Shooting hawkwind moths at night

Hi,

How do you freeze motion on a nectar-feeding hawkwind moth at night
using flash? I would very much like to know how to get the most out the
gear I have:

Minolta HS5400 flashgun with Minolta Dynax 9 body:

Guide number 54 (ISO 100),
1/300s flash sync (Minolta Dynax 9)
1/12000s high speed flash sync (HSS) with the Minolta Dynax 9 body

lenses used:
Sigma EX 105/2.8 and Sigma EX 180/3.5

film mostly Sensia 100, Velvia 100 or Provia 400F

This would of course be night photography, so background illumination
is no concern

So how do I freeze the wings of a hawkwind moth? I take it that the
1/300s flash sync is not enough

The use of flash has always been more or less a mystery to me, so any
tips would be greatly appreciated,

cheers, Marko

etosha wrote:
Hi,

How do you freeze motion on a nectar-feeding hawkwind moth at night
using flash? I would very much like to know how to get the most out the
gear I have:

Minolta HS5400 flashgun with Minolta Dynax 9 body:

Guide number 54 (ISO 100),
1/300s flash sync (Minolta Dynax 9)
1/12000s high speed flash sync (HSS) with the Minolta Dynax 9 body

lenses used:
Sigma EX 105/2.8 and Sigma EX 180/3.5

film mostly Sensia 100, Velvia 100 or Provia 400F

This would of course be night photography, so background illumination
is no concern

So how do I freeze the wings of a hawkwind moth? I take it that the
1/300s flash sync is not enough

The use of flash has always been more or less a mystery to me, so any
tips would be greatly appreciated,

cheers, Marko


Night exposure with flash, the duration of the flash has more affect on
exposure than the shutter speed. As an example, you could photograph
someone with flash, setting the shutter speed to 1/125. Then do a second
shot with the aperture setting the same, but the shutter speed at 1/4
second. What you would generally find is that the closest subject would
be illuminated about the same, but the background would be more exposed
(brighter) in the 1/4 second shot.

I am greatly oversimplifying this, so it is not too technical, nor too
confusing. The explanation is that in flash photography, the flash
duration and the aperture setting control most of the exposure, in most
situations. The flash duration might actually be 1/10000 of a second, or
even as short as 1/30000 of a second (sometimes the manual or
specification might give you these numbers). The longest flash duration
might only be 1/10000, so if you shot at 1/300, the flash would only
expose the film for a small portion of that time.

The flash sync speed on the camera is normally when the first shutter
blade(s) has completed full travel, and the second shutter blade(s) has
not yet started travel. On many cameras, that is 1/125, or maybe 1/250,
so 1/300 is slightly faster sync than some cameras. You might actually
find that in darker scenes, using a lower flash sync, like 1/30, might
show more background in the final results.

High speed sync is something else entirely, since the flash is actually
doing multiple reduced output pops many times during the shutter cycle.
On a camera that supports this, speeds faster (shorter) than the flash
sync create a slit width between the first and second shutter opening
and closing. While at 1/300, the entire film area was open, set the
shutter to 1/1000 or faster and only a portion of the film area is open.
What HSS does is pop the flash at several intervals so that each area of
the film gets some flash, the idea is that the shutter blades cover up
the exposed areas as they move, so only the slit open gets a flash pop.
This is generally a better thing to do in some sports photography, or
some daylight fill flash portrait photography.

So my suggestion of what to try would be a setting on your flash that
provides the shortest flash duration, not the shortest (fastest) shutter
speed on the camera. In fact, I think you might find slightly better
results going with 1/60 shutter speed (or slower) and using rear
curtain sync. Set your exposure manually, using the recommended distance
for the flash power setting, and the most wide open aperture you can set
on your lens. Best of luck.

Ciao!

Gordon Moat
A G Studio
http://www.allgstudio.com

"etosha" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

How do you freeze motion on a nectar-feeding hawkwind moth at night
using flash? I would very much like to know how to get the most out the
gear I have:

Minolta HS5400 flashgun with Minolta Dynax 9 body:

Guide number 54 (ISO 100),
1/300s flash sync (Minolta Dynax 9)
1/12000s high speed flash sync (HSS) with the Minolta Dynax 9 body

lenses used:
Sigma EX 105/2.8 and Sigma EX 180/3.5

film mostly Sensia 100, Velvia 100 or Provia 400F

This would of course be night photography, so background illumination
is no concern

So how do I freeze the wings of a hawkwind moth? I take it that the
1/300s flash sync is not enough

The use of flash has always been more or less a mystery to me, so any
tips would be greatly appreciated,

cheers, Marko


In total darkness, or very low ambient light, anyway, the duration of the
shutter speed is less important than the duration of the flash (if it's
completely dark, the film won't record anything, even if the shutter's wide
open). And if the flash is only on for a couple milliseconds, the moth's
wings will likely appear frozen regardless whether the shutter remains open
for a longer period--I say "likely" because I don't know how fast a moth's
wings beat, but I doubt it's very fast, unlike many other insects. If the
flash is on Auto, it's likely to try to illuminate the dark background ,
resulting in a blown out subject. That's called "hot-flash", which has
nothing to do with the experiences of post-menopausal women... ;-)

Therefore--keeping in mind I haven't tried this myself--this is what I would
try: With the flash and the camera set to manual, figure out what settings
will properly expose a gray card situated where the moth will be, and then
work towards settings with the shortest flash duration, which may be a
longer shutter speed than what you're thinking you'll need.

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

"etosha" wrote in news:1139327880.644580.162280
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

Hi,

How do you freeze motion on a nectar-feeding hawkwind moth at night
using flash? I would very much like to know how to get the most out the
gear I have:

Minolta HS5400 flashgun with Minolta Dynax 9 body:

Guide number 54 (ISO 100),
1/300s flash sync (Minolta Dynax 9)
1/12000s high speed flash sync (HSS) with the Minolta Dynax 9 body

lenses used:
Sigma EX 105/2.8 and Sigma EX 180/3.5

film mostly Sensia 100, Velvia 100 or Provia 400F

This would of course be night photography, so background illumination
is no concern

So how do I freeze the wings of a hawkwind moth? I take it that the
1/300s flash sync is not enough

The use of flash has always been more or less a mystery to me, so any
tips would be greatly appreciated,

cheers, Marko


What the others have said about high-speed photography is true. For
more information on this, do a websearch on Doc Edgerton. In true
darkness, the shutter can stay open as long as you like, and the brief
flash duration is what stops the motion.

There are a lot of factors involved, though. If you can go for
full-manual output on that flash, I would suggest doing so, and the
reason is, you then know exactly how much light the flash will be putting
out, and can adjust accordingly. If you're relying on the TTL
communication between the flash and the camera, this is going to depend
on the metering system and how much of your subject is in the frame, and
this is very hard to control.

TTL metering shuts off the flash output when the required light
level is reached, and this sounds ideal. However, if the metering system
doesn't register the relatively small subject of the hawkwing against the
black background, it's liable to blast out light trying to illuminate the
darkness, and this will turn your moth into a nuclear blowout, if you
simply don't burn him to ash ;-)

So, you go manual, and adjust conditions accordingly. Quick
tutorial:

Guide Number dived by Aperture equals Distance of ideal flash
coverage at the named ISO. So, your GN is 54 (I'm assuming feet, but
check this carefully). This means at f4, your flash covers 13.5 feet, and
at f8, 6.75 feet, if you're shooting ISO 100 film. Shutter speed doesn't
matter unless you want to catch ambient light as well - as Gordon says,
as long as your shutter is below 1/125 (or whatever the camera lists as
sync speed), you'll get the right exposure.

So, measure the distance to your subject, and calculate the
aperture from that. 10 feet? 54 divided by 10 equals 5.4, call it f5.6.
Set the aperture at that, shutter at 1/125 or slower, and you should be
fine.

Want to be creative? Take the flash off the camera, and set the
camera on a tripod. If it's really really dark, simply lock the shutter
open, and manually fire the flash when you know your subject is lined up
- since it's so dark, presumably you would know this from your bat-like
hearing, or maybe pyschic powers ;-). As long as you're the right
distance to your subject with the flash, regardless of how far the camera
is, you'll get the right exposure. And will be able to do some creative
sidelighting if you like.

I've done some basic bat photography this way, strictly fooling
around, nothing great. But I was able to spot the bats with a low-power
flashlight and trigger the flash as they crossed the camera's field-of-
view. The light from the flashlight was too low to expose the film
noticeably, as long as I didn't linger too long on something motionless
in the camera's field-of-view.

Hope this helps. Good luck!


- Al.

--
To reply, insert dash in address to match domain below
Online photo gallery at www.wading-in.net

Thanks guys for the illustrative and exhaustive advice . If only
spring came a little faster now...

cheers, Marko, Finland

etosha wrote:

Hi,

How do you freeze motion on a nectar-feeding hawkwind moth at night
using flash? I would very much like to know how to get the most out the
gear I have:

Minolta HS5400 flashgun with Minolta Dynax 9 body:

Guide number 54 (ISO 100),
1/300s flash sync (Minolta Dynax 9)
1/12000s high speed flash sync (HSS) with the Minolta Dynax 9 body

lenses used:
Sigma EX 105/2.8 and Sigma EX 180/3.5

film mostly Sensia 100, Velvia 100 or Provia 400F

This would of course be night photography, so background illumination
is no concern

So how do I freeze the wings of a hawkwind moth? I take it that the
1/300s flash sync is not enough

The use of flash has always been more or less a mystery to me, so any
tips would be greatly appreciated,

As Matt and Al said, the flash duration is much shorter than the shutter
duration and it is the flash that is freezing the motion, not the shutter.

With the equipment you mention (which I have), I would _also_ use an
incident flash meter at the distance from flash to subject and manually
determine the flash power setting (1/1, 1/2, 1/4 ...) that would expose
f/4 .. f/8 correctly. This would be the easiest/surest way to good
exposures in the field.

I would prefer getting to the lowest possible power setting (1/32) as
that is the shortest duration flash and hence the best motion freeze.
So getting the flash (if not the camera) close to the subject may be
beneficial.

If you don't have access to an incident meter (borrow, beg, steal or
gosh, buy one), using the TTL flash will very likely (as Matt said)
over-expose the flash as there is little return from the deep background.
So, do a test roll at various distances (flash to subject, not camera to
subject) and make an "aperture/distance/power setting" table. Do this
in full stops as that is the power setting resolution of the flash.
Distances in 1:1.4 ratio (corresponds to one stop of light). Use a grey
card as reference. Use one flash "zoom" setting (I suggest 105mm unless
the flash is really close to the subject)

As a starting point: 1/16 power,
ISO 100,
flash zoom 105mm
6 feet flash to subject

gives f/5.6 (or of course f/11 at ISO 400, see below).

That's with *my* 5400HS, yours might be slightly more or less powerful.

My 5400 is pretty accurate and repeatable in full stops from 1/32 up to
1/4 as measured with an incident meter; yours might be better or worse.
from 1/4 to 1/2 and 1/2 to 1/1 my flash outputs more on the order of
2/3 of a stop difference (more) in power.

Set the aperture as determined by the flash meter at any reasonable
shutter speed (1/300 or slower, do not use the HSS speeds).

Go for the Provia 400. This will allow either smaller aperture (better
sharpness) or less flash power (better "freeze") or an even trade
between the two (one less stop of flash power, and one stop of aperture
smaller).

If possible, use the 180 Sigma, although this will mean you're farther
back, so you may want to get your flash off camera. You can use
wireless off camera to control the flash, just be sure the flash is in a
manual power mode (1/1, 1/2, ....) and not in ratio. You'll be forced to
use a shutter speed of 1/60 in wireless (which shouldn't really matter).
Optionally, block the camera flash with a bit of developed (black)
slide film. The IR signals will go through and trigger the flash. (You
may want to swivel the "sensor" side of the flash towards the camera).

You can also use the "strobe" function of the flash if the beast is
flying and maybe get a multipe exposure with the beast in 3 seperate
positions in the same frame. Wider angle lens suggested.

Post results.

Cheers,
Alan

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