Search Results for: arduino

On our last post we went through the basic ideas of capturing a high speed photograph, and today we will cover some of the basic triggers and kits available to play the high speed game.

So, we need a small and preferably cheap electronic gizmo that will be triggered when an event such as a passing cherry or a popping balloon occurs. We need it to then fire a flash unit, or even the camera shutter for slowish events like a bird taking off. (The camera can then fire the flash in the normal way that cameras do!) The range of triggers – and sensors for the various types of event – is quite extensive now.[Read More…]

High Speed Photography may seem intimidating with all the high end Arduino Triggers and crazy setups that are going around.

If you just want to have a quick stub at high speed photography, your best chance is probably selecting a subject that is easy to shoot (pun intended) in the dark, and light it using a strobe. “How will the strobe know when to pop?” you ask. Easy, using a contact sensor. Such subjects include thing that you can blow up relatively slowly using an arrow or a slow moving pellet, like balloon, eggs and Christmas ornaments.

A contact sensor is one of the most primitive and easy to build high speed photography sensors and is basically build from two conductive surfaces each connected to one of the strobes contacts. When those two surfaces meet they short the circuit and pop the flash. [Read More…]

If you ever did any moving time lapse you know the challenges involved in making such a movie.

You would need a rail, a carriage, a precise and slow motor to drive it software to control the camera, power and a few other bits and bytes. To get an understanding of how complex such a project can be, check out the Slider project by Derek Mellott – a beautifully engineered piece of work.

There are shortcuts however :) Project OpenMoco aims at providing a full open source system for time lapse enthusiasts and indie film makers.[Read More…]

Photographer and Videographer Stefan Kohler came up with a complete DIYed Slider system built on top of the Igus platform for bones, a stepper motor for muscles,  and an Arduino for brains (and lots of hard labor for hearts).

The slider mimics the excellent Cine Slider from Kessler, only for a fraction of the cost in money and whole lots blood sweat and tears (of joy of course).[Read More…]

About three weeks ago we featured a comprehensive tutorial for doing high speed bullet photography.

In that post, Maurice Ribble explained how to use a $195 camera Axe to literally freeze a bullet in mid air (or in mid egg, or in mid cantaloupe…).

Photographer DestinWS came up with a youtube video that explains how to achieve a similar effect (thought less accurate) with a Hiviz kit for $20. While the Hiviz kit does not provide some of the more advanced features of the Camera Axe, it is a great and cheap way to enter the world of High Speed Photography. Video tut after the jump[Read More…]