Water Balloon Burst Photography

The rest of the article will reference Method 1 or Method 2 in parenthesis. The directions are a little different depending on which method you choose to do. So if you want to try Method #1: “Using a really fast shutter speed in bright sunlight” then follow the directions with (Method 1). Or if you want to do Method #2:  “Using flash to freeze the explosion of the water balloon” then follow the directions with (Method 2).

 

Step 1: What Equipment is Needed for Water Balloon Burst Photography?

 

Tripod (Method 1 & 2)

 

A tripod to keep things steady.

 

Camera and Lens (Method 1 & 2)

 

You’ll need camera to take the pictures. Ideally you’d want a 50mm to 100mm focal length lens, so that your camera can be far enough away from the water balloon splashes.   

 

For Method #1, you can use an iPhone or other smart phone/tablet in burst mode. To take burst photos on your iPhone, tap on the shutter button and swipe left while continuing to hold your button down. Alternatively, you can press the Volume Up button by going to Settings > Camera > and turn on the “Use Volume Up for Burst.” Now it is possible to use an iphone but because you can’t manually set the shutter speed from the native camera app, it’ll be a gamble on whether or not you’ll end up with a sharp photo or motion blurred photo.

 

Using an iPhone/smart phone probably won’t work for Method #2 due to the low light conditions.

 

Backdrop (Method 1 & 2)

 

A backdrop is recommended but optional. If you do use a backdrop, then darker colors are preferable, such as black. For budget friendly viewers, bedsheets work just as well as dedicated black backdrop cloths. 

 

Water Balloon Suspension (Method 1 & 2)

 

Next you’ll need to figure out a way to suspend the water balloon. I had a clothesline hanging so I attached a fishing line with a binder clip to the clothesline. That way I could easily change out the water balloons by clipping it on to the binder clip. The fishing line rated for 8 pounds and binder clip worked well with the smaller balloons but couldn’t hold up to the bigger balloons. So you might just want to use regular string instead of fishing line if you’re going to be using the bigger balloons. If you want to keep things looking clean, it’s better to use the same color string as the background to hang the balloons.

 

Water Balloon Popper (Method 1 & 2)

 

Now you’ll need something to pop the balloon with. You can go crazy and use a bow and arrow, dart, a fancy engineered rube goldberg machine, or just keep it simple by using a sharp object like a safety pin taped to a long stick. If you want to make it fancy, you can also paint the popping device the same color as the background, so it wont be as visible in the picture. 

 

Balloons (Method 1 & 2)

 

And last is the main attraction, which are balloons. Ideally, you’d want medium size balloons but the ease of filling up the smaller bunch o balloons types are hard to pass up. Fill up multiple balloons at once and shake off to tie up the balloons. 

 

 

 

Flash (Method #2)

 

An off camera flash unit with trigger and stand is needed if you’re planning to do Method #2:  Using flash to freeze the explosion of the water balloon. I used the Altura Flash and Trigger Set.

 

Step 2: Filling up the balloons.

 

You’ll want to prepare the balloons in advance so that you don’t waste shooting time. You can fill the balloons up with straight water. But you can also get creative and add some food coloring or a little bit of milk to add some color to the water burst and make the resulting photo pop (pun intended). Instead of water, you could even try filling up the ballon with talcum powder for other interesting effects.

 

Step 3: Equipment Set Up

 

Method 1 Configuration

 

Set up your equipment in bright sunlight. If you have a backdrop, you’ll want to plan your photo shoot in the mid day sun when the sun is shining at a high angle. Set up the shot so that you’re shooting towards the sun. The balloon should be backlit by the sun while the backdrop is kept in the shadows. At other times of the day, the angle of the sun would cause longer shadows to appear and make it harder to separate the balloon from the background. 

 

 

Method 2 Configuration

 

Set the flash so that it’s at a 45 degree angle to the balloon.

 

 

Step 4: Configure your camera settings. 

 

Focus for Method #1 and Method #2:

 

Auto focus on the balloon and then switch to manual focus so that focus is locked. You don’t want your camera to be hunting for auto focus while you’re taking pictures of the balloon exploding. Timing is crucial in this scenario.

 

Settings for Method #1:

 

Drive Mode

 

Start by putting your camera into the fastest burst continuous shooting mode. This means that while you press the shutter button the camera is going to keep rapidly taking pictures. 

 

Exposure Mode:

 

If you’re just starting out you can set your camera to Shutter Priority (Tv or S), and then the camera take care of most of the settings. The main thing we want to set is the shutter speed. Set your camera to the fastest shutter speed it can go.

 

Settings for Method #2

 

You’ll want to set the camera to manual mode so that you can manually set your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. So when setting up the shot you want the initial exposure to result in a black photo. The flash firing is what is going to light up your scene to make it visible and freeze the action.

 

Shutter Speed

 

At first I set the shutter speed to 1/200 which is the max flash sync speed. Any faster would lead to banding in the resulting photo because the shutter would close before the flash could be fully captured by the sensor. 

 

 

However when I started to shoot, it was really hard to capture the exact moment of the balloon popping so I slowed the shutter speed down to 1/10th of a second and relied on the flash to freeze the action. 

 

Aperture

 

For aperture, you would think you’d want to go with the widest aperture (that is smallest f number) since you need to let in as much light as possible with such fast shutter speeds. However, stop down the aperture to about f5.6, or more, to ensure you don’t have too narrow of a depth of field. If the aperture is too wide open at like f/2 then you may end up with out of focus water droplets.

 

ISO 

 

Set the ISO to where you can achieve a good exposure based on your shutter speed and aperture settings. If the image is too dark then increase the ISO, but increasing the ISO too much can cause noise and grain in the resulting photo. 

 

You’ll need to find a balance between your aperture and ISO to get good exposure settings. 

 

When just framing up the shot, I boosted up the ISO just so I could see where the balloon was, so that I could focus on it. Once I locked down the focus and framing. I would reduce the ISO to 100. 

 

Step 5: Let the fun begin.

 

It’s much easier to have an assistant pop the balloon for you but if you have a long enough balloon popping stick, it’s totally doable to pop the balloon and take the picture all by yourself.

 

I found that framing the balloon at the top of the frame was a little easier. Since my balloons were varying sizes, I needed to check the framing between each shot. Make sure to also adjust the focus as well. 

 

If you’re putting props or sunglasses on the ballon then it might be a little trickier when the balloon is rotating. You need to shoot at the perfect time when the props are facing you.  

 

If I had money to spare then I would invest in a sound trigger which would automatically start the camera exposure when it hears the sound of the balloon burst. If you do go this route, I’ve heard that you might need to make sure there is a bit more air in the balloon to ensure you get a louder audible pop when the balloon bursts. 

 

Additionally, I would try putting the glasses upside down and towards the bottom of the balloon. Then fiip the photo when editing. This would make it look more like a head and skinnier neck.

 

Have fun!