Every image in this collection was captured in 1/1000 of a second—300x faster than a human blink—the briefest of moments that we would miss if not for the remarkable capabilities of the modern camera.
Winner - Match Strike
I was very excited to try this challenge as it pushed me outside my comfort zone. I am mainly interested in macro and nature photography and rarely shoot at speeds above 1/100. I tried to think of household things which would be interesting at 1/1000; I tried the shower head and the blender before settling on striking a match. I went through about 6 or 7 boxes before achieving a result I was happy with. It turns out that even at 1/1000 a normal match strike is too fast to capture and you need to move a bit slower to capture the match at the moment of ignition. Thanks to the wife for patiently striking many, many matches for me. Nikon D300s, 85mm f/3.5 micro lens, ISO 800, 1/1000, f/4.2, SB600 flash, tripod. More of my photos.
- Glenn Krumholz
Balloon. Face.
My daughter encouraged me to try and enter this contest since she knows I love taking pictures. "We are pretty busy, " I told her, "plus, 1/1000 of a second is pretty quick. What is something you would like to see frozen in time in the shot?" Right away, she says my wife can throw water balloons at her while I take pictures. What a great sport! She enjoyed the few balloons thrown her way and even got to get the camera guy back with a couple to the head after we got this shot! Nikon D7000, AF-S Nikkor 18-105 mm, ISO: 1000
Aperture: f/5.6, Shutter: 1/1000 sec.
- Brian Knack
Liquid Refreshment
There's something about catching water frozen in a moment that's beautifully haunting. Maybe it's because we never see experience it that way in our daily lives. In college I worked at a Starbucks, and was diligent about always pouring hot liquids carefully. There was something liberating about filling a glass without worrying about if it was going to spill. Canon EOS Rebel T2i, EF 50 mm f1.4 USM, ISO: 400, f/2.2, 1/1000
- Matthew Ragan
Strike I
Heard about the challenge this Thursday from a friend. It's more of a 'right place at the right time' or a 'create your own and hope it comes out' type of capture. Due to limited time, I couldn't just stand around waiting for an amazing bird to fly by (I live in the city so I'd be lucky to capture a pigeon) so I followed my father to the bowling alley (Saturday, May 21) to see pins fly around instead. He's an awesome bowler and knew he wouldn't let me down with the strikes. Canon Rebel T1i, EF 50mm 1.4, ISO: 3200, f/1.8, 1/1000
- Tina L. Pierce
Strike II
My girlfriend gave me a flint fire starter for my birthday, it was the first thing i thought of when I saw this shooting challenge. We went to my dad's which has all black walls and tried to get some shots. Timing was tough, so we resorted to continuous shooting and hoping that amongst the many black frames one would show a spark. This was the best of them. Taken with a Canon EOS 450D, 50mm f/1.8 mkII lens, wide open, iso 100. We decided on the low iso as the actual subject was very bright and already over-exposing. The image was cropped and I enhanced the colour of the smoke in Aperture. Sparks were made by me, picture taken by Zosia Bredow.
- Adam Falk
Strike III
For my friend's birthday, we decided to get premium seats for the baseball game Sunday before the close of this contest. I have never had the experience of taking shorts shots before and figured that the 1/1000th challenge would be excellent as I would need a shutter speed at least that fast to freeze the action of a baseball game. Throughout the course of this game I took a ton of shots trying to capture the right moment, but without knowing what I wanted the right moment to be, I took well over 400 shots on my camera's continuous mode. To be fair, it was a rather slow game compared to the previous two of the weekend series between the O's and the Nats. Event with 1/1000th of a second shutter speed, you are limited by your own human ability to react quick enough to grab the right shot, and even then you become limited by the camera's ability to take however many shots per second in continuous, mine was 3 shots/second. All in all, it was a good game with a late comeback for the home team and I walked away with some great shots and a lot learned on shooting sports events. My camera set up was a D3100 using my AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR lens. The shot was in f/13 with the all important 1/1000 sec shutter speed and a rather high ISO of 1600. The focal length of this shot was at 220mm, and yes, the seats were awesome.
- Christopher Hecht
Just Passing Through
While on a train ride back from Mississippi after picking up my grandmother and spending a few days with my cousins, I admired the passing scenery as I made the journey from Hattisburg MS to Philadelphia PA. Along the way, many things caught my attention; the fact that graffiti is a constant presence around trains and rail roads in general, there is much more farmland in this country than I once thought, and the fact that a 30 hour Amtrak ride with a decently sized bedroom compartment is much more bearable and overall enjoyable than any plane ride I've ever taken. However, the one thing that stood out more than any other part of the trip was the wreckage I saw in Tuscaloosa, Alabama from the tornadoes that tore through there a few weeks past. As I am from New Jersey, I have never seen a Tornado or the damage that one can produce, however upon seeing this damage, I am much more aware how detrimental they can be. This shot was taken with my Ricoh Singlex TLS, using my f1.8 55mm lens. I had the lens at f 2.2, and about 1 full stop overexposed to get more definition inside the train car, and to enhance the blurry rose in the foreground, which I feel is symbolic of the lives recently lost. I've titled this image "Just Passing Through" because of the manner in which I came and passed the scene of destruction, the overall brevity of the situation, and because the tornado appeared and diminished in a way similar to myself.
- Daniel Locandro
Lively Bee
This buzzin' bee was taken in the large scale artwork "In Memory" by Nathan Coley which is situated at Jupiter Artland, an amazing contemporary sculpture part just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland (http://www.jupiterartland.org). It is described by the artist as: "A simple enclosure formed by poured concrete surrounding a tended graveyard with headstones and planting... [it] takes the form of a small family graveyard, the kind to be found in the grounds of many a country house or estate. The irony of the bee making life in the middle of a situation so closely tied up to death creates an interesting tension. Shot on a Nikon D3000 using 35mm, f/1.8 lens, ISO 200, 1/1000 AT F/2.5
- Andy
Skateboard vs The Republican
The other day, I found myself being chased by a rabid Republican. With nowhere to turn, I decided to take shelter at the local skate park. Not one to be fooled, the 'publican was right on my tail, and getting closer. I ran around the skate park, imploring the skaters for help. As I turned a corner, circling behind the concrete quarter pipe, I tripped and began to fall. Not wanting to destroy my new camera, the Canon 60D, I grabbed it to protect it from its perilous journey into the ground.
That is all I can remember from the incident. After I regained consciousness, an onlooker explained to me what had happened, proof of which was caught by my camera in this photo.
As I was falling, one of the skateboarders, decided he had to do something. He had to help.
With great skill and dexterity, he charged the quarter pipe - fire in his eyes. Reaching the lip of the ramp, he popped an ollie, and aimed for the crazed beast, ready to pounce on my unconscious body. He flew through the air, aiming directly at the monsters head, prepared to fight.
When the skateboard made contact with the 'publicans thick skull, he was destroyed instantly, and mysteriously vanished.
This photo, which was taken accidentally, as I was falling, and the skateboarder attacking, is the only proof of this story. Canon 60D, 18-135mm kit lens set @ 18mm, 1/1000 sec., F/5.7, ISO 2000
- Seth Koberg
Splatter
After reading this weeks challenge I immediately knew I was going to shoot a hoverfly in flight or something to that effect since Macro is my passion. But late the other night and after a few cold beverages the paint splash came to me. I set up a ladder in the garage to hang my black back drop, used 4 shop lights, got an old Subwoofer and receiver and with a little help from Jack and Meg White I had some base to splatter paint up to my ceiling. After several attempts and clean ups I reviewed my photos and this one seemed to have the best focus and color. Several other shots can be found here http://www.flickr.com/photos/hooker771/ Shot with a Canon t2i with 100mm Macro 2.8 lens at f/4 and of course 1/1000. Even with the shop lights I had to bump the ISO to 800 to get the needed speed of 1/1000. I think this would work better with a flash and more DOF. My son, daughter, and myself tried to replicate this today outside using the sun instead of shop lights but I still couldn't get a better shot. But they had a "blast".
- Drew Eldridge
Trampoline
Visiting some friends for a Braai on the weekend we I took along my camera hoping for some 1/1000 action and this presented the perfect opportunity when the kids started jumping on the trampoline!
Shot with Nikon D90, Colour editied in Lightroom3. 1/1000s, f4.0, ISO1600.
- Nils
Pop
This photo was taken with a Sony DSLR-A230, f/5.6, S/1/1000, ISO-400, I decide to take the instant when the water balloons explode and the water inside the balloon kept the shape of the balloon, and I use a mirror to reflect the sun to the balloon.
- Antonio Rodriguez
Amazing entries this week, everyone! These are always my favorite results, when all of you creatively exploit a simple feature that's in basically every dSLR sold today. Full galleries below and wallpapers on flickr.
Mark Wilson is the founder of photography blog Life, Panoramic and Philanthroper, a daily deal site for nonprofits.