high speed

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Photography

A Perfectly Symmetrical Photo of a Kingfisher Diving for Prey, Nearly 6 Years in the Making

Licensed from Caters / Alan McFadyen

For the last 6 years, Scottish wildlife photographer Alan McFadyen spent an estimated 4,200 hours seeking the perfect shot: a symmetrical image of a kingfisher diving into its own reflection in search of prey. Last month, after 720,000 exposures he finally got it. McFadyen certainly snapped hundreds of other successful images along the way, but this particular photo—as it existed in his imagination—eluded him for years.

“Kingfishers dive so fast they are like bullets, so taking a good photo requires a lot of luck – and a lot of patience,” McFadyen told the Daily Mail. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that female kingfishers only rarely dive, so timing is essential.

McFadyen owns Scottish Photography Hides which rents out hides in pristine locations in Southwest Scotland for use by wildlife photographers. You can explore more of his photography on Flickr. (via PetaPixel)

Photography

Remarkable High Speed Photos of Birds Catching Fish by Salah Baazizi

Double-crested Cormorant working on its catch, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant Tern, Double Crested Cormorant and a fish

Photographer Salah Baazizi has an amazing knack for photographing birds up close and personal as they pluck fish from the waters around Bolsa Chica in southern California. The split-second shots of terns, herons, and cormorants give the illusion Baazizi is sitting just inches away, practically sticking a camera down their beaks, but in reality he uses a 400mm super telephoto lens and positions himself at great distances. This is only the smallest fraction of the hobbyist photographer’s wildlife photos, you can explore hundreds of additional shots over on Flickr.

Elegant Tern, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Great Blue Heron working on its catch, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant Tern losing its fish, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Forster’s Tern doing the contortionist, Irvine (CA)

Great Blue Heron working on its catch, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant Tern, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant Tern, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant Tern displaying its acrobatic aerial skills after a fish escaped from its beak

Photography

New Photographs of Crashing Ocean Waves Frozen in Time by Pierre Carreau

Fascinated by the mysteries of the ocean his entire life, photographer Pierre Carreau (previously) documents the power and serenity of ocean waves in his now decade-long project AquaViva. After obtaining a business degree and going into IT, Carreau dramatically changed course in 2004 and moved with his family to the Caribbean island of St. Barthélemy where he now photographs waves as an artistic pursuit.

Carreau’s high-speed photos capture waves that appear frozen in time, giving them an almost sculptural appearance. “Water is amazing,” Carreau says. “Basically it has no color, but through reflection and refraction it can possess all of them, the entire spectrum of light.” More from his statement about AquaViva:

Carreau observes that the photographic images of AquaViva may sometimes be perceived as objects rather than as two-dimensional representations. The play of light off the multitude of facets and curves on the water’s surface gives the image a sculptural quality that enhances the sense of stillness and power. This simultaneous depiction of roiling movement and suspended kinetic energy parallels the dual nature of the oceans and of water itself: life-giving and yet dangerous, inviting and yet fearsome, primordial and yet ever-changing and always renewed.

Seen here is a collection of new photos from 2014 mixed with a few earlier shots we had yet to feature on Colossal, and there’s plenty more to see.

Photography

Wacky High-Speed Portraits of Puppies Caught Mid-Shake by Carli Davidson

Published today from Harper Design, Shake Puppies is the latest jowl-flapping canine photo book from Portland-based pet and wildlife photographer Carli Davidson. The dangerously adorable collection of images is a follow-up to her 2013 book Shake that similarly featured high-speed photos of adult dogs caught mid-shake as their ears, lips, fur and drool flies in every direction.

Davidson began photographing animals while on staff at the Oregon Zoo, a passion that eventually led to a career shooting portraits of exotic animals, pets with disabilities, and a plethora of cats and dogs. Shake Puppies is available now through Bookshop.

Art Photography

Colorful Liquid Splashes Captured at 1/3500th of a Second Look Like Floating Sculptures

Cassandra Warner and Jeremy Floto of Floto+Warner Studio recently produced this beautiful series of photos titled Clourant that seemingly turns large splashes of colorful liquid into glistening sculptures that hover in midair. The photos were shot at a speed of 1/3,500th of a second, taking special care to disguise the origin of each burst making images appear almost digital in nature (the duo assures no Photoshop was used). They share about the project:

Colourant is a series of events that pass you by as an imperceptible flash. A fleeting moment, that blocks and obscures the landscape, a momentary graffiti of air and space. Creating shapes of nature not experienced by the human eye, these short-lived anomalies are frozen for us to view at 3500th of a second. Transforming the non-discernible and ephemeral to the eternal. The essence of photography—immortalize the transitory.

You can see several additional shots from the series on their website. If you liked this you can check out similar high-speed liquid works by Manon Wethly, Fabian Oefner, and Shinichi Maruyama.

Update: For those curious, the artists share via email that the colors/liquids used in the photographs are “non toxic and water based.”

Photography

New Underwater Ink Plumes Photographed by Alberto Seveso

Photographer Alberto Seveso (previously) just released a new series of ink plumes photographed underwater against a black background titled Blackground. The Italian photographer and illustrator now lives and works in Bristol, UK where he does commercial work for digital brands, magazines, and album covers. Seveso was also kind enough to let us use an image from Blackground as part of small Colossal design refresh for the next few months.