How to take high speed photos

When I didn't know how to take shots like this, I thought, that I will need a really good camera, with fast shutter speed, and lots of light. Well, I was wrong. The shot above was taken with 6 second shutter speed, in pitch dark. (well, not really pitch dark, because I used an SB-800 to light it)

It's because if you have a good DSLR, the fastest shutter speed you can get is 1/8000 of a second. That actually is not fast enough, when you shoot really fast moving things like water drops or bullet.
When you fire the flash on 1/64 power, it lights up for approximately 1/40,000 of a second, which is way faster than your DSLR. This will freeze motion.

This is how this shot was done:


So, i set up my camera on a tripod (Nikon D200 with 18-70), set manual focus, ISO 100, 6second, f/5.6. (you can stop down more, because it's good to get more depth of field when you shoot things like this) I had an SB-800 on the camera right, on (I think) 1/32 or 1/64 power, in my hand.

The backdrop was an A3 white paper, and I had 2 A4 white cards on the camera left to function as reflectors to reflect the light coming from the flash.

After this, I switched the lights off. I had a handful of paperclips in my left hand, and the SB-800 in my right, my finger on the test button. I opened the shutter with my left hand, threw the paperclips in front of the lens, and while they were falling, I fired the flash. after 6 seconds, the shutter closed, and done.

It took me about 5 tries to get this shot. I used paperclips, because I did it in my office, and they were at hand.

I hope it was useful.

Have fun, kids!

DIY bounce card for the Nikon built-in flash

You say:
It's too dark, and the high ISO setting is already killing the picture with a bucketload of noise, but the photos just look sh*t with the pop-up flash, and I don't have an SB800 speedlight (because I broke it.) what do I do?

Well, first, don't break your flash, like I did.

But seriously, if you don't have an external flash, but you still want some decent lighting, here is a tip: Make a bounce card.
It's simple, you just have to cut out a piece of white cardboard, stick it in front of your flash, so it bounces the light from your flash to the ceiling, which diffuses it, and bounces it back to your subject.

Here is how I make and use my bounce card until I manage to save up for a new SB700 or SB900:

1: Get a fairly thick cardboard paper. I think anything above 160gsm will do:

2: cut out this shape. This is perfect for the Nikon D200, and good enough for the Nikon D100, but the gap is too big for the D70, so you will have to modify it a bit for other cameras.

You can download a template PDF from HERE.

Mine is a little bit too abused, but it still does the job.

3: Stick it on your camera like this:

this is how on the D200: (on other cameras it will be probably different, but you can find a way to put it there without having to use glue, but without having to hold it there. In this way, the card nicely sits there, and there is no need to hold it in place, or anything.)

4: Set your built-in flash to Manual and full power. This will eat your battery in no time, so you better bring a back-up battery with you. If you were already planning to bring a backup battery, then bring one more.

You can do this by going into the:

Menu > Pencil icon > Bracketing/Flash > Built-in Flash > M Manual > Full Power.

5: Shoot.

Here are some photos to show the difference: They were taken in low light, all on the same settings, except the flash:

Without flash:

With popup flash on TTL:

And with popup flash on Manual Full Power + bounce card:

Wicked, init?

Now, if you want to do portrait shots, (I mean portrait orientation) you will have to detach the card, and hold it in front of your flash with your hand, otherwise you will bounce your light off the nearest wall (which is not always a bad idea).

This solution saved my butt lots of times, but it's not perfect.

It does not work if:

- There is no ceiling

- The ceiling is dark

- The ceiling is too high

- Portrait orientation shots (unless you hold the card with your hand).

You can also make it from some semi-transparent white plastic, so some of the flash bounces, and some goes through the pastic to fill. I never tried that, because I don't have the material for it, but I'm sure it would work quite well.

I hope you will like yours, and don't forget to make more than one, because they wear out quite quickly.

Good luck!