Author Archives: martinw

Superhydrophobic carbon nanotubes

I’ve been wanting to play with superhydrophobic (“very water hating”) surfaces for a couple years now, but haven’t found a source. Here’s a fun video done at CalTech.

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How I Do What I Do – Overview

I often get requests for information about techniques. Here is the “stock reply” that I have been using to save me some time. Now I can just point people to this post! Equipment I don’t use special cameras or lenses, … Continue reading

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Fooled Again

I recently purchased a Canon 5D Mk II. A fine camera it seems, and the added resolution will be helpful. One small issue is that Canon redesigned the battery. Well, times change and things progress, and we can always use … Continue reading

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“Time Warp” Experience

I realize that I haven’t written about my trip to Boston. Last August, I was invited out to Boston to help on the set of Discovery Channel’s show, “Time Warp”. It was an opportunity to finally get some high-speed video … Continue reading

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Depth of Field Problems

Every now and then I get a question about managing depth of field in drop photographs. Indeed, it can be a bit frustrating. Depth of field is a perennial problem with macro photography. It’s just the physics of it. The … Continue reading

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A Good Starter Kit

Andrew Davidhazy just pointed me to this kit for high-speed photography. It looks like a great way to get started for not a lot of money. The heart of the device is a microcontroller, so it has few parts and … Continue reading

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Will My Camera Work for Drop Pictures?

This is a question I frequently get. The short answer is, “Most likely it will.” Most any camera will do. I use a an electronic circuit to trigger the camera, so I need one that has an electronic shutter release … Continue reading

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Water Drops Are Special

I suppose it’s obvious to many that water is a special substance. To recount a few of its properties that make it so: It has the highest surface tension of any liquid except mercury. It has one of the highest … Continue reading

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Static Electricity from Water

Here is a fascinating, old device: Lord Kelvin’s water drop static electricity generator. Here is a physics class demonstration of it. Do my drops suffer from this distortion? Well, I don’t have such a generator built (yet), so I don’t … Continue reading

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A. M. Worthington – Simply brilliant

When people think of high-speed photography, the name that most often comes to mind is Harold “Doc” Edgerton. And rightly so, as he contributed so much to the discipline. However, in 1876, A. M. Worthington wrote a paper entitled “A … Continue reading

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