I took this picture with a Canon 7D on a tripod, a remote control to fire the camera and an external 580ex ii flash that I fired 3 times in my hand… one thing i notice when i saw the picture on the computer and did not showed very clear on the camera is that the lower part of my face is normal and my upper part merges with the texture of the wall, making in one point my face with texture.
Best regards from Mexico
Alberto Lozano Morelos
Cámara Canon EOS 7D
Exposición 13
Aperture f/10.0
Lente 31 mm
Velocidad ISO 100
– Alberto Lozano
Priority setting
Shutter 1
iso 3200
aperture 3.5
focal length 18.0 mm
Canon T2i w/ 18-55 mm lens
Sunpak Tripod
Chauvet Mini Strobe Light 3/4 speed (not sure how fast)
(I also do not have any editing software that will resize picture, so I sent the native pic only)
I remembered a great pic of one of my favorite drummers done with this same concept years ago, so wanted to pay tribute to that photo (Gene Krupa). My son and I are both musicians and I dabble a bit in photography, so my son and I went out to our jam room at 10 pm last evening and tried to make some magic. He was getting a bit nauseous from the strobe light, but I kept saying “one more, one more” ! We both decided on this one for the contest…I just got back into photography after 15 years being away from it, so this was a very interesting shoot to say the least…and I know my pics aren’t the best, but the experience enriched both of our lives and we bonded, father and 17 year old son, like only we could…surreal!
– Kyle Mayes
Hi Mark
I have been reading the shooting challenges for a while and wondered when one would come along that would tie in with other shoots I was doing, and finally this one did, on thursday night I was going along to photograph some stills for a friends video shoot that involved a runner, so I thought this would be perfect for trying this challenge. I took a few shots experimenting with settings on the flash as shooting film you don’t know what the final outcome will be and not all came out, and even though this is not perfect and clean I like.
For the shot I used a Mamiya 645 medium format camera, 55mm lens with Fuji provia 100 film and a Metz mecablitz 40MZ-3i flash in stroboscopic mode.
Thanks
– Jason Denning
imminent impact
I set this up in the back yard. In order to keep from breaking the egg and therefore allow multiple re-takes, I started with the hammer on the egg and lifted it as I triggered the flash. I used this same technique on the double exposure challenge, so I was able to set the flash this time without having to refer to the manual. These shooting challenges are doing some good after all.
Camera: Canon EOS XTi
Lens: Sigma 50mm f1.4
Flash: Canon 580EX II
ISO: 100
Exposure Time: 1/4 Second
Aperture: f16
Flash Mode: Multi
Flash Output Level: 1/16
Stroboscopic flash Count: 8
Stroboscopic flash frequency: 60Hz
– Robert Allen
Heads or Tails?
Nikon D7000
AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D
ISO 125
f/16
1.0s
Flash: 5hz
I thought using a repeating flash to freeze the motion of a spinning coin would be a fun and easy shot for this challenge –boy was I wrong (fun, but not easy)! I sat my camera on the floor and hung a solid blue blanket from my bed as a background and started spinning. The coin was extremely hard to control and would often spin in and out of the shot –sometimes missing the camera flashes completely. Other times, the coin would spin perfectly in one spot, which just came out a shiny mess. Out of the dozens of shots I took, I thought this one captured the feel of a spinning coin best. I did a little bit of tweaking in Aperture to bring out the details in the coin. The flash fired at 5 times for a one second exposure.
The coin I used was a 1oz silver coin. It reads “Mattole Free State 2007” on one side and “Ecology Economy Culture for a Sustainable Society -10 Petols” on the other side. I don’t know much else about the coin except what I read in this article: http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=4052.
– Tim Murphy
Trying to meet the Gizmodo Strobe Challenge, using my Canon EOS Rebel T2i with a one second exposure in conjunction with the Strobe 360 I purchased for use this past Halloween. Attempts made outside failed due to the brightness of the “super” moon. Even with the ISO bottomed out for a long term exposure, the back ground came out clear as day, and all action in the photo was ghosted, transparent and blurry. Tried moving in doors for a darker setting, but still had the same problem. After some playing around I discovered part of the problem was too long of an exposure, as well as too bright (white) of a background. So I hung up a black sheet, and reduced the exposure time down to one second.
Attempts made with the strobe sitting on the ground by the camera was too weak to produce a good result. So I had to hold the strobe in one hand and try to create the movement in the field of view of the camera. The strobe was set to the maximum speed and the camera was set to a two second delay to try to give me time to position myself and the strobe. I tried dropping a number of objects, but this did not work too well as gravity would excellerate the objects too fast and only a couple of images of the object woudl be captured. So I experimented with just waving my hand in front of the camera. This produced acceptable results. Then I tried simply throwing an object up and trying to catch it. Easier said than done when sitting next to the camera and holding the strobe in one hand, trying not to bump the camera or drob the strobe, and dealing with the normal disorientation created by the strobe light.
Attached is the photo I think worked the best for the challene. More of the photos that worked out can be found at our family Flickr site in the set at http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthays/sets/72157626183242167/
EXIF Data below.
Exif data
Camera Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Exposure 1
Aperture f/4.5
Focal Length 21 mm
ISO Speed 800
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
X-Resolution 72 dpi
Y-Resolution 72 dpi
Orientation Horizontal (normal)
Software Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385
Date and Time (Modified) 2011:03:20 00:59:06
Artist John Hays
YCbCr Positioning Co-sited
Copyright Copyright by John E. Hays, 2010
XPKeywords Gizmodo Strobe Challenge
Padding (Binary data 2060 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Exposure Program Manual
Date and Time (Original) 2011:03:20 00:44:30
Date and Time (Digitized) 2011:03:20 00:44:30
Metering Mode Multi-segment
Sub Sec Time 78
Sub Sec Time Original 78
Sub Sec Time Digitized 78
Color Space sRGB
Focal Plane X-Resolution 5728.176796 dpi
Focal Plane Y-Resolution 5808.403361 dpi
Custom Rendered Normal
Exposure Mode Manual
White Balance Manual
Scene Capture Type Standard
Padding (Binary data 2060 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Offset Schema 4128
Macro Mode Normal
Self Timer 2 s
Quality Fine
Canon Flash Mode Off
Continuous Drive Single
Focus Mode Manual Focus (3)
Record Mode CR2+JPEG
Canon Image Size Large
Easy Mode Manual
Digital Zoom None
Contrast Normal
Saturation Normal
Metering Mode Evaluative
Focus Range Not Known
Canon Exposure Mode Manual
Lens Type Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Short Focal 18 mm
Focal Units 1/mm
Max Aperture 3.6
Min Aperture 23
Flash Activity 0
Flash Bits (none)
Zoom Source Width 0
Zoom Target Width 0
Manual Flash Output n/a
Color Tone Normal
SRAWQuality n/a
Focal Plane XSize 226.11 mm
Focal Plane YSize 500.13 mm
Auto ISO 100
Base ISO 800
Measured EV -6.25
Target Aperture 4.5
Target Exposure Time 1
White Balance Daylight
Slow Shutter None
Sequence Number 0
Optical Zoom Code n/a
Flash Guide Number 0
Flash Exposure Comp 0
Auto Exposure Bracketing Off
AEBBracket Value 0
Control Mode Camera Local Control
Measured EV2 -6.25
Bulb Duration 0
Camera Type EOS High-end
NDFilter Unknown (-1)
Canon Firmware Version Firmware Version 1.0.9
Owner Name John Hays
Serial Number 0722331245
Canon Model ID Unknown (0x80000270)
AFMode Off (Manual Focus)
Num AFPoints 9
Valid AFPoints 9
AFArea Widths 129 129 129 181 222 181 129 129 129
AFArea Heights 172 172 172 117 221 117 172 172 172
AFPoints Selected 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Original Decision Data Offset 0
Bracket Mode Off
Bracket Value 0
Bracket Shot Number 0
Raw Jpg Size Large
WBBracket Mode Off
WBBracket Value AB 0
WBBracket Value GM 0
Live View Shooting Off
Flash Exposure Lock Off
Lens Model EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Internal Serial Number VA0704443
Dust Removal Data (Binary data 1024 bytes, use -b option to extract)
Tone Curve Standard
Sharpness 3
Sharpness Frequency n/a
Sensor Red Level 0
Sensor Blue Level 0
White Balance Red 0
White Balance Blue 0
Color Temperature 5200
Picture Style Standard
Digital Gain 0
WBShift AB 0
WBShift GM 0
Measured RGGB 640 1024 1024 776
Color Space sRGB
VRDOffset 0
Sensor Width 5344 (152-5335 used)
Sensor Height 3516 (56-3511 used)
Black Mask Left Border 0
Black Mask Top Border 0
Black Mask Right Border 0
Black Mask Bottom Border 0
Peripheral Lighting On
Peripheral Lighting Value 32
Peripheral Lighting Setting On
Exposure Level Increments 1/3 Stop
ISOExpansion Off
Flash Sync Speed Av Auto
High ISONoise Reduction Off
Highlight Tone Priority Disable
AFAssist Beam Emits
Mirror Lockup Disable
Shutter Button AFOn Button Metering + AF start
Set Button When Shooting Normal (disabled)
LCDDisplay At Power On Display
Add Original Decision Data Off
Compression JPEG (old-style)
About uuid:faf5bdd5-ba3d-11da-ad31-d33d75182f1b
Date Acquired 2011:03:20 00:54:55.907
Last Keyword XMP Gizmodo Strobe Challenge
Subject Gizmodo Strobe Challenge
Creator Tool Microsoft Windows Photo Viewer 6.1.7600.16385
– John Hays
Camera: Nikon D90
Lens: Nikon 18-105mm VR
Focal length used: 105mm
Exposure: F14, 1 second
repeating flash: 1/32 power, 10 repeats
I wanted to do this challenge ever since it was announced. I kept looking around for something to shoot, and this small toy car got my attention. I planned to shoot an action sequence. A ramp was set up with a match box and a polythene cd pouch on my dining table. Aligned the table so that the dark door served as a background. Setup the tripod at almost the same level as the table. Locked the focus by keeping the car at the intended path and changed to manual. A shot comprised of turning off the lights, and firing the IR remote as soon as I pushed the car on to the ramp. Then it was shooting, readjusting and shooting. out of 24 shots taken, I liked this the most. Made some minor color and contrast adjustments in Photoshop.
– Manu KP
For this week’s challenge I had so many ideas after watching the tutorial from the Nikon guy, but putting it into practice is always more difficult than what the imagination sees.
I used my D90 with an SB 700 – the nikon set to Repeating flash, 10 flashes @ 10 Hz – the SB700 set to remote SU mode at 1/32 power, both the on camera flas and the SB700 Snooted.
Smarties droped by my wife during a 1 sec exposure at f7.
Image rotated and cropped in Lightroom.
Cheers
– Nils Rohwer
Wow where do I begin. I saw this challenge two days before it was due. So I looked at the examples in hopes of replicating the repeating flash process. I didn’t have any external flashes, but I did have a strobe light. So I used what I had to take the picture. It was late at night and the only person I could get to be in the photograph was my self. So I set my Canon 7D on a timer, I turned on my strobe light, and set it at steady but randomly chosen speeds. The results where overexposed blurs but then i finally got one I could be proud of. I call it “Push” because I am effortlessly pushing a fold up bed with a blue sheet on it. In the end I am just glad I got the desired effect with a $20 strobe light that I would normally only use for parties.
For the other tech specs I used a Canon 7D with a 50mm 1.4 lens at 320 iso, 2.5 sec exposure time, f/1.8 and a strobe light.
To get the image I had to hit the shutter, run into place, then push my bed to the left at a steady rate while keeping the rest of my body relatively still.
In the end I am just glad I have a new technique to put my arsenal of tricks. Some day when I get the proper equipment and a more compelling subject I will try this again. Until then I am really thankful for Gizmodo putting on these shooting challenges so I can learn and try new techniques.
– Brian Tom
This challenge is a tough one without the proper equipment, but I think it came out to almost exactly what I was going for when I had the idea. Spring is almost here and it is almost time to train outside, so I figured this is the perfect challenge to show the action of a bike on a trainer. The technique was a 20″ shutter speed at f/9.0. Using a remote to release the shutter (While pedaling) and having my fiance take three pictures with her point and shoot camera to get the flashes needed to freeze the pedaling.
– Seth Porter
Didn’t have much time so had to settle for rolling an orange across a
table. 2 sec @ f/11, ISO 200, taken with a Canon T2i (550D) and a
Sigma 10-20mm F4-5.6. Hand-fired a borrowed Speedlite 430EX while my
wife rolled the orange.
Cheers,
– Ryan Maple
I’m on tour with my band right now and when this challenge came up I instantly thought I could get some cool pictures of the headlining band because they use lots of strobe lights during their set. We were actually on tour with this band last October as well and while shooting them one night on that tour I accidentally came upon this effect and thought it was really cool. For this shot, I ended up with this one of their drummer Ben. I really like how the long exposure gave not only the trail of his drum stick and arm, but you can see the exact position of the stick each time the strobe flashed. I used a Canon T2i and a Sigma 28mm f/1.8 lens. I was in Shutter Priority mode with the exposure set to 0.5″. The aperture ended up being f/9.0. Color correction in PhotoShop.
Pictured is Ben Harclerode of Whitechapel at The White Rabbit in San Antonio, TX. As for my own shameless self-promotion, my band is I Declare War.
– Evan Hughes
Hello,
Here is my entry. I call it “Shadow Lodge”.
I used a Canon 40D, f10, exposure 30 seconds, ISO 500 and focal length of 17mm.
I used a Canon 580ex II flash set to a 1/1 brightness.
I actually spent a few hours before hand shooting a band as they played. I ran around and would flash each band member using a very long shutter time so I could get all 4 band members.
On the way back to the cabin I stopped by the river to see the bright moon. I did not make it to the river as I saw this fence opening and thought this could be interesting with multiple flashes.
I started by flashing the backgrounds behind the fence all the way back to the cabin. On my way back to the camera I shot one more forward that front lit me a little. The last flash I was standing in front of the fence and flashed behind me. This was a total accident as it created a shadow of myself.
I hope you enjoy it.
– Drew Cady
Nikon D3000
55-200mm
55mm
F/5.6
1/2 sec
ISO 400
It was a rainy Sunday afternoon…
So I asked my friend to be my model for this photo contest.
She had to run many times back and forth in front of my camera till we got this picture. 🙂
– Anna Albert
Canon SX110IS, 2 second, 400 ISO, F2.8 with little paper helicopter spotlighted with led flashlight and homebuilt mechanical stroboscope.
I had just finished building a mechanical strobe a few days ago, see my build at http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-A-Mechanical-Camera-Stroboscope/. I took this picture today. I am an American teaching English at a university in Harbin, China.
– James Demello
Camera: D90
Lens: AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D
ISO: 250
Flash: iPhone 4 LED with Flashlight app.
Model: Hot Wheel Car
Summary: So, I’ve been wanting to submit a Shooting Challenge for several weeks now, but I never have the time. I decided that no matter the challenge, I would at least attempt it. Fast forward to right now, I got off of work at 11pm and I knew I was cutting it short. I was about to give up and pass out, when the creative juices started flowing. I don’t have much equipment, and I had played around with long exposure shots using my iPhone 4’s LED, so I decided to use it again for this. I lined up the iPhone 4 on the left side and a mirror on the right. I tied up the Hot Wheel with a string and spun it around. I then edited the photo for color and to remove the string from the image. It is now 4:30AM, and way past my bedtime haha. Enjoy
– Robert Morales
Shot with a Canon 50D and 17-55mm 2.8 with a 1 second exposure at 400iso. Off camera wireless trigger ste2 580ex flash 10 hertz.
I’ve played Ultimate Frisbee for the past 20 years, first in high school then on the Penn State collegiate team and now in recreational leagues. My first thought upon reading the challenge was to do a sport and what better sport than the one I’ve played for the majority of my life. It was in the 20s the night that I shot the photo so instead of the usual t-shirt and shorts for the summer time sport I wore my North Face out to a local park. The shot if of my forehand that I would typically use to pull at the beginning of a point.
– Raymond Liu
Dear Gizmodo,
My first idea was to throw a coin. So i thought about how to fire the Flash frequently. I’ve got a Speedlite 430 EX and it doesn’t have a function like this.
So i went to the loft and took out my old LEGOs. I’ve built a Machine, which shorts the contacts of the flash frequently (Image)
After that i didn’t have enough time to take the coin picture so i decided to take a pendulum. This is my first inscription to a Photo Contest and it was so much Fun!
Equipment: Canon 550d(EOS Rebel T2i), Canon 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 (shutter speed 2”, f/5.6), Speedlite 430 EX II, Self built LEGO machine to get a frequent Flash (~2-3 Flashes/second)
– Andreas Gerken
Camera & Picture info: Kodak Easyshare Z1012 IS ISO-800 f4.5 16 sec. exposure.
Trying to take a scarying picture, I invited my brother to pretend to be a ghost at midnight, but as a newbie photographer I could not do a good stroboscopic photo. Anyway I sent my image…
– Paulo Victor Rodrigues
