Catch falling seeds

Seeds and leaves falling offer great motion shots

- Adrian Davies

The flight of seeds as they fall from trees is worth investigating. Sycamore and maple seeds are winged (known as samaras) and they fall from the tree in a spiral motion that ensures they land some distance away. Other seeds, such as the seed of Alsomitra, a rainforest tree, glide down from the canopy.

In the example pictured here (right), the triple-winged seed from a rainforest dipterocarp tree (Shorea sp.) was dropped in front of a black background. It was lit from the side with both an LED light panel – snooted so that light didn’t spill onto the background – and a Speedlight, set to give 1/32 power. After much experimentation, an exposure of 1/4 sec at f/8 was used, with the flash setting on the camera set to rear curtain synchronisation.