I did it!!

cillie · Dec 1, 2005

After about 3 weeks of soldering and cursing I managed to put together a high speed flash photography system. This consists out of a laser trigger and a delay unit. And tonight I took my first shots! Many thanks to :hail: Hanno (thatcamerathingy) for tons of advice and support!!

AIRIC · Dec 1, 2005

Sweet! Way to go and great captures.

Eric

Verbal · Dec 1, 2005

Um, wow.

Just...wow.

woodsac · Dec 1, 2005

Cool stuff :thumbup:

highbred3d · Dec 1, 2005

err...i think i just spent the last few minutes trying to figure out what's in the reflection of the first big drop of water. nice shots!

darin3200 · Dec 1, 2005

Very nice

Becky · Dec 1, 2005

This is just awesome! What exactly did you build and how??

Matty-Bass · Dec 1, 2005

Simply amazing! Great capture! :drool:

Peanuts · Dec 1, 2005

Wow. I am suddenly inspired to try (note: try) somethign like th is. Everything is spot on. Now the real question is how many shots did it take you to get this?

ShelleySnapz · Dec 1, 2005

Teach me???

Pretty please??

Alison · Dec 1, 2005

Wow! These are great! Your persistance paid off!

cillie · Dec 2, 2005

Thanks guys!!

Well.... how DID I do it? First the main is the fact that you use the flash to get your exposure time way down instead of the camera's shutter. On the 550ex the exposure time on 1/164 power is a few micro seconds. This means you work in a totally dark room with the shutter open. Then just at the right time you fire the flash to expose the subject.

To fire the flash you need an electronic trigger. I used a laser pointer and infrared LED receiver. When the falling drop breaks the beam a signal is sent to a delay unit which delays the output pulse depending where you want to capture the drop.

Easy as pie!! (Yeah right!) There's a lot of info at www.hiviz.com.

Here's what my setup looks like:

cillie · Dec 2, 2005

highbred3d said:
err...i think i just spent the last few minutes trying to figure out what's in the reflection of the first big drop of water. nice shots!

I coud'nt either! I tried making a self portrait with my reflection in one of the drops but am yet to succeed. It's just a matter of getting the right setup.

charizzi · Dec 2, 2005

wow! those pictures are amazing! great job on setting it up too!

LaFoto · Dec 2, 2005

This is just sooooo cool.
What a setup!
Amazing. The results are worth it.
Now I know that this kind of photography is for somebody else (like you, Cillie), but certainly not for me... :shock: