DIY High Speed Photography at Home

Hi everyone,

I bought a flash for my Canon 550D to shoot some high-speed photographs.
Actually, I’m more interested in designing high-speed photography equipment than in photography itself. But first I have to learn photography :/

Anyway, I made a sound trigger first.

Equipment:

• Arduino Pro Mini v3 board,
• Flytron Light Electret Microphone with Preamplificator
• Hot shoe female plug (I modified my flash stand)

Arduino code:

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#define FLASH_PIN 12
#define FLASH_GROUND 11
#define SOUND_PIN A0

#define DELAY_Trigger 5 // 5 milliseconds
#define THRESHHOLD 50

void setup()
{
// make flash trigger pin output
pinMode(FLASH_PIN, OUTPUT);
pinMode(FLASH_GROUND, OUTPUT);
// keep flash trigger pin low
digitalWrite(FLASH_PIN, HIGH);
digitalWrite(FLASH_GROUND, LOW);
}
void loop()
{
if (analogRead(SOUND_PIN) > THRESHHOLD )
{
delay(DELAY_Trigger);
//wait before trigger
digitalWrite(FLASH_PIN, LOW);
// trigger the flash
delay(1);
// done triggering, reset back
digitalWrite(FLASH_PIN, HIGH);
delay(500);
//sleep for 0.5 seconds to avoid double triggering
}

}

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You can change the threshold value and delay time to suit your requirements.

My first test was with popping balloons, and the results are promising 😀