Jeff Epler's blog

More Flash Fun

Last Friday night, we had more fun with the sound-triggered flash. As a bonus, there's also a picture of Marie taken with my new macro lens. Damn cat won't let me sit still long enough to get the focus right, and then she runs off when the flash fires.

Strobe Photography Roundup

(M)(L)

Prototyping the strobe trigger circuit

I was originally inspired by the Make article on strobe photography (excerpt). There is a kit available for purchase, but I wanted to make my own.

The schematic for the circuit used in the kit is on makezine.com, but it seemed very complicated, and some parts never did make sense to me (in particular, the way the outputs of the two second-stage amplifiers are tied together). So I looked further afield and found a much simpler circuit. I also found a ton of great information in the Strobe FAQ.

More high-speed photography

(M)(L)

Quarter dropped in standing water

With the help of Chris and Emily, we got some pretty good photos this evening.

First, we changed the flash's 200uF capacitor for a 33uF one. This decreases the total light of the flash as well as the duration of the flash. Most of these photos were taken at ISO 100, aperture from f/6.3 to f/16, with the shutter open for one or two seconds. Before the change, I had to use an extreme f-stop of f/28 and motion blur was visible in many photos.

First Interesting Strobe Photo

(M)(L)

A piece of ice has just begun to shatter as it impacts a plastic cutting board.

I've been breadboarding a circut for stop action photography and last night I finally got something that is nearing usefulness. I can trigger my flash based on light interruption or noise level. Next, I think I may need to add a delay stage, because when triggering on sound I seem to get a photograph very early, before the "interesting" stuff happens.