KK_20070520_161651_mkfair07, originally uploaded by kenji.kato.

Kenji Kato visited the Quaketronics booth at the 2007 Bay Area Maker Faire. He brought his Nikon 10.5mm fisheye lens and Kenji took more great pictures which he uploaded to flickr.

Balloon Waves, originally uploaded by Exocentric.

In this balloon popping photograph posted by Exocentric on the Flickr MAKE: Strobe Photography group there is a small amount of fine powder inside the balloon. I don’t know what powder was used in this picture, but others have reported good (but messy!) results with corn starch.

From the cleanliness of the red background, I would guess that this picture worked perfectly the first time!

This is a picture with a balloon in mid-pop. In high-speed photography, popping a balloon like the the ‘Hello, world!’ program in software. It is the first thing that you should try. It almost always works, and you get something that you can’t see with the naked eye.

Having taken many balloon popping photographs, I have come to appreciate the faces of the people popping the balloons. They are all unique and the pictures are not ordinary portrait poses. They are much more interesting, often capturing an intense expression.

This picture was taken at the Maker Faire in 2006 by someone who walked into our booth and used his own camera. You can do the same - we’ll be at the Maker Faire on May 19 and 20, 2007 at the San Mateo, California Fairgrounds. Bring your camera and give it a try!