Puff ball (C)

Puff ball ejecting Spores.(C)
This is the common puff ball giving off its spores. This is off a slide photographed with my new drainpipe digitiser. When these fungi are ripe it only takes a drop of rainwater to trigger off the ejection.
( see it ? )
I did this many years ago after talking to Heather Angel at a conference. She was and is a great inspiration to many not least of all me.
Not a tecnical masterpiece but some of you may be interested.
Ektachrome.
Three flashheads.
Cheers
JohnR

this would be a very difficult shot to take on digital where you can at least play back your results and check exposure etc. On film this must have been practically impossible. I think this is an excellent shot, my only nit would be the flash-induced black background which looks less natural.

Matt

Thanks Matt
yes- in fact two small flashes were facing forwards so making it blacker. The idea was to show up the minute spores against the bakdrop.
Cheers
John

Great capture of the water droplet in between the two puffballs and the spores are not bad as well. As a fan of black BGs, in this case making the spores stand out, I think the whole image is excellent.

I've just been looking at the new Casio EXILIM Pro EX-FH20 capable of high-speed burst shooting at 40 fps and can record high speed movies at up to 1000 fps and the older Casio EXILIM Pro EX-F1 ultra-high speed 60 frames per second (fps) burst rate for still images, together with 1,200 fps high speed movie recording, there are pros and cons of both. Decisions, decisions.

Hi John,

Cracking result considering the equipment used and not being able to see an instant result to try again if need be, although "the good old days" you made sure you got it right first time !!

Interesting shot thanks for sharing

Regards

Rob

Looks pretty good to me John!

David

Hi John
an extremly pleaseing shot and the techs are sppot on for me. very well done.

Hi John,

Terrific shot. And a good idea. I'm going to try that also. If it ever may succeed I will post it here.

Very, very good John it demonstrates the moment perfectly.
Eric

Nice one John. Different

Steve

Nice one - I would be very pleased if this were mine!

Nice image John, well worth the effort I like it alot.

Regards

Thanks everyone for your interest.
No one has asked how it was done by the way ?
JohnR

Go on then John, spill the beans and tell us how you did it. I for one will be very interested.

Three hours setting up a science lab clamp and hypo syringe in just the right spot. Wait till the puffs are ripe and then bingo ! You can see where the water droplet hit the right hand puff ball. Dead simple really - untill you try it !!
JR
Sorry- firing the camera and flashes takes a bit of trial and error too !

A fine example of one of the classic shots around a few years ago. If memory serves me, black velvet was often used in these shots, to give both a jet black B.G. and a non reflective surface.

As in all things, a little knowledge, and some lateral thinking, is all that is required to achieve the target image.

Nice shot, which has stood the test of time.

An incredible moment John. We take things like this for granted today with video capture and then isolation of a single frame, but to achieve this in the way you did is amazing