The slow dripping of water as it hits the bottom of a coffee pot. The leaky sink that drips all night long when you’re battling another night of insomnia. It happens in a millisecond, where one drop of liquid hits another pool of liquid, you can see it splash in your mind’s eye. Norweigan photographer, Ronny Tertnes has set about to capture them and manipulate each droplet into a masterpiece.

Using ultra high speed photography, flash rigs, smoke and different types of liquids, this IT administrator by day creates what looks like blown glass with Earth’s most basic element.

[REWIND: TRADITIONAL 40’S PINUP MODELS WEARING HIGH SPEED MILK]

Using a Canon 7D and Canon 100mm Macro, Tertnes manipulates the liquids almost like a sculpture with a malable piece of clay. The images you see here are done mostly in camera, with some Photoshop work done in post.

Water is mixed with various substances to give it some texture, color, and movement and Tertnes freezes his image just as the drop is hitting the pools of liquid to create dancing abstract water art. I’d imagine this process takes much patience, many trials and errors to get the shapes to conform to your vision, and much experimentation.

In some of the images, you begin to “see” and associate recognizable structures or shapes, much as laying on the ground and looking at the sky, seeing pictures made by the clouds.

You can see more of Ronny Tertnes’ work on his 500px page here.

CREDITS: All photographs by Ronny Tertnes are copyrighted and have been used with permission for SLR Lounge. Do not copy, modify or re-post this article or images without express permission from SLR Lounge and the artist.