Acrylic paint, oil, water, and air combine to create ephemeral sculptures in Alberto Seveso’s “Bubbles Experience” series. I love the mixture of shapes he achieves, from large, seemingly-laminar columns to a mist of bubbles, each trailing a painted tail. They’re like tiny, liquid comets. See more from this series here and find more examples of his work in his online portfolio. (Image credit: A. Seveso)
Photographer Lucie Pollet caught this image of her freediving friend ascending through a plume of bubbles and sunlight. I love the otherworldliness of the image, like the diver is an astronaut in the dark of space. The illumination of the bubbles is spectacular, too, and reminds me of the way penguins use supercavitation to help escape predators. (Image credit: L. Pollet; via Oceanographic Magazine)
Australian photographer Ray Collins captures some of the most impressively dynamic photographs of ocean waves I’ve ever seen. The textures of the water range from glassy smooth to scaled to violent sprays of droplets. You can easily get lost in every image. For more, check out his website and Instagram. (Image credits: R. Collins; via Colossal)
Candy-colored crystals emerge from a salty liquid in this macro video of Epsom salt crystallization by Karl Gaff. The video was an honorable mention in the 2022 edition of the Nikon Small World in Motion competition. The wild colors in the video come from illumination with polarized light, which makes the crystals appear different colors depending on the orientation of their atoms. (Image and video credit: K. Gaff; via 2022 Nikon Small World in Motion Competition)
It’s easy in the rush of our daily lives to forget just how dynamic rivers are. In his “Delta Series” conservation photographer Paul Nicklen explores that ever-changing nature from above the Colorado River delta. With the ongoing megadrought in this region and ever-increasing demands for more water, the Colorado no longer flows to the ocean. It trickles its way to a tired end near Baja, Mexico, where its last gasp is not enough to sustain ecosystems that relied on the river’s irrigation long before us. Nicklen’s work is a beautiful portrait of the fractal, tree-like patterns of a slowing river. Find more of Nicklen’s work on his website and Instagram. (Image credit: P. Nicklen; via Colossal)
On Christmas Day 2021, Comet Leonard put on a show in our skies. Though the comet was a pale streak to the naked eye, photographer Gerald Rhemann caught a striking event: the moment part of the comet’s tail disconnected from its body. The solar wind swept the comet’s gas and dust away. Though I’ve talked about the fluid dynamics of comets before, this image is the most stunning example I’ve seen. It’s no wonder that it won the top prize at the Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition. (Image credit: G. Rhemann; via Colossal; see also APOTY)
Candy-colored glaze oozes down the sides of Brian Giniewski’s Drippy Pots. These mugs seem like a great way to the start the day with a little happy, fluidsy action! (Image credit: B. Giniewski; via Colossal)
A smoke-like haze obscures colorful bouquets in these photographs from artist Robert Peek. To achieve the effect, Peek submerges his subjects underwater with white dye that sinks due to its greater density. The wakes traced by the dye are impressively laminar, so the dye must drift rather slowly past each petal. The overall effect is beautifully dream-like. You can find more of Peek’s work on Behance and Instagram. (Image credit: R. Peek; via Colossal)
Try as we might, humans cannot understand fluid dynamics as birds do. Whether they are primarily flyers or swimmers, birds have an innate understanding of lift and other aerodynamic forces that put the best engineers to shame. Shown here are a subset of winners from the 2022 Bird Photographer of the Year competition, each of them showing off fluid dynamics in some fashion. Hummingbirds hover, droplets shine like diamonds, and divers brace for impact. You can peruse more winner at BPOTY’s website. (Image credits: Various; see alt text of individual images)
In Susi Sie’s “Haut” the camera seems to fly over ever-shifting landscapes. In reality, these are macro images, created (I think) by dyes and patterns atop a water bath. But they look like vistas we could find on Earth or Mars — giant dune fields, calving glaciers, and river-divided canyons. For something similar in color, check out Roman De Giuli’s “Geodaehan.” (Video credit: S. Sie)