Do research into Eadweard Muybridge, AM Worthington, Harold Edgerton and Philip-Lorca DiCorcia. Then using fast shutter speeds, try to isolate a frozen moment of time in a moving subject.
Eadweard Muybridge
"Known for three bodies of work...most notably, a series of studies of animal and human movement made between 1878 and 1886."
Undertook motion studies at the University of Pennsylvania between 1884-1886
"Leland Standford...horse breeder, commissioned Muybridge to study the movements of a trotting horse. Muybridge arranged an elaborate battery of cameras with rapid-shutter mechanisms attached to strings stretched across the racetrack at Stanford's Palo Alto stud farm. With the horse tripping the shutters as it passed, he obtained a series of images proving that a horse has all four legs in the air for a fraction of a second while galloping."
The Genius of Photography - Gerry Badger pg 38
"Known for three bodies of work...most notably, a series of studies of animal and human movement made between 1878 and 1886."
Undertook motion studies at the University of Pennsylvania between 1884-1886
"Leland Standford...horse breeder, commissioned Muybridge to study the movements of a trotting horse. Muybridge arranged an elaborate battery of cameras with rapid-shutter mechanisms attached to strings stretched across the racetrack at Stanford's Palo Alto stud farm. With the horse tripping the shutters as it passed, he obtained a series of images proving that a horse has all four legs in the air for a fraction of a second while galloping."
The Genius of Photography - Gerry Badger pg 38
Man/horse (vehicle)
© Kingston Museum and Heritage Service, 2010
© Kingston Museum and Heritage Service, 2010
Arthur Mason Worthington
A physicist, fellow of the Royal Society and pioneer of high speed photography. Author of the Study of Splashes (1908).
A physicist, fellow of the Royal Society and pioneer of high speed photography. Author of the Study of Splashes (1908).
Enlarged spark photograph of splash caused by stone sphere, smooth on one side, rough on the other, by Arthur Mason Worthington, FRS, circa 1900. The National Media Museum, Bradford
Harold Edgerton
Professor of Electrical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A pioneer in using short duration electronic flash in photographing fast events, such as a balloon bursting or a bullet exiting an apple.
He created a flash that was briefer than every before (millionths of a second) which allowed the photographing of items which are not seen by the human eye. The flash acted as the shutter, with the camera capturing what is visible in the brief moment of illumination.
In the milk splash experiments, to overcome the problem of when to trigger the flash Edgerton created a system which "used the plummeting drop itself used the plummeting drop itself to trigger the flash. He crossed its path with a beam of light connected to a detector. When the liquid bead fell, it briefly blocked the light, registering as a shadow on the detector and causing a voltage pulse, which travelled through an electrical circuit, initiating a flash at a controllable delay."1
1 http://edgerton-digital-collections.org/stories/picture-of-the-week
Professor of Electrical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A pioneer in using short duration electronic flash in photographing fast events, such as a balloon bursting or a bullet exiting an apple.
He created a flash that was briefer than every before (millionths of a second) which allowed the photographing of items which are not seen by the human eye. The flash acted as the shutter, with the camera capturing what is visible in the brief moment of illumination.
In the milk splash experiments, to overcome the problem of when to trigger the flash Edgerton created a system which "used the plummeting drop itself used the plummeting drop itself to trigger the flash. He crossed its path with a beam of light connected to a detector. When the liquid bead fell, it briefly blocked the light, registering as a shadow on the detector and causing a voltage pulse, which travelled through an electrical circuit, initiating a flash at a controllable delay."1
1 http://edgerton-digital-collections.org/stories/picture-of-the-week
Philip-Lorca DiCorcia
Initial thoughts after watching the Tateshots.
He admits he would not like to have his photo taken in a similar manner, yet he "maintains his "right" to take such covert images. He speaks in a very cold detached manner about those he photographed, with the same tone as a Victorian speaking of exhibits in a zoo, specimens in a museum, other cultures deemed inferior. He makes the valid point that the idea of privacy in a public place has become a fallacy, albeit one that we/I/many find hard to accept or don't instinctively acknowledge. We are aware that our image is captured on numerous CCTV cameras throughout the course of each day, yet it is not something we actively contemplate or question, it just is. Yet someone pointing a camera at us and taking our image without permission instinctively causes outrage, a violation of personal space, a potential sense of invasion and defilement. The difference between the two, the acknowledgement of the subject. A small black half sphere in the ceiling is not registered, a telephoto zoom aimed at you several feet away cannot be ignored.
Initial thoughts after watching the Tateshots.
He admits he would not like to have his photo taken in a similar manner, yet he "maintains his "right" to take such covert images. He speaks in a very cold detached manner about those he photographed, with the same tone as a Victorian speaking of exhibits in a zoo, specimens in a museum, other cultures deemed inferior. He makes the valid point that the idea of privacy in a public place has become a fallacy, albeit one that we/I/many find hard to accept or don't instinctively acknowledge. We are aware that our image is captured on numerous CCTV cameras throughout the course of each day, yet it is not something we actively contemplate or question, it just is. Yet someone pointing a camera at us and taking our image without permission instinctively causes outrage, a violation of personal space, a potential sense of invasion and defilement. The difference between the two, the acknowledgement of the subject. A small black half sphere in the ceiling is not registered, a telephoto zoom aimed at you several feet away cannot be ignored.
© Philip-Lorca diCorcia
Summation of research
The thing that instantly jumps out when learning about Muybridge, Worthington and Edgerton is that these were men of science. They pushed their evidently substantial academic intellect to the extreme and by doing so opened a whole new world of photography, which had practical uses as well as an aesthetic beauty.
They viewed and treated the camera as the piece of scientific machinery it is and utilised it with other apparatus to show the world what had not been seen before. The common theme in the work of these men was finding methods in which shutter could be triggered in such a manner that it was quite literally faster than the human eye.
The thing that instantly jumps out when learning about Muybridge, Worthington and Edgerton is that these were men of science. They pushed their evidently substantial academic intellect to the extreme and by doing so opened a whole new world of photography, which had practical uses as well as an aesthetic beauty.
They viewed and treated the camera as the piece of scientific machinery it is and utilised it with other apparatus to show the world what had not been seen before. The common theme in the work of these men was finding methods in which shutter could be triggered in such a manner that it was quite literally faster than the human eye.
Frozen moment in time
The weather was firmly autumnal and unfriendly, therefore this exercise was initially approached within the firm warm confines of my hermit cell.
I decided to take the same approach as that I undertook for the aperture exercises, namely find out exactly what my camera could do. Inspired by Harold Edgerton I photographed a dripping tap on each of the shutter speeds (decreasing in speed) allowed by my camera.
The below images show shutters speeds 1/4000 to 1/4.
The weather was firmly autumnal and unfriendly, therefore this exercise was initially approached within the firm warm confines of my hermit cell.
I decided to take the same approach as that I undertook for the aperture exercises, namely find out exactly what my camera could do. Inspired by Harold Edgerton I photographed a dripping tap on each of the shutter speeds (decreasing in speed) allowed by my camera.
The below images show shutters speeds 1/4000 to 1/4.
Review
First thought was "man there are a lot of shutter speeds", quickly followed by an instant understanding as to why highly intelligent people came up with very complicated apparatus to be able to photograph the exact moment a drop of water would hit the surface. The darkness of the image caused by the highest shutter speeds is clearly apparent.
I thought I would use the windy day to my advantage and photography the tree tops that were being wildly buffeted and battered in the maelstrom, again using each of the shutter speeds available.
First thought was "man there are a lot of shutter speeds", quickly followed by an instant understanding as to why highly intelligent people came up with very complicated apparatus to be able to photograph the exact moment a drop of water would hit the surface. The darkness of the image caused by the highest shutter speeds is clearly apparent.
I thought I would use the windy day to my advantage and photography the tree tops that were being wildly buffeted and battered in the maelstrom, again using each of the shutter speeds available.
Review
As I reviewed the pictures I was reminded that a greater selection of options isn't necessarily better. A bike with three gears will get the job done just as well as a bike with ten gears and if you want to get the best out of the ten gear bike you have to spend a lot of time understanding what each of those gears do and when it is best to utilise them.
To get the most of high speed photography is to have subject which the viewer instantly recognises as being fast, of only momentary existence. There is nothing to indicate to the viewer that the first 19 photographs above taken with shutters speeds decreasing from 1/4000 to 1/80 were when it was blowing a hoolie, it was only with the slower shutter speeds and the blurring subsequently captured that the wind was evident.
Therefore for this exercise to properly executed, the right subject needs to be chosen. My brainstorming arose with:
Moving subject
As I reviewed the pictures I was reminded that a greater selection of options isn't necessarily better. A bike with three gears will get the job done just as well as a bike with ten gears and if you want to get the best out of the ten gear bike you have to spend a lot of time understanding what each of those gears do and when it is best to utilise them.
To get the most of high speed photography is to have subject which the viewer instantly recognises as being fast, of only momentary existence. There is nothing to indicate to the viewer that the first 19 photographs above taken with shutters speeds decreasing from 1/4000 to 1/80 were when it was blowing a hoolie, it was only with the slower shutter speeds and the blurring subsequently captured that the wind was evident.
Therefore for this exercise to properly executed, the right subject needs to be chosen. My brainstorming arose with:
Moving subject
- vehicle - a car, plane, boat. None are present in Jersey operating at suitable speed.
- person - perhaps someone running or taking part in a team sport
- water - a river, waterfall, sea
- object - football, pinwheel, fan
Out of the moving subjects listed above the sea in much abundance in Jersey, therefore I went to the beach as the tide was coming in to see how I could capture the waves.
f stop: 4.5 exposure: 1/2500 ISO: 400 focal length: 95mm
f stop: 5 exposure: 1/2500 ISO: 320 focal length: 115mm
f stop: 5 exposure: 1/4000 ISO: 800 focal length: 130mm
f stop: 5.6 exposure: 1/2500 ISO: 1000 focal length: 300mm
f stop: 5 exposure: 1/1000 ISO: 160 focal length: 135 mm
f stop: 5 exposure: 1/4000 ISO: 1250 focal length: 160mm
f stop: 4.5 exposure: 1/4000 ISO: 1000 focal length: 80mm
f stop: 5.6 exposure: 1/2000 ISO: 1250 focal length: 55mm
Review
I believe I successfully captured the waves mid-crash, those moments too quick for the eye. The last three photos are underexposed, the mid-December dusk was fast approaching, however they still capture the essence behind this exercise.
I believe I successfully captured the waves mid-crash, those moments too quick for the eye. The last three photos are underexposed, the mid-December dusk was fast approaching, however they still capture the essence behind this exercise.