the Winchester Model 101 he asked Santa for. Apparently, he took it out on this ornament.
3. Paintball will never look the same
Not after you see this freeze frame of a paintball exploding. It’s like a liquid nebula!
4. A flying saucer in a milk saucer
This splash of milk forms the shape of a flying saucer with shunted tentacles … at least that’s what it looks like to me.
5. Death to the Jack of Diamonds
Bullets are popular with high-speed photographers – some even call it bullet art. Notice how the paper shards look shattered rather than torn.
Water has amazing and unique tension properties than can only be fully appreciated with freeze frames.
I never realized that water, however briefly, retains its shape when you pop a water balloon.
At least, that’s what I think this lingering drop of water looks like as it drips off the faucet.
I’m not sure if this is milk with food coloring or something else, but I love the colorful splash it produces. Want to try a fun experiment? Pour milk about a quarter-inch deep into a casserole dish, dot it with food coloring, then drop a wee bit of dish soap in the middle.
Water balloons can look like large, puffy, fuzzy flowers when popped and captured at high speed.
Want some more great high speed photography images? Try this Flickr group. For sports fans, “Sports Illustrated” has an awesome slide show with several high speed shots here.
Nice Images! I especially like the playing card split by a bullet.
If you like this, you need to see what this guys did for a TV series in Discovery channel! http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/time-warp/time-warp.html
Thanks Ken – I liked the playing card as well. Thanks!
Tom – the Time Warp show is awesome. I saw the episode where they slowed down Metallica as the band played – I had no idea drum cymbals rippled and waved so much when they were hit!