Being a good photographer takes time. The longer you take photographs, the more you begin to understand and learn a camera's abilities. Then you start to make magic. One of the best features of these magic boxes is to freeze time.
In high-speed photography, we basically freeze the dynamic action, and we kind of make them stop in mid-air. We will enlighten you about how you can make a little “photo wizardry” and the article and share details of our unique breaking glass bottle photoshoot.
To manipulate the exposure of a photo to be seen that could not be seen with the eye alone and make all the movement is frozen you can use two ways. One of them is shortening the shutter speed or two, using flash to illuminate the subject is extremely minimal.
When you are using ambient light on a bright sunny day, outdoors let’s say you need to prefer the first method. You are probably familiar with that to freeze a moving object, you should use a higher shutter speed. But how fast should it be?
If you aim to freeze the moving subject totally, you need to set the shutter speed fast enough to prevent discernible movement during the exposure time. Another thing you need to consider is the direction the subject is moving relative to the camera. (toward or away from the camera, perpendicular or diagonally) How much you are zoomed in and how far the subject is from the camera matters.
For the environments, you don’t have enough ambient light to reach the top shutter speed or if you do, the shutter speed still isn’t fast enough to freeze the ongoing action.
You may need a studio for your subject to shoot. The key point to make high-speed photographs with a flash is that the output power of the flash can be adjusted and the lower the power means the shorter the duration of the flash.
What Do You Need to Create a Breaking Glass Bottle Photo
- DSLR Camera
- Macro Lens
- Flashgun
- Remote Shutter / Camera Trigger (MIOPS Smart+)
- Dark Room / Backdrop
- Tripod
- White table
- Hammer
- Glass bottles in different colors
- Goggles to protect your eyes
- Gloves to protect your hands
Camera Settings:
- Camera: Canon EOS 6D
- Flash: Canon Speedlite 600EX II-RT
- Macro Lens: Canon FD 100mm
- Flash power: 1/64
- ISO: ORANGE GLASS: 160 - BLACK GLASS - 320
- Aperture: f/4
- Shutter Speed: 2secs
- Tripod: Manfrotto MK190XPRO3-3W
MIOPS Smart+ camera trigger Settings:
MODE: SOUND
SENSITIVITY: 80
DELAY: 5ms, 10ms
LOCK: ON
How to Photograph a Breaking Bottle With MIOPS Smart+
In this photoshoot, we used the Sound Mode of MIOPS Smart+. When we hit the bottle with a hammer, we triggered a flash with the sound that came out, allowing that moment to be frozen and photographed.
We placed a bottle on a white table. Our goal was to break it in the dark with a hammer. As a safety precaution, we wore gloves and safety glasses. We connected the Smart+ device to the external triggering port of our Canon 580 EX-RT II flash with a PC Sync cable.
After that, we set the Flash duration to 1/128 and put the flash in M (Manual) mode. On the Smart+ device, we selected Sound Mode and set Sensitivity 80, Delay 10ms, and Lock: ON and started the mode.
Then we turned off the lights, took the camera to exposure for 2 seconds, and pressed the camera's shutter button to make the camera ready for the photo.
In a quiet and dark environment, we hit the bottle hard with the hammer and broke the bottle.
MIOPS SMART+
Take impossible photos by turning your camera into a high-speed capture device!
Smart+ device detected the sound when the hammer hit the bottle with Sound Mode and triggered the flash after 10 ms. (By playing with the delay value, we got different photos such as the moment the hammer hit the bottle, the moment it broke, and a little later)
We have ensured that the moment of this bottle's disintegration was photographed by the camera.
Watch the behind the scenes video:
High-Speed Photography Is So Simple With Smart+, Just Try It!
If you’re especially into high-speed photography and open to trying new and creative things, you should definitely take a breaking glass photo. Of course, keeping your safety first. We’re already so excited to see the results!
Don’t forget to share your photographs with the #miopstrigger hashtag on Instagram and share your #miopsmoments experiences with us! And don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
Related Article 1: How to Capture Sparkler Fire Rings With Smart+
Related Article 2: How to Take a High Speed Breaking Chalk Photograph With an Airgun
