"Superspeed" photography .

Most high-speed photography is done in the dark with a slow shutter speed and the motion being captured by a flash on low power , usually resulting in a captured speed of around 1/10000th of a second . See my post on high speed photography .


Tonight I managed to wire up my camera to trigger an event when the shutter opens and at very high speed .
I see many possibilities for this especially since I will no longer need to wait for darkness to do high speed photography .
I call this "superspeed" photography and am not sure if it has ever been done before .
I suppose time will tell if I get good results from this but so far this is what I've accomplished :
Doesn't look like much does it ? But that spark was triggered by the shutter of my camera opening at 1/200th second .

I did a few more tests and managed to take it all the way to 1/4000th sec and still capture the spark - triggered by my camera's shutter opening .
1/4000th second :

I can see all sorts of possibilities for high speed photography in broad daylight
Stay tuned !
20/01/2011 , I tried a few pictures outside in the evening ....

Then I went indoors to try and find something that would react nicely to a 20000 volt spark . A water drop didn't do much .

Some brown sugar looked slightly better .

Then one of the flies that had been annoying me all afternoon wandered between the wires - I couldn't help smiling as I initiated and photographed the last millisecond of the fly's life   :)

I will try to find something that reacts nicely to a spark going through it , or perhaps use my 'monster flash' modification with its giant capacitor attached to generate some 'real' energy .



29/01/2011 .
Today I added a high performance coil to my hammerhead flash and am getting about 50 000 volts out of it .

72km in 16 1/2 hours

No pictures this time :( my compact failed but I finally succeeded in going around Ruapehu in less than a day and it's on my photovan blog .

Preparing for a "Drown the gown" shoot .

I'm looking forward to this coming Sunday [ 12th December 2010 ] .

I have perhaps 8 models in wedding dresses and maybe 5-10 photographers along with assistants and friends turning up . We're going to get some pictures at Bridal Veil Falls near Raglan in New Zealand . Perhaps a few shots of them walking in the river at the top and then we head down for some shots with the girls walking in the water at the bottom of the falls .
I've also made some smoke bombs to add to the effects :)

Smoke effects

I've been looking into the possibility of a smoke machine for special effects but it would be difficult in outdoor settings - carrying all the extra gear and power supplies . I did some research and found that mixing 3 parts potassium nitrate [ saltpeter ] to 2 parts brown sugar , in a frying pan , creates a 'treacle' that , when set , makes for a very good smoke bomb . The smoke is non-toxic , it burns very quickly and produces a lot of smoke .
I just need to get a metal dish so I don't leave that residue behind during outdoor shoots .

Fired an antique flash bulb today :)