Weekly Assignment #126: Stroboscope

NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
edited August 24, 2009 in Assignments
The stroboscope effect is what makes movies possible and our eyes hurt at some disco-style clubs. In photography it's typically reserved for a technique when a relatively long single exposure is facilitated by multiple splashes (falshes, strobes) of light over a moving subject, thus creating multiple images of the latter.
The easiest (imho) way to produce a strobe effect is to use the strobe mode of a dedicated speedlight flash. Read the manual and make sure to not use overly long exposures - you can ruin your flash.
if you don't own such a flash, or if you feel DIY-ish you can use home fan to create similar effect. Naturally you'll be limited in your choice of frequencies, but afterall this is how original movie cameras actually worked :-). Simply remember to put your camera very close to the guarding net and the net itself will not register (it will simply produce a slight decrease in exposure).

Your entry should consist of the final shot and, if you're going DIY route, the image of the setup. Multiple entries OK if they are different. Fresh pictures only. Moderate post-processing (no composites!)

Let's strobe!
"May the f/stop be with you!"

Comments

  • OhiohikerOhiohiker Registered Users Posts: 117 Major grins
    edited August 24, 2009
    After seeing this last Friday, my son and I had been practicing soccer and that evening got the flash out and played.

    628811075_LQzrc-M.jpg
  • NikolaiNikolai Registered Users Posts: 19,035 Major grins
    edited August 24, 2009
    Ohiohiker wrote:
    After seeing this last Friday, my son and I had been practicing soccer and that evening got the flash out and played.
    Thank you for the entry Chris! thumb.gif
    As you can see, it's very important to keep the correct balance between the flash and ambient light if you want to avoid ghostly-looking (semi transparent) images. To avoid ghosts, try
    1) closing the aperture
    2) if possible, move the flash off camera to avoid lighting the background. If not - choose the darkest and uniformest background possible.
    "May the f/stop be with you!"
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