Popping Balloons for Some Creative Photography

Crazy high shutter speeds can lead to some pretty awesome photos as you capture things that simply happen too fast for our eyes and brains. This video brings some simple, easy, and fun shots your way using those super quick shutter speeds.

Brought to you via North Borders, in this video we find the boys in the backyard popping balloons. Straightforward as can be, the setup requires your camera, balloons, and water (things pretty much anyone should be able to get their hands with no trouble). When the setup is this simple, it means you get to spend more time having fun and taking photos, which is always a good thing.

If you're looking to try this, or something similar the basics are simple and you don't need to have a great deal of experience or technical know-how in order to take cool images. In this instance, because the goal is to capture the moment and immediate subsequent moments that a water balloon pops, know that the higher shutter speed the better. When freezing motion is the point, the higher the shutter speed the better. All you've got to do is find the balance where your shutter speed is high enough to freeze the moment of the pop and you're still getting enough light at that shutter speed for a good clean exposure (wider apertures and a bump in the ISO if necessary are going to be your friends here).

The setup they are running in this video is about as simple as it gets which means grab a few friends, grab your gear, hit the store and pickup a pack of balloons. Have a little fun while you're at it, sounds like a good time for a barbecue, am I right? If you've done anything like this before, leave a comment with your image below, let's see what you've got.

Evan Kane is a portrait photographer based near Seattle. He specializes in colorful location portraits with a bit of a fairy tale flair. Always looking to create something with emotion behind it, he fell backwards into photography in mid 2015 and has been pursuing this dream ever since. One if his mottos: "There is always more to learn."

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3 Comments

Less messy is to only have a few drops of water in the balloon, which produces a spray that keeps the balloon shape after the rubber has shrunk away. I do lots of these pics at kids' science fairs. Here shot with a stroboscopic flash.

Wow, that is way cool.

This post motivated me to pull out the water balloons I bought for this purpose and finally do it. Thanks!