Awesome illusion - A static flow of water

One of the YT comments: "In reality the sound (inaudible) being produced by the speaker causes the water stream to be periodically stopped. To the naked eye it would looks like a continuous stream of water drops. If you shoot the stream of water drops with a camera that has it's frame rate synced with the water drops the drops will appear to stay still as each frame shows the water in the exact same formation it was in in the previous frame.
Its same effect that makes helicopter blades and car wheels look weird on film"
Zawashsays...

Brilliant - got to try this at home. Hmm - by slowly increasing the shutter speed, the water should go from flowing water to still droplets like in the video. A simple 25Hz wave should be great for recording at 25fps.

wormwoodsays...

Or get a strobe light with adjustable flash rate. Then you can see this effect in real time.

I spent one evening with a bunch of friends, a strobe light and a dark, indoor swimming pool. Lotsa trippy fun. >> ^Zawash:

Brilliant - got to try this at home. Hmm - by slowly increasing the shutter speed, the water should go from flowing water to still droplets like in the video. A simple 25Hz wave should be great for recording at 25fps.

messengersays...

How does it go in spirals though? Is it normally spraying up and down, but we're just missing those frames? This is WAY cooler than any strobe light effects I've ever seen.

jmzerosays...

Film not required. They do the same thing with the naked eye.


Only if you're under electric lighting (which is effectively a fast strobe). Without the strobe, you'd just get a blur.

ForgedRealityjokingly says...

>> ^wormwood:

Or get a strobe light with adjustable flash rate. Then you can see this effect in real time.
I spent one evening with a bunch of friends, a strobe light and a dark, indoor swimming pool. Lotsa trippy fun. >> ^Zawash:
Brilliant - got to try this at home. Hmm - by slowly increasing the shutter speed, the water should go from flowing water to still droplets like in the video. A simple 25Hz wave should be great for recording at 25fps.



Shame. I don't imagine we're thinking of the same kind of fun that could have been had at that dark indoor swimming pool with a bunch of friends.

Trancecoachsays...

it's an example of the stroboscopic effect -- an optical illusion whereby the stream of water is vibrating at the same frequency as the video is running (presumably 24 fps), making it seem like the water is "streaming" in a spiral, when it's only those droplets captured by the video that are vibrating with the sound to make it appear that way. It's the same reason car wheels and propellers appear to change direction as they speed up or slow down when seen on film or through a strobe light.

Still, knowing how it works doesn't make it any less cool!

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