Laser induced plasma was generated using a 10 ns pulse from a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser, emitting photons at a wavelength of 1064 nm with a repetition frequency of 20 Hz. Spatial and spectral information were obtained using a digital delay generator, paired with a nanosecond gated CCD camera attached to a 1 m spectrometer. The delay generator allowed us to sync the CCD camera to the laser and capture time resolved images at any chosen moment in time, on nanosecond time scales. Evolution dynamics of the plasma, up to 10 μs after breakdown, was studied as a water surface was positioned at various distances from the laser focal plane. Specifically, this distance is varied from infinity to 7, 4, 2, 0 and −2 mm. Two plasma fronts become visible as the water surface approaches the focal plane, one of which occurs on the water surface and one near the laser focal plane. Spectral fitting routines have been implemented to model the hydrogen, sodium, and nitrogen lines in the spectral range between 580 and 667 nm. Best fitted Lorentzian line shapes provide line features to extract plasma characteristics such as line intensities and electron density as a function of space and time.