Day 13

On Friday, we tried to get a strobe photo of balloons filled with paint and then us popping them. We were prepared. We brought all of the supplies needed, we made sure to get out of our 8th hour class so we could have time to do this, and we knew exactly how we were going to set it all up. First, we drilled holes into the wood so that we could pop the balloons from the back. Second, we filled the balloons with an opposite color paint. We figured out that blowing up the balloon with just wait was going to be difficult, so we put mostly paint in, then we put the balloon over the faucet so that we could blow the balloon up with water. This seemed to work, although it was pretty thin paint. We practiced with a few balloons before we took the actual shot. We put the balloons on the wood by using a staple gun. We place the strobe light on a stool so it was at the right height as the balloons. Then we placed the camera on a higher stool as well. The lighting wasn't great at first, we figured out how to get the strobe closer to the balloon and increase the exposure on the camera. We put the strobe on a "medium" speed and the left the lens open for 15 seconds. We took another strobe photo and it worked! So we thought we'd give the actual picture a try.

We had six total balloons on the wood. We made sure everything was set up correctly: the strobe light, the balloons, the camera. We turned off the lights, I counted down, and pushed the button to take the photo. Emily and Mackenzie popped the balloons within the 15 seconds. It was a mess everywhere. Watery paint was all over the floor. We were really hoping for a good picture at this point... The ground was colorful with water and we needed more towels as soon as possible. Emily was wet with water and this was because three of the balloons didn't end up popping. There were only little holes that were spraying water out the back. I think they weren't blown up tight enough where when we poked a hole in, they didn't need to pop open. 

We looked at the picture and it was awful. First, it was kind of blurry. Second, it was just streams of paint down the wood. Second, the balloons didn't look like they were popped. I have no idea what we could have done to make this any better. By the end of cleaning everything up, looking at the awful picture, and realizing that we didn't have much time left to get any better pictures, we were all very frustrated. We have less than a week until the photos are due and we have none! As for me, I feel very angry and scared that we will not have a good picture in time for the contest due date.