Photographing sound

Yep, you read that correctly.

I was talking to someone over the holiday weekend who mentioned that he would be putting together a science museum exhibit with the theme of sound and musical instruments. Time to call up my friend with the pipe organ (really!).

But then as I was thinking about it, how could I photograph sound? In a still photo as well? Or at least illustrate it photographically?

One suggestion was to putting clear food wrap over a stereo speaker, sand or flour or some other light material on top and the crank up the volume. I'm sure the neighbors would love that one.

So... Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to do this? Cheap is a big requirement, since I was recently laid off.

Sorry to hear you've lost your job, Dan. Having been in that position before I know it doesn't feel good.

Do you have access to a guitar or other stringed instrument? Set up a shot with the camera positioned to shoot the body of the instrument, pluck a string and take the shot. You should get the string vibrating and everything else still. I got a shot last spring of a guitar player strumming and his right hand was blurred by motion while everything else was still. That could work too.

Put a bowl of water on top of a stereo speaker. The volume wouldn't need to be very loud to cause ripples in the water.

Those are a few ideas.

Thanks for the two ideas. I'm working on instrument access - I think I can also do something similar with a piano.

I like to bowl of water idea - I suspect that the neighbors will as well

Thanks!

Dan, see if you can obtain a low frequency tuning fork about; 110 Hz should work nicely. Strike it with a rubber mallet and take some long exposure shots of it. You should be able see the motion of it quite readily.

Another idea...drop a pebble into some water and take some shots of the ripples. While this is not strictly 'sound', the wave nature of sound would be nicely demonstrated.

-P

I like the idea of putting sand on a membrane over a speaker. You should be able to get the sand to jump around. A drum might be even better than a speaker.

If you do something with vibrating water, a few drops of light oil on the water (just enough to give it an iridescent sheen) might make for interesting images.

Cheers,

What about a laser pointer attached to an instrument (a drum sounds good) or a metronome and pan the camera across the jumping dot with a long exposure?

Dan,

Here's a diagram of one approach

http://www.pbase.com/fotoopa/image/64979662

and examples.

http://www.pbase.com/fotoopa/water_figures&page=all

Looks like something that would be fun to experiment with.

~Eric

Or, as a follow-on to Randall's thought, glue a couple of small mirrors (emphasis on 'small') at a couple points on a loudspeaker cone, then bounce a laser pointer off the mirrors and onto a flat surface. I think this technique was used on the some of the early 'Lasarium' shows.

To continue on the above idea - get an old speaker preferably a bass speaker or woofer. Glue four risers to it (partially unravelled paper clips work really well) at the cardinal points. String two rubber bands across the risers so that they form a cross and secure the intersection. Glue a tiny mirror onto this intersection. Turn on music with some bass and shoot a mounted laser pointer onto the mirror so that its reflected onto a white wall or ceiling. If you have some music with a moog bass you are in for a visual treat. You can tweak the thing by changing the tension on the rubber bands or changing the configuration.

An effective photograph shouldnt need gimmicks to convey sound, it should "speak for itself" so-to-speak FInd some photos that speak about sound (crashing waves, a quiet forest, a flock of birds etc). Just a thought.

Thanks everyone for the ideas. I think I can actually do most of them with what I have around or can get access to.

Stan - yours is a good idea. My work assumption, though, is that they will be getting other photos from a local club that will pick up on those thoughts. (Actually, I know they will be getting club submissions - it is just a matter of what.) Ideally, I'd like to put a more "sciency" look to some photos that can be used in the education department of the museum and possibly even as a stock photo/illustration.

Dan, my all time favorite photo of sound was the old Maxell Tape image of the guy in a chair, hair flying and wine glass moving off the speaker. Good luck and let us know what works, please post images.

Hey Dan,

Any ole picture of Jimi Hendrix, guitar in his hands, in front of a wall of marshall amplifiers personifies sound. :)

fwiw, this would be a cool weekly challenge motif, no?

Cheers

Carl

Maybe something like this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schlieren_photography

Jim

Sound can only be photographed like wind. Sound or wind can be registered, but only the effect can be photographed.

The anti-copy on TPN only allows the full thread link- see the 3rd & 4th pics . PICS