Autonomous high speed shots

The snow over the last few days has finally encouraged smaller birds back into the garden. Today saw starlings, blue & great tits, dunnocks, robins, black birds and even a goldfinch making visits so a perfect opportunity to try some high speed shots. Of course, wood pigeons were also making regular appearances.

The laser setup is gradually becoming simpler through trial and error. The heavy duty tripods have been replaced with metal poles which are simply hammered into the grass. This speeds up setup time but also means less kit to replicate the setup.

The aim for today was slightly different to previous tests. The laser wasn't aligned along the perch, it was instead set back about 10cm so that it would be broken by the bird on approach to the perch rather than after it landed. This would mean less shots, but hopefully the action shots that drove this project in the first place. This seemed to work and the results are quite encouraging. More experimentation is required to really tweak the lighting but this is definitely a good first attempt at high speed shots.

Blue tits were the most frequent visitors:

A great tit:

A dunnock. There were several about but they constantly fed from the ground below the feeders. This shot was a pleasant surprise:

Starlings. One disappointingly just out of frame:

The obligatory pigeon shot:

Comments

Macro diffuser update

I've simplified the macro diffuser that I open sourced last year . The MK1 version required printing out a custom lens hood which would only attach to a Canon 100mm macro lens. The MK2 version no longer requires a custom lens hood, it simply clicks on to the hood of whatever macro lens you might have making it far more versatile and easier to print. The tested lenses so far include: Canon 100mm Canon 180mm Sigma 180mm Sigma 105mm This hood helps reduce harsh shadows you often get when using flash but the main advantage for me is that the head can be positioned depending on how close you get to your subject. This is the typical kind of result I'm getting with this setup now. To build your own version you just need to print the model and supply a few basic parts: M3 x 40mm Hex Head bolt (the shape of the head is hex, NOT the shape of the tool used to tighten it). M3 wingnut. Diffuser material. I use the plastic casing found on some notebooks and it seems t...

Experimental macro flash diffuser

The abundance of insects over the last couple of months has been a perfect opportunity to experiment with different macro flash setups. Using a standard speedlight as-is isn't really an option, as the light is projected out much further than the front of the lens (which is exactly what you'd normally want a speedlight to do) and is much too harsh. There are therefore two problems that need to be solved; diffusing the light and directing it closer to the front of the lens. There are of course multiple commercial solutions available, such as the Canon MT24-EX or the Sigma EM-140 ring flash, but these are all relatively expensive and unlikely to be an option to anyone wanting to experiment with macro photography. A speedlight however is much less of a barrier to entry. A few different prototypes were made but the design I settled on was a light pipe style design that captures the flash light and funnels it down to the front of the flash. Of course, it would be ideal to hav...

The laser trigger module overview

The laser trigger module is the most useful gadget to come out of the camera trigger project so far. It is a simple board that controls up to two lasers with sensors to detect if the beams have been broken. The electronics involved in detecting a broken beam are very simple so using a microcontroller might at first glance seem to be unnecessary overkill, but using a microcontroller gives a significant amount of flexibility in a small and inexpensive package.

CameraTrigger

Search This Blog