Sound triggered flash photography

brads

brads

Senior Member
At the meeting of the Waverley Camera Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, last night (Waverley Camera Club) we experimented with the use of Sound Triggered Flash.

Great fun with plenty of people and a mixed bunch of cameras. Balloons, pencils, light globes, hammers and pins. Party poppers and silly string too. Varied success and I got one or two shots I was happy with. There's a few shots in my album "Sound Triggered Flash Photography"


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S

STM

Senior Member
mulgravebrad said:
At the meeting of the Waverley Camera Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, last night (Waverley Camera Club) we experimented with the use of Sound Triggered Flash.

Great fun with plenty of people and a mixed bunch of cameras. Balloons, pencils, light globes, hammers and pins. Party poppers and silly string too. Varied success and I got one or two shots I was happy with. There's a few shots in my album "Sound Triggered Flash Photography"


View attachment 44169
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Ooooooooh I want one!!!!!!!
 
brads

brads

Senior Member
Tracsoft - Don Kuykendall said:
Can you tell us a little about the sound triggers? Sounds like it might be interesting to many of us.
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Hi Don. Well, as I wasn't the organiser I wasn't privy to some of the tricks of the trade but I know it had a direct facing flash that was hooked up to a 'sound box'. This sound box had a microphone socket and the (flat, square) mike was placed about 36" away from the object to be 'burst'. Depending on noise level, moving the microphone away made some difference to the sensitivity of the sound box. The microphone was very sensitive and silence had to be maintained. The way it worked was thus: The balloon or whatever was placed on the black felt. Sometimes blue-tacked in place (do you have blue-tack over there?) When everyone was focused, "Lights Out" was called. Then "Open Shutters". The balloon was burst usually by stabbing or with a dart and the 'bang' of the burst would trigger the flash. Once the flash had gone off, we could close shutters. A cable release was best for this. The microphone was sensitive enough for the pencils to set it off when they fell on the felt. The most difficult part was when the operator couldn't find the balloon after 'lights out' and we'd have to close shutters and then refocus. But it was all good fun. One of the chaps there was a bit of an expert and had been doing this for years. He enjoyed suspending balloons filled with water (a LOT of water) and then throwing a dart at them. As we hired out our clubrooms, we couldn't make a mess, so we might keep that for later. I'd love to try it!
 
D

Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
mulgravebrad said:
Hi Don. Well, as I wasn't the organiser I wasn't privy to some of the tricks of the trade but I know it had a direct facing flash that was hooked up to a 'sound box'. This sound box had a microphone socket and the (flat, square) mike was placed about 36" away from the object to be 'burst'. Depending on noise level, moving the microphone away made some difference to the sensitivity of the sound box. The microphone was very sensitive and silence had to be maintained. The way it worked was thus: The balloon or whatever was placed on the black felt. Sometimes blue-tacked in place (do you have blue-tack over there?) When everyone was focused, "Lights Out" was called. Then "Open Shutters". The balloon was burst usually by stabbing or with a dart and the 'bang' of the burst would trigger the flash. Once the flash had gone off, we could close shutters. A cable release was best for this. The microphone was sensitive enough for the pencils to set it off when they fell on the felt. The most difficult part was when the operator couldn't find the balloon after 'lights out' and we'd have to close shutters and then refocus. But it was all good fun. One of the chaps there was a bit of an expert and had been doing this for years. He enjoyed suspending balloons filled with water (a LOT of water) and then throwing a dart at them. As we hired out our clubrooms, we couldn't make a mess, so we might keep that for later. I'd love to try it!
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I had not thought of triggering a flash instead of a camera but after thinking about it for a minute it make sense. I have several old flashes that would be great for this now I just have to build a sound trigger. Should not be to hard.
 
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