High-Speed Photography Tips

I love experimenting with high-speed photography. For you beginners out there this article is well laid out and written for even the most novice photographer out there. The top three tips (in my estimation) are included in the following post along with a myriad  of other informative lessons that can be learned. Balloons are an interesting medium to use especially if it's your first high-speed shoot and want to see really impressive results.

High-speed photography is really good fun, but can also be pretty complicated. Here at Triggertrap we believe that high-speed photography doesn’t have to be so intimidating. That’s why we made the Triggertrap Flash Adapter - and why we’ve put together a few tips to help you get started.

 

Photo by Eric and Aiden Barger.

How to capture really great high speed photos

What you will need:

• A camera with manual controls available
• A device running Triggertrap Mobile  (available on both iOS and Android)
• A Triggertrap Mobile Dongle
• A Triggertrap Flash Adapter - Plug this neat adapter into the mobile dongle and you have flash triggering power at your fingertips.
• Flash gun with manual controls - TTL is of no use here! Switch the flash over to manual and stick it on the lowest output.
• A dark room - this bit is crucial! Working outside in the dark works too, just make sure there’s very little light.

Things that you MAY need:

• Light Stand with Umbrella Adapter - This lets you attach your flash adapter to a stand for easy positioning.
• Light Modifiers - As with any lighting, these let you change the shape of your light, e.g. using an umbrella or a soft box to change the look of the light.
• A torch. Let's not trip on any tripods in the dark...

Camera settings

• Camera on Manual
• Shutter Speed: Bulb / long exposure (enough time to make the action happen)
• Aperture: f/8 or above - high speed photos are awesome, so you want to make sure it’s all in focus and you have enough depth of field to show the action.
• ISO: Start at ISO 200 and increase if the image is too dark, try and keep this nice and low to prevent noise.
• Manual focus - auto-focus is fairly slow, so make sure you’re on manual focus!

Flash settings

Set the flash to manual and as low power as possible. The lower the flash power, the shorter the flash duration.

Photo by Alex Molick.

Photo idea: Water balloon bursting

So that’s the fundamentals of high-speed photography with Triggertrap Mobile. Now let's apply it to a fun and easy idea! You will need all of the above, including the camera settings.

You will also need:

• A way of suspending the water balloon.
• Something to pop the water balloon.

The set up:

For more on high-speed photography and complete the entire article please follow this URL: 

http://www.triggertrap.com/news/high-speed-photography-tips 

Below is a very well done video training on high-speed photography from the  DigitalRev TV YouTube channel.