Oobleck on a turntable to showcase rotational flow.
For the first team assignment we were interested in looking at rotational flow, so we used a turntable to try and capture it. As with the Get Wet assignment, Summer and I were very interested in working with vibrant colors. We used oobleck made with two parts cornstarch and one part water died with painters pigment. I made this image with Zach Hinck, Summer Thompson, Brandon Toves, and Garrett Wolcott.
Oobleck is a non-newtonian shear thickening substance, meaning that it doesn’t follow Newton’s Law of Viscosity. There is no Rayleigh Instability in this batch of oobleck; we can tell because there’s not enough shear on the oobleck to make it break apart from itself. The oobleck is being acted upon slightly by centripetal force, although the turntable wasn’t spinning fast enough to greatly affect the flow of the oobleck, and slightly by Newton’s First Law of Motion, the Law of Inertia, although the Law of Inertia was only affecting the flow in the second or two after the turntable stopped spinning, again because there wasn’t much velocity in the flow. The most interesting parts of the flow happened after the turntable stopped spinning but the oobleck kept moving.
We made this image in the south lobby on the second floor of the ITLL in the engineering center, right next to some big windows, so there was a lot of natural light. There was a white board behind the turntable, which translates to the top of this image, for reflection.
This image was taken very off the cuff – my teammates were using our two other cameras and one was on a tripod taking video. I last minute snapped this picture on my phone, an iPhone 7, probably two feet above the turntable. The focal length of the lens was 3.99mm. The exposure specs were 25 ISO, aperture f/ 1.8, and 1/30second shutter speed. The aforementioned measurements were found in Adobe Lightroom. I cropped the image slightly in Lightroom, but the rotated angle of the image is original. I wish I could say that the rotation of the image is meant to comment on the type of flow we were working with, but the angle of the image happened organically.
I knew that, given my phone’s limited camera capability, I had few ways to pull this image off, so I really needed to lean on compositional success, which I was why I decided to employ a top-down vantage point. While compelling, this image isn’t really about flow. I think it needs to be more zoomed in on the flow to center focus there, but by doing that I lost the setting that the turntable provides. Additionally, in hindsight it seems an odd choice to use oobleck to look at rotational flow.
34 Comments. Leave new
Love the colors you chose, as well as the angle of the photo. Really nice image!
I like the angle at which you shot this photo. The photo is head on to the mixing and really brings the focus of the piece to the mixed paints. The shot is really high quality, great job.
This photo has great saturation and contrast. I also think that the lighting and framing worked really well with this photo.
I like how the turntable is centered and I also like how it is rotated a bit. The flow looks cool and I like the blue and the yellow colors.
It looks like there was oobleck written on the vinyl in the center! It looks like a lake with a beach. Very intensly head-on.
The overhead view with the subject angled gives the pictures a different feel than other pictures. The focus is really good, allowing you to understand all that’s going on.
I like the angle and framing of this image. It gives it a retro feel.
A very beautiful image. I like the colors, the focus and frame are good!
I love how bright the colors are. The mixing of blue and yellow is really pretty. I like the idea of using rotational flow.
colors are so vibrant! love <3
Great perspective! Even utilizing a phone you capture an intriguing view that the side views don’t display. Great texture, color balance, and beautiful contrast.
I like the birds eye perspective of this setup. With the angle it gives a great frame to the experiment.
The blue and yellow diffuse really well, And I like that the shot is from above the edges of the image are a little distracting, whereas the edges of the record are really interesting.
It is interesting how the flow interacts once the turntable is stopped. I like how the solid material in the center is focused.
I really like the flow in this picture. I really like the perspective with the rotated box and then the round smooth fluid with the vibrant colors in the middle.
A peculiar flow. The spatial distribution of shear stresses is interesting to see.
Unique angle and framing, great colors, image is a little grainy.
The blue and yellow mixing of colors is very visually appealing. The way the oobleck is spread out over the record is the result of an interesting experiment. Overall, good focus and shutter speed to result in a very crisp image.
He focus and the contrast of the image is really good. The way the blue and yellow are mixing together is interesting. I like how the table is at an angle.
Nice colors and really cool setup. I think the edges of the record are a bit blurry but good otherwise
Seeing how the colors settled and mixed at the edges as well as the paint-like splotches near the center make this image highly compelling.
Interesting image, I like the flow on this one, you can see the two colors starts to mixing together. Maybe some cropping would make this image even better.
I really enjoy the colors and flow being depicted. I really like the specs of yellow being sharp and vivid while the rest of the mixture is a little more blended.
Seeing that almost the whole picture looks in focus, the mixing of the colors on the outside becomes apparent. Great color choice.
The opposite colors used in the image help focus on the flow. The focus is a little off right around the edges of the turntable. I think maybe a little more cropping would take care of the focus and help focus more on the flow itself.
I like the top down view, I think its an interesting way to view the mixing of the colors
Since the oobleck becomes less viscous when the record stops, it might be really interesting to take a video of the motion associated with the slowing of the record.
I really like the distribution of the colors. Focus is sharp, and quality of image is good.
I like the mixture of the two colors all around the record. I know it would be hard but it would look good if the center of the player was a little cleaner.
The overhead view is a cool perspective. The flow dynamics here are more interesting I think.
Nice image, great contrast and exposure for a phone. I like the angle and composition. Also, great fluid flow.
I like the flow of the ooblek on the record. You can really see the mixing of the liquid on the disc, probably due to the lack of shearing taking place when the record was stopped. The focus is nice and the colors are great as well. Nice job!
I like the use of opposite colors in the oobleck, it really highlights the flow. There are interesting flow dynamics but overall is a really dynamic image.
I like how the yellow looks like it’s dissipating around the edges and how smooth and reflective the blue is