Liquid Art & Droplet Photography

"QUANTUM SHOT" #325
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One Ordinary Drop of Water

Since our popular article about high-speed photography of exploding objects, we received various tips and links to the droplet photography and water "sculptures". It takes great skill (and good equipment) to create such frozen-in-time compositions, revealing the beauty, the inherent energy and the dynamics of flowing and dripping water. Some artists substitute water with more viscous liquids, producing even more lava-lamp-like effects. But often just playing with coloring and light is enough to make an effective picture. In this post, we will try to cover the variety and excitement of high-speed liquid photography.

Luiz Luxvich makes startlingly clear images of splashing water

This master from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has a good presence on flickr, so make sure to check out the rest of his colorful creations.

(images credit: Luiz Luxvich)

Amazingly, water looks simply great without any added coloring, like in these shots from the French photographer:

Liquid Sculptures of Martin Waugh

Martin Waugh at Liquid Sculpture is perhaps the most famous artist in this "sub-genre". His works are described as full of "fun, whimsy and wonder". The full gallery is here, and it is exceptional.

Water Kiss!

(images credit: Martin Waugh)

More Surreal Colored Drops

These droplets seem to have a life of their own. This kind of action might have inspired prominent science fiction artist Richard M. Powers to come up with his famous fluid-forms compositions.

Fotoopa photographer from Belgium makes art, which is one million times better than a lava lamp, trust me...

(image credit: fotoopa)

Got Milk? Spill it, Drip it, Swirl it! (artistically)

Milk Drop:

(image credit: Michele M. Ferrario)

Drops of food coloring comprise the artistically-pleasing set by Peter Ovesny:

Tentacle!

Splashes of colors:

(images credit: Peter Ovesny)

(image credit: Irene Mueller)

Not mercury, not ice - just water... splendid water:

Woke up one morning, saw this thing crawling toward me across the sink... decided to go to sleep some more -

(image credit: Carolina LaBranche)

Carolina LaBranche (Cayoyin) writes to us: "The picture was not retouched on the computer by any means. It is just like it trasferred directly form the memory card of the camera".

Coffee Meets Milk

Gorgeous "liquid art" photography by Irene Muller, who brings coffee & milk to an entirely new level of existence. With her permission, here are some samples of this highly delicate art:

You own personal caffeine octopus:

You want eggs with that?

Blueberry Milkshake:

Suspended...

(images credit: Irene Muller)

For more great examples of colored drops high-speed photography we're going to recommend this flickr group. The following photographs, though, we've received without any credit, so please let us know if you recognize them:

(image credit: Ratow, 3D rendering)

Cold Shower Splendor

Next time someone overturns a bucket of cold water over your head, perhaps they are just (selfishly) taking a picture... like this one:

(image credit: Helene Desplechin)

While the water flow looks definitely mesmerizing in high-speed photography, the fall of individual droplets, one after another, can also produce fascinating effect:

Dynamics of the Droplet's Fall

In these shots we can trace the physics of water's flow in an individual caplet form, which seem to be quite complex:
(see more on this page)

(images credit: John Bush at M.I.T.)

In Your Face!

Liquid Art's often used in promotional and advertisement photography:

Droplets Potpourri

The Universe reflected in a single drop, or a necklace of droplets:

(image credit: Irene Mueller)

(originals unknown)

Speaking of droplets and bubbles, one of their most artistic representation must be a series by Linda. Here is one example:

(image credit: Linda)

Most of the effects presented here have explanation in water's surface tension. Soap bubbles, especially of the huge variety, demonstrate this force most clearly: