Spray illuminated by laser?

I'm trying to photograph water spray from small spray nozzles by illuminating the spray with laser;

EOS 70D on a tripod with EFS 18-55 lens, laser lever projecting a sheet across the FOV pointing at the spray nozzle, lights off, spray on, click. The laser is red & the illuminated section of the spray is easily visible to the eye with the lights off & the camera is focused on the nozzle tip / laser sheet. The plan was to get it all sussed with the larger lens & then move down to macro.

I thought that after a bit of tweaking that I would have something, but not a thing. I'm using a large aperture, high ISO & I've gone as high as I realistically can with shutter speed, but no luck. Opening the shutter for long enough would inevitably yield some results, but there would be too much water illuminated over the period & the spray pattern would just become a more or less "solid" representation of the spray pattern without an detail.

Unless I'm missing something (quite possible) I'm guessing that it's the combination of low light levels & short exposure time that are causing the problem - a bit like using a small objective telescopic sight on a rifle at night?

The pro's in this area are using high speed cameras, synthetic schlieren, shadowgraphy & all sorts of complicated kit, but that's realistically far beyond the budget I have.... Any ideas on how I might be able to get my DIY set-up working or any alternative suggestions appreciated?

I've been having a look at what little information there is on the net for this type for thing & while there is a bit on high speed cameras, there is little using conventional equipment. "Proper" high speed cameras are a tad expensive & after enquiring about pricing for hire HS cameras, even the rental price is eye watering..


I've got an EOS 70D & a set of Elinchrom D-Lite RX-2's (1/1200 (t0.5 at max), no syc) - does anyone have any idea if this equipment could be used to capture water spray / mist?


Thanks.