Surface flow visualization – food coloring & water on a porcelain sink.
This image was created for our first Get Wet assignment. I was interested in making something colorful for this project, which is why I used food coloring. Initially, I was just dropping the food coloring into other kitchen-related liquids – water, milk, olive oil. I was successful in making some interesting images with that technique, but as I was cleaning up from that round of image making and pouring various dyed liquids down the sink, I was really intrigued by how the dye was flowing into the drain, so I decided to try capturing it. The resulting image showcases the Marangoni effect.
The Marangoni effect occurs on the interface between two liquids and is driven by a difference in surface tension between the two liquids. To make this image, I saturated the sink so that there was a thin layer of water for the dye to ‘catch on to’ and flow towards and eventually down the drain; the Marangoni effect occurred between a thin layer of water and the food coloring, the food coloring having higher surface tension than the water. There wasn’t much liquid involved in the flow, and the slope of the sink was slight – standard american sinks have a slope of ¼” per foot – so the flow was very slow moving, driven by gravity.
This image was not planned at all – as mentioned earlier, I was inspired to make this image by the cleanup of another round of image making. I made this image in my kitchen sink – 2ft long by 1.5ft wide by 1.5ft deep, made of porcelain. The sink was pretty dirty, so I scrubbed it clean with Comet Cleanser with Bleach. According to their website, Comet is mainly (60%+) calcium carbonate, a common cleaning agent. I then ran tap water to saturate the sink, and dropped the food coloring (Kroger brand food dye, from King Soopers) into the sink and watched and documented the flow. I assume the interesting texture that’s happening at the origins of the separate flows is an interaction between the food coloring and the Comet. Our sink sits directly underneath a big window, so the lighting in this image is just natural lighting, reflected and softened by the deep white walls of the sink. I took this image between 12:30pm and 1:00pm on a sunny day.
I took this image with my Canon Rebel T6. My lens was fully zoomed out, with a focal length of 18mm. Exposures specs in this image are 200 ISO, set by the camera, aperture f/ 3.5, and 1/30second shutter speed, both manually set by me. In post processing I cropped the image slightly, and turned up the saturation of the blues, yellows, oranges, greens, and reds in the image – I was motivated by color for this assignment. The original image showed the entire bottom of the sink, about 1.5ft by 2ft, and the image isn’t cropped much, so the field of view is slightly less than that. The camera was held approximately 2.5ft above the flow.
I’m really taken by the sense of place evoked by the sink drain in this image. I’m very pleased with how this image turned out – it’s got a lot of interesting textures and the colors are vibrant but not overpowering. Flow is apparent, and aesthetically pleasing as well.
45 Comments. Leave new
Very nice find! There’s merit in trying a project then scrapping it and finding the art in the disposal of the project. I can see the contrast of the colors and how they mix and flow into the sink, propelled by the Marangoni effect. The splotchy parts break up the image and make it look unique.
Nice looking image with a cool setup. I like how you can tell how the image was setup just based on the image.
Nice color and aesthetic presentation, demonstrates the flow nicely
This is a really chaotic and beautiful picture. I really appreciate that there are no distractions within the frame.
This picture is very beautiful and colorful, with a good focus. However, the brown color of the sink is somewhat distracting.
Love the colors draining and the detergent specs. Really interesting image. More color mixing might be interesting too but I don’t think anything needs to be changed with this picture.
Colors are very beautiful. Very good focus to the color. The intent was also very clear. I think the picture also has a creative technique that I couldn’t think about, and it was understandable flow.
I love the colors in this image, and especially how clear the flow is. I like the different textures as well; great image overall!
Great color distinctions and textures! I like how bright and popping everything in the image is.
The choice in colors makes for a very positive look and an interesting contrast with the white background. It looks like the exposure is spot on and the straight on angle with the white background makes for an interesting photo!
The vibrancy is really unique, and the composition suits the shapes and flows well. There are a few places that aren’t pleasant to look at, but they are few and far between. Only so much can be expected from a sink, though.
I ike how the colors pop out a lot due to the increased saturation. The flow of the dye towards the drain is also super cool.
You have an excellent image here. The contrast in color is awesome. The flow of the water is certainly apparent
Well focused and great composition on the colors flowing towards one point and still being distinct.
I like your aesthetic and the flow came out beautifully! The drain is slightly distracting but makes the image seem more artistic and spontaneous. The photographic technique is great, I like how you framed the colors.
The way all the colors meet at the drain is aesthetically pleasing. Also, the way that the dye has a different texture at the point where they were added compared to when the get swept away is interesting.
Cool idea that came from cleanup of another experiment. I like that the colors aren’t entirely exclusive, like the yellow spatter in the blue section, but I think it would look really nice if each color was separated with no additional drops in other color sections.
The final image is so cool. I love the fact hat its all leading towards the drain. The focus and image itself is great.
The color is great and the flow is pretty unique. I like the set-up, and the focus is well done!
Beautiful flow and nice idea! Lighting looks perfect as well! I like how the colors are concentrated at the top and moving down.
Great color choices, the different colors provide a nice contrast . Physics are clearly visible, focus is well done.
Very impressive image, I like the combination of the colors. The flow is very interesting and I like the shape they formed. Good photo editing, I like the way you crop the image and the color adjustment.
I like how the colors follow the flow well, it’s a good mix of showing the characteristics of flow while also being artistic. The colors don’t mix at the end of the flow which is cool, they follow their patterns well and show distinct paths. The image focuses well on the subject and the technique looks great.
This is very cool. It looks like the colors are plumes coming out of the drain, I love the little particles that the colors flow around. I like the geometry, but it might be cool for the drain to be the same distance from the edges.
Very beautiful picture, good coloring. The flow is understandable. Focus is good for this picture. Good idea.
This looks like something off Pinterest. Its almost as if the colors are sprouting or blooming from the sink. The colors are so vibrant.
I like the simplicity of this image and visible the fluid flow really is. The colors really catch the eye.
I love how this flow changes in smoothness. The texture is brought out by the brightness of the food dye and the overall picture is beautiful.
I like the coloring of the image and how vibrant the colors are. The flow itself does a good job of showing the physics behind altered surface tensions ad the picture itself is focused well and the color on the white backdrop is very cool.
Art: I love the interaction of the assortment of colors seen
Flow: the colors are flowing parallel to each other in a nice linear fashion (Stripes)
Technique: Saturation is perfect in this image
I like how all the dies radiate out from the drain of the sink. The dark parts at the ends farthest from the sink add nice contrast to the whites and light colors of the sink. The dye in the sink really highlights the flow of the die on top of the water.
This is a good image. I like the different flow textures that you can see in the food coloring. The color contrast looks good, and the cropping helps frame the image
The comet and food coloring provides really interesting flow patterns. The flow of the liquid is also really well shown. The image was really well taken, however I would have used a slightly smaller exposure.
The colors in this post are vivid, contrast well with each other, and clearly illustrate the phenomena of the fluid spread upon impact with a flat surface. I really like the ‘splotchiness’ at the areas of collision.
You framed this well, including the drain really shows the direction of the flow.
I like how clear the image is, and how well defined the boundaries between the different colors are.
Very visually appealing. The flow phenomena is very apparent and it has great color and focus.
The art has its aesthetics with beautiful flow visualizatiob. The color contrast is amazing and the color is spectacular.
I love the colors in this image. They are super bright compared to the white sink. The demonstration of the flow is really pretty and nicely captured.
In the future, I might crop out the sink drain. The drain kind of detracts from the flow.
Art:
It’s mesmerizing :) Very nice. It has a nice composition of colors and has a loose feel.
Flow:
This shows surface tension driven flow nicely :)
Photographic Technique:
It’s very nice. Could it be improved by making the colors be less bright?
Wow, the bouqet of colors all coming together towards the drain create a visually stimulating image. The only suggestion I would have to better this picture would be to have the red food coloring become as dominant as say the blue or green food coloring. However, I do like the color layout the way it is now.
Art: Beautiful picture. The colors are vibrant and the image is complex.
Flow: the flow is clearly visible, and is shown in a very creative way.
Technique: great focus, and framing! well done
The mix of colors in this picture is very appealing to the eye. The white background makes the colors stand out. The surface tension flow looks really cool in this picture. I like how all the colors are flowing in the same manner toward the sink drain.
Amazing! I love the saturation of this photo. The colors are amazing. You can clearly see the difference in the surface tension between the cleaner and the food coloring.
The colors are brilliant which is fun to look at. However, I believe you may have turned up the saturation a bit too much and its a bit difficult to see what it happening
Really artistic, its cool that you can see the sink instead of just the fluid flow. And great patterns, very neat separation of the liquids. Personally I think the saturation is too high, but it brings out the colors.