THESE stunning pictures capturing the split seconds water balloons exploded after being hit by a dart were snapped by an Oxford Mail camera club member.

Amateur photographer Ray Partlett rigged up the scene in his garage and used about 10 balloons to ensure he got the perfect shot.

The 66-year-old said: “I just had the idea that it would make a good photograph.

“I filled the balloons up and left them for three days so the rubber got softer and would explode a little bit slower to give me more time to get the shot.

“I went in to the garage so I could make a bit of a mess and put a piece of black felt on the wall.

“I hung the balloons from the rafters and threw the dart and clicked at the same time using a cable release.

“It took about 10 attempts and a couple of times I missed the balloon entirely.

“But I’m pretty pleased with the final images.”

Mr Partlett, from Abingdon, has been photographing anything that takes his fancy for ‘quite some years’.

Having recently become a member of the camera club, he is hoping to be inspired to get back in to taking more pictures, particularly on his favourite theme of wildlife.

The pensioner has also retired his SLR camera and now only uses his phone and compact camera.

Other camera club members have been submitting their pictures for this week’s theme of ‘clean as a whistle’ finding clean, shiny and new subjects to capture in interesting ways.

The best images will feature in Friday’s Oxford Mail in a double page spread.