I pulled out all the stops on this one, folks!
Pictured here is a water drop in freefall (roughly 1/4 second
after it started its fall.)
Through the drop, you can see Dreyfus and me engaged in a
vigorous scratch session.
To capture the drop, I had to use every piece of gear in my
photography arsenal, including my homemade laser-beam-sensor and
timing computer, my 300mm macro lens, and the
radio trigger for my flash unit.
The sequence of events is:
- Water drop falls from my dripper
- Five inches below the dripper is a laser beam, pointed at
a home-made light sensor.
- As the water drop falls through the light sensor, a signal
is sent to...
- A home-made timing computer, which waits for exactly 161
milliseconds before telling the camera to take the shot.
- The water drop continues to fall for another 107 milliseconds,
while the camera gets ready (shutter lag)
- The shutter is open for 1/200th of a second, during which time...
- The radio flash trigger attached to the camera tells the flash
unit to fire.
The end result isn't quite as crisp as I need yet, but I
already have a few ideas for how I can improve the shot.
Geek Pride is swelling in me.