DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

flash duration

Flash Duration: what you need to know and why you need to know it

Apr 28, 2018 by Andrew Appleton 1 Comment
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Flash duration. Sounds a simple enough concept – but is it? Yes…and no. When I decided to write about this subject, I wrestled with how to explain the practice and principles of flash duration in a few words and (of course) pictures. Hope I’ve done a reasonable job because the better our understanding of the principles, the more control we have and the more creative we can be with our photography.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Test Your Flash Duration With An Arduino And a 50c Diode

Feb 2, 2015 by Udi Tirosh Add Comment
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

By now you already know that Flashes don’t just pop for a fraction of a second. This fraction has a value and its value determines how well it will stop motion (say a splash of liquid). This time is called T.5 (and T.1) and they are explained here.

So every flash manufacturer shares their T.5, and as with many devices there is some variance. Matt Kane of vela.io recently built a device for testing the actual flash duration using an Arduino board and a cheapo diode. The reason for this was to test how the output from strobes (and the vela LED airgap) behave.

Interestingly LED strobes behave differently than Xenon strobes and their fall off patterns is different. They are also much faster (see title image).

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Can A Strobe Stop The Action? Profoto D1 Air, Elinchrom BRX500, Photogenic And Broncolor Compared

Aug 6, 2014 by Udi Tirosh 4 Comments
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

If you are planning on shooting water splashes* one of your primary concerns is flash duration. Usually when shooting high speed, you set your camera to bulb and shoot in complete darkness. When you want to take the photo, you pop the strobe. This makes the flash duration (actual time the flash emits light) act similarly to shutter speed – the longer the flash duration is, the more motion blur you’d get**.

Alex over at Photigy took four strobes to the test, ranging in price and specs to see how they stand up to freezing a water splash. A low res crop of the splash is posted right under the jump with our the name of the strobe which made it. See if you can match the photo to the strobe before watching the film or reading the full post over at Photigy.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Which lens is better for location portraits: Wide angle or telephoto?
  • Follow these five exceptional tips to boost your photographic creativity
  • OpenAI lets artists opt out of AI training data – but there’s a catch
  • AI-version of Tom Hanks used in dental ad without permission
  • Adobe ordered to pay more than $33 million for patent infringement

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy