Picture it: You’re barrelling through a person-sized tube with your swimmers on and a ton of water whooshing along, until all of a sudden… WHEEE! You’re spit out like a rag doll before plunging into a chlorinated pool. Krista Long has spent many a warm afternoon capturing that action in a series she’s called “I Love Summer” and hey — she makes a strong case.
The idea came to her while visiting a water park with her daughters last year, but it took learning a few post-production tricks before she could perfect the pics. “There was an annoying brick building in the background,” she told me via email. “So over the [US] winter, I worked on Photoshop skills and finally figured out how to drop in a black background in but still retain the detail in the water droplets.”
This blank slate behind the flailing figures actually made for a more dramatic effect, and focus attention on the willy nilly bodies and goofy faces. “That’s what I found so interesting — when people are frozen in that instant before splashdown.”
She can usually capture each image in a single frame — burst is too slow on her camera — and it takes about an hour per shot to get the background just right. Good times. Check out more from the collection on Long’s Flickr page.