More high speed

[chrismoore]

Set up the high speed studio again this weekend (aka my garage) and created some more chaos. Previous shoot in this post (http://dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1163908&postcount=3), which started out as a question about proper settings for the flash. here are some more:

http://www.chrismooreimages.com/photos/608713518_39v6Y-L.jpg

http://www.chrismooreimages.com/photos/608713576_zbtUb-L.jpg

http://www.chrismooreimages.com/photos/608713846_xx5Ux-L.jpg

http://www.chrismooreimages.com/photos/608713470_k6PXk-L.jpg

lemme know what you think! Its lots of fun.

[Skippy]

Set up the high speed studio again this weekend (aka my garage) and created some more chaos. Previous shoot in this post (http://dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=1163908&postcount=3), which started out as a question about proper settings for the flash. here are some more:

lemme know what you think! Its lots of fun.

WOW even :clap :ivar

What did you shoot at the strawberry ????
Was the entry from the right and out of the left side?
Caught in the flash is a silver streak of light is that the projectile?

I love shots #2 and #3.
#3 is my favourite, that's a very cool shot.
What was inside the ornament that it appears to how either a white powder or milk flying out of it on impact?

I can see your having a ball with the set up you have Chris :thumb

Thanks for sharing, these are quite amazing :clap .... Skippy :D
.

[chrismoore]

WOW even :clap :ivar

What did you shoot at the strawberry ????
Was the entry from the right and out of the left side?
Caught in the flash is a silver streak of light is that the projectile?

I love shots #2 and #3.
#3 is my favourite, that's a very cool shot.
What was inside the ornament that it appears to how either a white powder or milk flying out of it on impact?

I can see your having a ball with the set up you have Chris :thumb

Thanks for sharing, these are quite amazing :clap .... Skippy :D
.

Thanks, skippy. I shot the strawberry with a pellet gun, the streak you see is the exit path of the pellet. Last time when I shot lightbulbs, glass, etc I was using f/5.6 with the flash at 1/64 and so the pellet was frozen mid frame. This time with more of a macro set up for the strawberry I had to stop down to f/13 and increase flash power to compensate...thus the streak. I mixed yogurt and water inside the ornament... still cleaning up the mess.

[Jack'll do]

1,2,& 3 = Fabulous :bow :bow
What did you shoot 2 & 3 with? I'd be interested to see the set up i.e. sand trap or whatever.

[chrismoore]

1,2,& 3 = Fabulous :bow :bow
What did you shoot 2 & 3 with? I'd be interested to see the set up i.e. sand trap or whatever.

All were shot with a pellet gun, with varying pumps and distances from the subject. I also varied the distance of the sound trigger from the subject to build in a slight delay. Camera settings were generally f/5.6 ISO 250 and 2 sec exposure, flash at 1/32-1/64. These varied a little with the macro type shots. I outlined my set up, etc on my blog in this post (http://blog.chrismooreimages.com/2009/07/high-speed-photography-how-to.html). Thanks for looking!

[kdog]

Chris, I'm thoroughly impressed with your work. These shots are technically fabulous, wonderfully creative, and just plain beautiful to look at as well. You should publish a book of them!

Cheers,
-joel

[aj986s]

Those shots are.......
:jawdrop

[chrismoore]

Chris, I'm thoroughly impressed with your work. These shots are technically fabulous, wonderfully creative, and just plain beautiful to look at as well. You should publish a book of them!

Cheers,
-joel

Thanks kdog and aj, always nice to hear positive remarks. Glad you like them.

[Dionysus]

if you were just working with a regular camera, how the heck did you time it just right? did you do multi shot bursts? did you just guess when to start the shots? I take it you have some nice flashes? b/c my flash wouldnt charge back up quick enough to take multi shots at those speeds.

[chrismoore]

The trick to these shots is a sound trigger for the flash (any flash will work). You cannot trigger the camera because the shutter lag will cause too much of a delay. Essentially the principle is to shoot in total darkness using a shutter speed of about two or three seconds. The sound of the gun triggers a single firing of the flash which freezes the motion at that split second and that is what the camera picks up as opposed to total darkness before and after the flash fires. Making the flash fire as the bullet enters the strawberry involves creating a short delay from the gun firing to the actual flash discharge. This is done by placing the sound trigger some distance from the sound source. This is a bit of trial and error, but the speed of sound traveling from the gun to the sound trigger creates a delay of a few msec and captures the explosion rather than the gun firing. I have set up and executed this type of shot twice now, and believe me it is very easy to do if the set up is correct. I don't have any special equipment or flashes. The sound trigger was a DIY kit which was easy to assemble and costs $12. You don't get a perfect shot each time, and it takes some experimentation to determine the proper ISO, aperture, flash power and distances of the gun and sound trigger. I took a photo of my set up here (http://www.chrismooreimages.com/photos/613395741_PjwwA-XL.jpg). Thanks for looking!

[Nikolai]

The trick to these shots is a sound trigger for the flash (any flash will work). You cannot trigger the camera because the shutter lag will cause too much of a delay. Essentially the principle is to shoot in total darkness using a shutter speed of about two or three seconds. The sound of the gun triggers a single firing of the flash which freezes the motion at that split second and that is what the camera picks up as opposed to total darkness before and after the flash fires. Making the flash fire as the bullet enters the strawberry involves creating a short delay from the gun firing to the actual flash discharge. This is done by placing the sound trigger some distance from the sound source. This is a bit of trial and error, but the speed of sound traveling from the gun to the sound trigger creates a delay of a few msec and captures the explosion rather than the gun firing. I have set up and executed this type of shot twice now, and believe me it is very easy to do if the set up is correct. I don't have any special equipment or flashes. The sound trigger was a DIY kit which was easy to assemble and costs $12. You don't get a perfect shot each time, and it takes some experimentation to determine the proper ISO, aperture, flash power and distances of the gun and sound trigger. I took a photo of my set up here (http://www.chrismooreimages.com/photos/613395741_PjwwA-XL.jpg). Thanks for looking!
Awesum stuff! :thumb :bow
Do you have a linky for the sound trigger? :ear

[chrismoore]

Awesum stuff! :thumb :bow
Do you have a linky for the sound trigger? :ear

here you go:
http://www.hiviz.com/kits/sk2.htm

let me know how it turns out.

[DaddyO]

Really nice work with your high speeds in each piece you played out . :thumb Well done. I'll probably never get to do what you working on here.
Dang it. Maybe I can get over it in the next 24 hrs. :D

[Nikolai]

here you go:
http://www.hiviz.com/kits/sk2.htm

let me know how it turns out.
Thanks man!:thumb

[Dionysus]

thank you so much for sharing..thats awesome.

[jeffmeyers]

Awesome indeed! Great technique and images! :bow

[xistix]

Nice pictures! I also try to do something similar. I try to shoot photos of water drops. I made a microcontroller based device myself. It can get input from a laser detector and/or a microphone. It can control flash, camera shutter and a dripping device. It has an LCD menu to do settings and test connected equipments. If someone is interested I can help her/him to build one.

So the theory is clear for me and I have a nice controller, but I have problem with the camera settings and lighting. I would be interested in all the parameters of a successful shot. What kind of camera is used, what kind of lens, what is the aperture, from what distance, whit kind of flash(es), position of the flash(es), power/speed of the flash etc.

My equipment is quite old. I'm using a Canon D60. I have 28-55mm and 90-300mm zoom lenses. I also have some cheap macro filters for both lenses (+1x, +2x, +4x, +10x). I can also borrow a good Canon macro lens. I have a cheap flash from eBay. I can set the power of it and it claims 1/20000s for the smallest power.

I tried to set the power of the flash so that I get 1/20000s but the light is so small that I have to use a very large aperture, and even then the image is under exposed. If I increase the power (decrease the speed) of the flash I can use smaller apertures, but I still have some weird problem. The center of the image is sharp, but towards the edges it gets more and more blurred.

Can someone help me with the camera, lens and light settings?

Sorry for the long post. This problem really bothers me :scratch

xistix

[chrismoore]

Nice pictures! I also try to do something similar. I try to shoot photos of water drops. I made a microcontroller based device myself. It can get input from a laser detector and/or a microphone. It can control flash, camera shutter and a dripping device. It has an LCD menu to do settings and test connected equipments. If someone is interested I can help her/him to build one.

So the theory is clear for me and I have a nice controller, but I have problem with the camera settings and lighting. I would be interested in all the parameters of a successful shot. What kind of camera is used, what kind of lens, what is the aperture, from what distance, whit kind of flash(es), position of the flash(es), power/speed of the flash etc.

My equipment is quite old. I'm using a Canon D60. I have 28-55mm and 90-300mm zoom lenses. I also have some cheap macro filters for both lenses (+1x, +2x, +4x, +10x). I can also borrow a good Canon macro lens. I have a cheap flash from eBay. I can set the power of it and it claims 1/20000s for the smallest power.

I tried to set the power of the flash so that I get 1/20000s but the light is so small that I have to use a very large aperture, and even then the image is under exposed. If I increase the power (decrease the speed) of the flash I can use smaller apertures, but I still have some weird problem. The center of the image is sharp, but towards the edges it gets more and more blurred.

Can someone help me with the camera, lens and light settings?

Sorry for the long post. This problem really bothers me :scratch

xistix

Your settings may not be the same as mine as our lighting conditions are different. But if you want mine as an example, they were (the strawberry shot): Canon 5D, 100mm, f/6.3. 580EXII flash at 1/16. Flash about 30 degrees and 2 feet from subject, otherwise total darkness during exposure time of 2s.

[xistix]

Your settings may not be the same as mine as our lighting conditions are different. But if you want mine as an example, they were (the strawberry shot): Canon 5D, 100mm, f/6.3. 580EXII flash at 1/16. Flash about 30 degrees and 2 feet from subject, otherwise total darkness during exposure time of 2s.
Thanks! I'm going to give it a try. Apart from the fact that you have better equipment I think the main difference is that I tried to bounce the the light from a background. This probably decrease the light too much.

xistix (http://www.xistix.com/blog)

[chrismoore]

Thanks! I'm going to give it a try. Apart from the fact that you have better equipment I think the main difference is that I tried to bounce the the light from a background. This probably decrease the light too much.

xistix (http://www.xistix.com/blog)

the light should be directed at the subject. you could use a diffuser like omnibounce, but with settings of 1/32 or 1/64 as long as you expose properly it shouldn't be necessary. plus you will have to increase the flash power with a diffuser which will not allow you to freeze the motion as well

[xistix]

Directing the flash to the splash helped to get sharper images. So the problem was that I didn't have enough speed. Unfortunately my flash seems to be quite weak, so I cannot use it with the smallest power unless I use too large aperture. Here is a sample. It is still not perfect, but at least I know what is the problem. :ivar
http://www.xistix.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/CRW_0258.jpg
http://www.xistix.com/blog/?attachment_id=323

[xistix]

I received my new flash and managed to add more light. Here is a sample:
http://www.xistix.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/BlueRed.png

You can find some more on my blog (http://www.xistix.com/blog/2009/08/26/splash/).

xistix