Making a splash with high speed photography

Commercial still-life photography these days is often done with remote control art direction. The photographer is expected to set up the shot and send Polaroids to the art director by e-mail to get the go-ahead to shoot on film. With regular still-life pictures this is not too bad as the set and lighting can be left for hours if needs be, as long as no one trips over a sync lead!
   With high speed shots the same principle applies, you just need more and different tools. Regular studio flash systems have a flash duration of about 1/250 sec, and this is not fast enough for most moving objects if you are looking for good sharpness. I use Elincrom 250R monobloc flash units, partly because they have a flash duration of 1/6000 sec, but also because they are at their fastest when at full power. I tend to use between two and six units, but have to remember to have them all at full power, otherwise I get fringing of the moving object.
   To fire the flashes it's possible to buy or hire a control box, but thats no fun for a control freak so I built my own. I remembered that the BBC Micro that I cut my computer programming teeth on has all sorts of useful interfaces on it. I dug around in my loft and found the computer and all the copies of BBC Micro User magazine gathering dust. I retrieved them and looked up the articles on building input/output devices.
With a soldering iron and some bits & bobs from the local electronics shop I rigged a box with eight channels in and eight out. I also got one of those laser pointer devices and rigged it to work via a long cable.

Equipment check list

• Elincrom 250R flash units
• BBC B computer (32k RAM)
• Home-made input/output interface box
• Laser pointer
• Light -sensitive cell in a home-made tube/holder
• Lots of clamps & tubes and whatever is delivering the moving object to the shot.
• All this plus the usual cameras, film etc.

It generally takes a couple of hours to set up the drop, and then another hour or so doing Polaroids to get the exact moment by trial and error. It is very important to note chronology and delay times on the Polaroids!
   Once the desired effect is on a Polaroid I can repeat it at will. It is tremendously satisfying to have a roll of film come back from the processors with a good splash on every frame.