Stroboscopic golfer (possible?)

kanuski · Jul 28, 2013

Buckster said:
I would guess that you'll need one good static shot of the golfer to use for his head and body in post production, as that part of the swinger will likely blow out as well as blur from multiple bursts from the strobe when it's set up to properly expose the club at each position in the swing.

I might need to do a lot of work in post but I am going to try to do this SOOC. I hope I can get a gobo/shield in place to reduce the amount of light falling on the golfer from the strobes. Then I want to use a second flash with rear-curtain sync and a snout aimed at the face to give the detail I need there.

Buckster · Jul 28, 2013

kanuski said:
Buckster said:

I would guess that you'll need one good static shot of the golfer to use for his head and body in post production, as that part of the swinger will likely blow out as well as blur from multiple bursts from the strobe when it's set up to properly expose the club at each position in the swing.

Click to expand...

I might need to do a lot of work in post but I am going to try to do this SOOC. I hope I can get a gobo/shield in place to reduce the amount of light falling on the golfer from the strobes. Then I want to use a second flash with rear-curtain sync and a snout aimed at the face to give the detail I need there.

That's a great way to deal with it. Can't wait to see the results of your experiment!

MartinCrabtree · Sep 10, 2013

Any progress?

kanuski · Sep 10, 2013

I am having trouble getting both flashes firing. I have tried sync cords but it didn't work for rear curtain sync. I ordered an ettl cord but it didn't have a hot shoe for a second flash. I just ordered another ettl cord with a second hotshoe for the second flash.

Gavjenks · Sep 11, 2013

Amazon.com: Techno Strobe(TM) 2000S: Musical Instruments
15 strobes per second should be more than enough.
And it only draws 75 watts, so if you already have any random inverters sitting around, they can probably handle it if you want to go into the field.

What I would do is set my camera to do an exposure bracketing of 2 shots, one of them at the correct exposure for a single speedlight lit image and about 1/100th of a second, and the other way +8ish stops at 2 seconds.

Then
1) turn the receiver on the flash or monolight off
2) hit a shutter and hold it down while immediately turning the receiver back on. You have 2 seconds to turn the receiver back on.

The first of the two bracketed exposures will then commence, with no monolight flash, but it will get all the little strobe flashes.
Then immediately after that, your camera will automatically stop the exposure, save the data, open a new exposure in a fraction of a second, and take it with the monolight flash engaging.

Thus you get the full stroboscopic thing, plus a nice crisp separate image of the final position at the end, and a well exposed face and body, all lined up with the swing. In post processing, use the second shot for the body (lower the brightness on the club to make it look like the others if you want, or not, personal taste), and use the first shot in another layer for the path.

Gavjenks · Sep 11, 2013

Or I guess you could just tell the dude to hold his final position until told to relax. Then manually trigger the next shot and push the pilot button, without messing with any of the bracketing and such and such. Dunno if it would look as natural though. Might wobble too far from the smooth swing path.

MartinCrabtree · Sep 11, 2013

I would just pick up a strobe light. Use a time exposure and go from there.

pharmakon · Sep 12, 2013

I had thought of a similar shot over a year ago, but with a different sport. Now reading this has me thinking about how to do it again.
Maybe I'll try some things and post back if I have any success.