Eye of the Storm
Anya Animesh
Award: Top 100
School: ridge high school
Teacher: jacob reichman
Category: Contrived
Photo #21357
Eye of the Storm
For this photo, I used the optical properties of a CD along with a thin film of water and glycerin to create an image that resembled the "eye of a storm". The tracks on the CD act as a diffraction grating, which separates white light into different wavelengths and produces the rainbow of colors that is seen in the image. To create the swirling patterns, I first poured a thin layer of water onto the CD and then added droplets of a water-glycerin mixture. The glycerin increases the viscosity and surface tension of the liquid, allowing it to form stable spirals and vortex-like structures across the CD's surface rather than quickly dispersing across the surface.
As the liquid is disrupted by the droplets, it forms regions with different film thicknesses, producing thin-film interference. When light reflects off both the top and bottom surfaces of the film, some wavelengths undergo constructive interference while others experience destructive interference, causing certain colors to intensify or disappear, such as the 'rings' of color around the drop. I was also able to capture refraction and microlensing effects within the droplet itself. Since the refractive index of the water-glycerin mixture is higher than that of air, the curved surface bends and focuses light like a small convex lens, creating distorted and abstract reflections. The saturated and intense colors come from using a high-luminance LED spotlight.
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