Fast motion photography - help?

[shutterbuglover]

Hi everyone,

I wondered if anyone could give me any advice on taking fast/stop motion pictures?

My partner and I have experimented with a light ring and different speeds while dropping limes into a bowl of water, but I'd like to know more about it. I think the pictures are good, but they're sometimes out of focus and a bit dark and I'm wondering what I could do to make them better?

Do I need to invest in some new equipment, etc? I've been shooting with a Canon 450D, a macro light ring and a 50mm lens.

Any tips/advice/points in the right direction will be appreciated!

[jdepould]

I'd use manual focus.

How are you syncing the strobe?

For something like dropping fruit in a bowl, I'd start at 1/200+f/8, maybe ISO400, depending on flash power and suchlike. If they're dark, you may be running up against your recycle time. Increasing ISO will take some of the load off of your strobe.

Samples?

[wildbird]

Try focusing manually, and add a lot of light to check what the pics look like without the object being dropped first, then try dropping the object. Most people have a synch setup so that the camera fires when it 'trips' a light or something. I was bored the other night, and simply used a very bright torch on the side, and kept shutter button down when dropping, but didnt get much worthwhile, but has potential I think!

[jdepould]

You may also want to try second curtain sync with a slow shutter speed. Could give you interesting results.