Make Magazine: High Speed Photography Kit

I’ve had a vision in my head for a LONG time about a particular shot I want to capture for racquetball photography.  I’d like to compose a tight shot of a player, with the ball clearly visible - and fully compressed against the racquet strings.

Past searches on the internet have yielded electronics kits which had to be assembled; the end result only solving a portion of my problem (light or sound trigger with no interface to a standard photography strobe).  I don’t ming a little hacking, but the parts alone were near $100 - with no guarantee I’d ever be able to get it working without a serious investment in time.

Then I discovered the Make  Magazine High Speed Photography Kit!  A fully designed solution which could trigger via sound or light, and could easily interface to a standard compact flash (like my Canon 550EX).

After some experimenting with the sound trigger and the connection to my flash (via some $25 eBay wireless remotes), I was ready to capture some action.  Off to the garage, I setup the equipment and started taking test shots (like an idiot, I chose to use a black racquetball which is not easy to see).

My only problem is that in each photo, the ball is just off the racquet strings.  My theory on this is that the loud sound made when hitting the ball is actually the ball flattening and “snapping” back to shape, not the actual ball hitting the strings.  No matter the sensativity setting, I could never get the flash to fire early enough.

My next test will be a carefully placed ball with a light trigger ($12 Fry’s laser pointer now in hand).

While shooting the 2008 USA Racquetball National Doubles Championships and the 2008 US OPEN, I somewhat accomplished the feat through another method - good ol’ fashioned timing!

These are single shots, not continuous shooting “spray and pray”:

These shots turned out *ok*, but my goal is to find a way to get these results repeatably, so I can stage the composition and lighting exactly how I want it.