High Speed Photography Secrets.

 

How many of us have actually wished we could get those brilliant high speed shot that were just not possible with the existing gear. This is a very simple yet challenging tutorial on how to take brilliant high speed shots with practically no extra gear.

People will tell you go buy yourself an expensive flash or get flash triggers and what not. The thing is you don’t need a very expensive flash. You just need a flash. The reason we need flash for high speed photography is that we can push out camera to a max of 1/4000th of a sec ( 1/8000 for pro). With my cam (Nikon D90) the best I can do is 1/4000 and inside a room, this is too fast. You will for sure end up under-exposing your image.

The magic lies in the flash. A flash fires for less than 1/16000 of a second. This is way faster than any of our cameras can shoot. So get yourself a cheap flash. There are second hand manual flashes available. There are various cheap flashes available in the market as well. The old used once don’t cost more than 1500-2000 INR ( 20$). These flashes done cost much but they get the job done well. You need not buy triggers for now. And since you DSLR will not fire them over slave so get ready to get wet.

Gear you need for a high speed photography.

1. A DSLR Camera
2. A Flash.
3. A subject you want to shoot, may be water splash or anything similar.
4. Tripod.

For the setup you need.

1. Black Chart Paper.
2. A sturdy table.
3. Glass.
4. Lemon ( or what ever you need to splash the water)

MOST IMP : KEEP A CLOTH READY IN CASE YOU END UP GETTING WATER SPLASH ON YOU FLASH OR LENS.

The list if small and to be honest this is all u need. What you really need is imagination.

I am sharing an image of my setup which has 2 DIY reflectors as well. I will be posting a lot of DIY setups that I have made and which are tested.

The background setup is easy. Just stick a black chat paper to the wall and let it fall down on the table end. stick it with a cello tape so that I will stay in its place when water is splashed on it.

If u have a wireless trigger things are very easy for u if u don’t, you can always set your camera on timer and wait for it to shoot. Now what we are doing here is keeping a very slow shutter something like 5-10 seconds. The reason is we are not relying on the speed of the camera we rely on the speed of the flash. And when the room is dark and just one flash fired you don’t have to worry about anything. Nothing else will show up.

Now you must be wondering. If u flash the subject will the background show up? No it wont. Make sure you flash it from one side. Not front, back, bottom or what ever crazy flash angles you might think of.

Since you only have one flash, use a reflector on the other side to get the other part exposed properly. Make sure the angle of the reflector is proper and you don’t end up throwing light on the background.

There is another thing you need to do. That is make a Bounce Card. Use chat paper or card board to make one just the one you see in the image on the right.

This bounce card makes sure that when the flash is pointed towards the Subject there is no light that falls on the chart paper. Giving you very less area of the image exposed. and everything else is just black.

Now the settings that we need for the shot

Mount your camera on the tripod and decide what frame you like. Once that is done, focus on the subject, and set you lens to manual focus mode. Use the following camera settings,

A very slow shutter of something like 5-10 seconds.
A narrow aperture for a deeper depth of field and the whole glass is in focus. f8 or f10.
Since the flash will be enough, use the lowest ISO available.
Keep the camera on remote trigger or timer which every you have.

You can also as a friend of your to click when you drop the lemon in the glass.

That’s it. now that your frame is set, the flash is ready and the glass is filled with water. Get ready to drop  your lemons.

Turn off the lights and drop the lemon, now the timing will play a very important role in the shot. When the camera has started shooting, drop the lemon in the water. Fire the flash right when the water and lemon come into contact. Now run back and see how the image turned up. If you have having trouble timing the shot. Keep trying it might sound a little difficult but you will get the hold of it real soon.

You will end up getting water on your flash and at times on the floor keep the cloth ready to wipe the water straight away.

You will need to post process the image a lil by increasing the blacks and playing with highlights and similar things but there is no rocket science you have to master. I am posting just an example of the image I had shot way back. Back then I had no triggers no wireless shutter release. But with time I learnt how to get things right. Its really easy to do. Have fun clicking..

 

Cheers.