WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: Slow Motion Film and High Speed Photography 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:13.760 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.599 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.119 how stuff Works in a love all things tech, and 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.920 it's time for another classic episode of tech Stuff. This 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.720 episode about slow motion film and high speed photography, originally 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:32.159 published on October third, two thousand eleven. Wow, I've been 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:36.000 doing this a long time. So this episode is where 0:00:36.120 --> 0:00:38.960 Chris Pallette and I take a close look at the 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.080 technologies behind slow motion film and high speed photography, which 0:00:42.080 --> 0:00:45.480 are closely related. What is necessary to make those works, 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.920 specifically in the world of film, more so in film 0:00:48.920 --> 0:00:52.560 than in video. So I hope you enjoyed this classic episode. 0:00:53.080 --> 0:00:57.240 Today we wanted to talk about high speed photography and 0:00:57.440 --> 0:01:01.720 slow motion. Both of these have to do with changing 0:01:02.200 --> 0:01:05.440 film speeds and shutter speeds and all this kind of stuff. 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:09.160 To really talk about how this stuff works, we have 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:11.960 to go a little bit more basic. We have to 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:16.000 actually talk about the principles behind photography and how a 0:01:16.160 --> 0:01:19.800 camera works. And before we really get into this, How 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:25.000 Stuff Works has dozens of great articles about photography, including 0:01:25.400 --> 0:01:28.040 articles about how high speed photography works and how burst 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:31.000 photography works, both of those written by John Fuller, but 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.959 we also have how cameras work, how photographic film works. 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:36.679 So if you want to learn more than what you know, 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.000 we're gonna kind of cover the basics. But if you 0:01:39.080 --> 0:01:43.120 really want to know the true science and chemistry and 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:46.440 physics behind how cameras work, I highly recommend you check 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.320 out those articles because they will answer a lot more questions. 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.080 We're gonna try and kind of cover the basics here. 0:01:53.320 --> 0:01:57.080 So so let's, uh, let's talk about what a camera does. 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:00.920 It's seems kind of silly to say because we're most 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:03.040 of us are really familiar with cameras. And by the way, 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:05.760 I should point out also that we're really focusing on 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:09.360 film film. See what you did there, It was completely 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.079 not on purpose. Um, we're talking about film cameras mainly 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:17.320 in this podcast as opposed to digital. The two different methods. 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:19.799 You know, you get the you get a result that's 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:22.440 similar using these two methods. You know, you get an 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:26.200 image of a moment in time in both ways, but 0:02:26.760 --> 0:02:30.720 the actual mechanics behind film versus digital are very different. 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.320 So we're specifically looking at it's going to say focus again, 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:39.640 looking at film cameras because well, to to try and 0:02:39.680 --> 0:02:43.200 cover both would require like a podcast that's twice as 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:46.080 long as what we normally do, and we only do 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:52.440 that for Google Plus. Well, UH cameras in general though, um, 0:02:52.480 --> 0:02:57.000 and speaking of both film and digital, you're you're you're 0:02:57.120 --> 0:03:03.120 using a series of devices to capture that image. There. 0:03:03.400 --> 0:03:05.639 On both film and digital you of course you've got 0:03:05.639 --> 0:03:10.960 a lens um and there is uh, the principle behind 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.919 it is to capture the image. On film, you're using 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:19.400 a a piece of essentially plastic celluloid to that's treated 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:22.359 with chemicals that captures that image. And and a digital 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:26.720 camera use an image sensor. UM. But you know, and 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:29.320 and there are some similarities. Of course, it has to 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.840 do with how fast the camera is firing um and 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.840 how much light you're letting in through the lens um, 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:43.040 and after that they do differ considerably so with a 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.880 with a film camera, you know, Chris was just talking 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:47.840 about it a second ago. But what you know, the 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.160 main the medium upon which you are capturing these images 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:53.800 is film, and film is really just a strip of 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:58.720 plastic that's been treated with uh, with chemicals that are photoreactive. Yes, 0:03:58.800 --> 0:04:01.760 that means that the chemical coals will undergo some sort 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:06.280 of change when exposed to light, so they turned into monsters. 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.600 If you've listened to our Solar if you listen to 0:04:08.600 --> 0:04:12.320 our Solar Panel episode, you know that we have discovered 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:16.640 materials that react when light hits it. The photons from 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:21.719 the light transfer energy to whatever that medium is and 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:24.440 you get a reaction. In this case, the photons are 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:29.120 able to change the chemical properties of the stuff that's 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.480 on this film. And I really get into that would 0:04:31.480 --> 0:04:36.080 be diving deep into science. We do have, like I said, 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.720 the article on how photo, how film photographic film works, 0:04:39.720 --> 0:04:43.280 and that explains it. But um to be honest, if 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:45.039 I were to try and go into it right now, 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.960 I'm sure I would mess it up because you know, 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:51.320 my my chemistry is only goes so far. My chemistry 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:55.440 food is weak chemistry. But at any rate, what this 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.400 this stuff is designed so that when light hits it, 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:01.920 it has a chemical change. Then when you treat it 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.320 with other chemicals, that's what allows you to create a 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:09.279 negative image of whatever it was you were whatever light 0:05:09.400 --> 0:05:12.520 hit it. So this is why when you have film, 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:15.640 people say, you know, make sure you don't expose it 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:19.680 to light before before or after you take a photo, 0:05:19.720 --> 0:05:22.159 because if you do, it's going to ruin the image, right, 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:28.560 because um, the film is going to record the light 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:32.240 from the that that is coming to it through the lens. 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:34.520 So of course, when you put the canister a film 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.200 inside your camera and load your camera, you close the 0:05:38.200 --> 0:05:42.000 door which blocks off any light. Um. And then of 0:05:42.000 --> 0:05:44.080 course you have to advance the film after you've taken 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:48.040 a photo. If you if you've ever exposed film more 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:52.960 than once, double exposure, you get a really bizarre effect. Yeah. Yeah, 0:05:52.960 --> 0:05:54.719 and it can be very very cool if that's what 0:05:54.760 --> 0:05:56.880 you're going for. It can also be really frustrating if 0:05:56.880 --> 0:05:58.839 you were trying to capture one thing in particular and 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:01.120 forgot to advance the film, right. And and we've even 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:06.880 seen that double exposures go into uh the realm of 0:06:07.080 --> 0:06:10.400 people thinking that something supernatural is going on, because you 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.960 do get kind of a ghostly image if you double 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:15.880 exposed film. Yeah. So there have been times where people 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:18.560 have had just a double exposure, that's all it is, 0:06:18.880 --> 0:06:21.880 but because they didn't realize it was a double exposure, 0:06:22.080 --> 0:06:25.159 they say, wow, I took this photo of my buddy Bob, 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.640 and there's this ghostly face that's appearing over his left shoulder. 0:06:28.720 --> 0:06:31.839 That's so creepy and not forgetting that. Oh, before I 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.240 took the photo of Bob, I took a photo of Liz. 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:37.520 It's just that Bob's photo was exposed over Liz's photo 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:40.640 and now Liz looks like she's a ghost. Actually, I 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:43.719 thought it was because Bob worked at that leaky nuclear plants. 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.920 Because we took all those photos over that Indian burial ground. 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:50.280 That was the mistake we made. Anyway, um uh. The 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:55.120 the the idea here is that the camera gives you 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:59.599 a very controlled way to expose that film to light. 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:03.520 And the way this works is at first you've got 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.200 the lens and the lens is purpose is to direct 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:10.720 light to the film, So the lens is allowing light 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:13.880 to pass through. When light passes through a lens, that 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.400 actually the speed of the light changes. You know, speed 0:07:17.400 --> 0:07:20.240 of light is a constant, but it's a constant that's 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.640 based upon whatever the medium it is that is traveling through. 0:07:24.480 --> 0:07:28.000 For example, air, Yeah, air, it's going to travel through it. 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.559 Light travels through air much more quickly than it will 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:33.320 a lens. And the curvature of the lens, the thickness 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:35.360 of the lens. That's all going to make the light 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.960 travel at slightly different speeds. The point being that you 0:07:39.080 --> 0:07:42.840 focus all that this light onto a point so that 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:47.760 it exposes just the right spot on the film. Now, 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.640 behind that, you've also got a device called the aperture. 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:56.440 Now the aperture is essentially a hole. It's a it's 0:07:56.440 --> 0:07:59.640 a it's a disk that can expand or contract and 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:04.400 allow more or less light to pass through the from 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:07.280 the lens to the film. So it's it's a barrier 0:08:07.360 --> 0:08:09.880 between the lens and the film. And you adjust this 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:12.640 in order to uh to really kind of tweak your 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.840 photo settings, like with a with a manual camera manual 0:08:15.960 --> 0:08:20.920 single lens reflex camera or SLR manual SLR UH by 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:22.840 the way, in case you're curious, for those of you 0:08:22.880 --> 0:08:26.320 who are only familiar with digital cameras, a manual single 0:08:26.400 --> 0:08:31.480 lens reflex camera is not electric at all. It's it 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:35.920 uses chemicals and it uses mechanical little gears and things, 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.320 but there's there are no electric components necessarily in a 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:42.280 true manual single lens reflex or at least you don't 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:45.840 have to have any electronica. I think that's so. In 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.360 other words, It's kind of interesting because we we take 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.080 it for granted now with digital cameras. Right, digital cameras, 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:54.440 you have lots of electronic components, but with a a 0:08:54.440 --> 0:08:57.319 an old manual single lens reflex, you're just you, You're 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:01.000 just turning little dials, which is advanced the film. You 0:09:01.080 --> 0:09:03.720 might have turn a little crank to rewind film, but 0:09:03.760 --> 0:09:07.240 there's nothing necessarily electronic in it. Um of course, there 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:13.000 are hybrids that as well, but anyway, this the aperture 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.760 helps you determine how much light can enter through the lens. 0:09:16.200 --> 0:09:19.559 And then you have something else called the shutter, and 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:24.360 the shutter determines how long the film is exposed to 0:09:24.600 --> 0:09:28.800 that light. So if you were to take a photograph 0:09:28.920 --> 0:09:31.719 with a shutter speed that is a you know, it 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:36.080 allows the shutter to be open longer, then your photo 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:39.000 is going to be a little more blurry, unless the 0:09:39.040 --> 0:09:43.840 subject of your photo is incredibly still. So if the 0:09:43.880 --> 0:09:46.760 camera is still, and the subject is still, and you've 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:49.120 got a decent amount of lighting, and the shutter is 0:09:49.160 --> 0:09:52.280 open longer, theoretically, as long as as long as the 0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:56.040 light's not too great, you will actually get a very 0:09:56.080 --> 0:10:01.480 clear image because it's it's really upturing that uh, that 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.960 moment um. Now, if something is moving, then you're gonna 0:10:04.000 --> 0:10:06.120 get a blur. So if you've ever looked at some 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:10.120 nighttime photography, especially for like city scapes where you can 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.760 see where traffic is moving through and it's like beautiful 0:10:13.800 --> 0:10:16.000 red streaks on one side of the road and white 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.160 streaks on thegether that you know, that's obviously the traffic 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:23.120 where cars are coming and going. That's usually using a 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.880 camera with a shutter speed where the shutters remaining open longer. 0:10:27.480 --> 0:10:30.040 Sometimes it can be as long as you know, minutes 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:34.560 or or more, and that creates that streaking effect because 0:10:35.320 --> 0:10:38.920 all that light is hitting the camera over an extended time. 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:42.680 So instead of seeing individual cars, you're seeing these streaks. Yeah, 0:10:42.679 --> 0:10:45.800 this this has basically it's a combination of things. It's 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:48.440 a combination of the aperture setting that you're using to 0:10:48.559 --> 0:10:53.319 expose the film, uh, the shutter speed, and there are 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:57.920 cameras that you can manually hold the shutter open uh 0:10:58.120 --> 0:11:00.360 as long as you want to. It's often better and 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:04.240 and creating the photos like Jonathan was just talking about, 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:06.000 where you leave it open for minutes, to have your 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.000 camera on a tripod and use a cable release, you know, 0:11:09.120 --> 0:11:11.640 just so that you don't nudge the camera because otherwise 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:15.240 you're going to uh jar the picture and distort things. 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:17.160 So yeah, it also has to do with the speed 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:21.160 of the film. And uh it's funny because that's sort 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.560 of a misnomer and you know, there aren't little canisters 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.080 of film moving faster than others. It has to do 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:30.679 with the chemical properties actually the um and again we're 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:34.320 not going to get into the chemistry behind it so much. Um, 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.640 but uh, you know, depending on the speed of the film, 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:41.440 you would be able to capture uh photos in darker 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:45.880 environments or lighter environments. Um. Also, the speed of the 0:11:45.880 --> 0:11:49.839 film has is depending on on the type of photography 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:53.719 you're doing. If you're trying capture high or fast motion photography, 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:58.959 you're gonna want something that you can expose um to 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:02.160 light more frequently, like a higher speed film. Yeah. Um, 0:12:02.200 --> 0:12:05.360 you know, you want something that's going to to just 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.680 from a very brief exposure be able to capture an image. 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.400 And and by exposure, we're talking about exposing to light. 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.480 You know, just keep that in mind that that exposure 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.560 has everything to do with the amount of light and 0:12:18.600 --> 0:12:21.800 the duration of light that hits that film. So a 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:25.920 high speed film can capture an image with light hitting 0:12:26.000 --> 0:12:30.480 it for a shorter time frame. And we're talking fractions 0:12:30.480 --> 0:12:33.000 of a second here. You know, when we talk about 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:35.960 a short time frame, we're talking really short. We're not 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:37.920 talking like, oh, well, you know a woman thousand two 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:40.199 a dozen Now, you would be able to take hundreds 0:12:40.240 --> 0:12:42.040 of photos in the amount of time it took me 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:44.079 to say that, depending on the speed of the film 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:47.640 and the shutter speed and all of this kind of stuff. 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:49.720 Chris and I will have a lot more to say 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:52.440 about slow motion film and high speed photography in just 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:54.840 a moment, but first let's take a quick break to 0:12:54.960 --> 0:13:06.720 thank our sponsor. So high speed photography kind of leads 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.680 us into this. High speed photography is all about trying 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:14.199 to capture, uh an image of something that's moving at 0:13:14.240 --> 0:13:17.680 an incredible speed, something that that is moving so fast 0:13:17.720 --> 0:13:20.760 that to the naked eye it may be either a 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:24.880 blur or perhaps even you know, practically invisible because it's 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:27.280 going so quickly. But you want to be able to 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:30.720 capture that moment in time so that you can see 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:34.080 a very distinct image. Well, this is a challenge. You 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:35.720 have to figure out how are you going to do that? 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:39.560 And there a couple of different ways. Perhaps I hesitate 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:43.520 to say the easiest way, but perhaps the simplest way 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:47.600 is to set up your camera in a perfectly dark 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:51.920 room and you just leave the shutter open. Because remember, 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.960 even though the shutters open that film, if there's no light, 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.440 the film is not being exposed. So you've got this 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.600 film that's just sitting there, nothing's happening to it. It's 0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:04.400 not reacting chemically at all because there's no light coming 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:08.120 into the camera. You set up whatever the thing is 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.280 you want to take a photo of, and then you 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:15.800 have it timed out so that the instant that thing happens, 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:21.680 there is a flash of light right that is up 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:25.200 and down in a fraction of a second, and just 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:27.120 that fraction of a second is going to be long 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.480 enough for the light to go through the camera and 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.440 uh and to expose the film. Then you could advance 0:14:33.480 --> 0:14:35.480 the frame and do it again. Now, this is a 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:40.280 very slow, painstaking process, and it requires an incredible amount 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:41.960 of timing. And there are a lot of different ways 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:46.560 of setting up a shot so that the the the 0:14:46.760 --> 0:14:48.840 light will trigger at the right moment. Some of them 0:14:48.840 --> 0:14:52.200 are acoustically triggered so that there's a noise, and that 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:57.120 noise causes the light to flash, which automatically exposes the 0:14:57.160 --> 0:14:59.120 film in the camera. You don't have to do anything 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:02.000 to the camera at that point, right, you're not pushing 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.360 a button because the camera shutter is already open. It's 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:07.320 only after the light is flash that you have to 0:15:07.480 --> 0:15:10.600 advance the film so that you can take another photo. 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:13.640 Otherwise you're going to have a double exposure, high speed 0:15:13.680 --> 0:15:16.200 double exposure on this this film, which I think would 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:19.880 look really weird. Um. So that's one way you can 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.080 do it. But of course, if you want to take 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.560 a high speed photo of something in nature, for example, 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:28.320 the the an example that a lot of people use 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:31.120 as a hummingbird, because a hummingbird can be its wings 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.920 so quickly that with most cameras, if you took a 0:15:34.680 --> 0:15:37.640 picture of a hummingbird with a standard camera, it's gonna 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:40.480 look like a bird with two blurs next to it, right, 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:43.560 you won't be able to see the wings. Um. But 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:46.440 if you use a high speed camera where it's able 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.920 to move the shutter at a really fast rate, and 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:53.640 you have a pretty well lit environment, then you might 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.880 be able to capture an image of a hummingbird where 0:15:56.880 --> 0:15:59.440 you've got its wings perhaps in the upper down position, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:02.280 and you can get a really clear look at that bird. 0:16:03.120 --> 0:16:05.080 But it does require that you have a camera that 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:09.640 can move that shutter speed at a really really fast rate, 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:12.440 and that you have a high speed film that's capable 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:17.880 of taking light for a incredibly brief exposure time and 0:16:17.960 --> 0:16:22.320 convert that into an image. Yeah. You know, UM, if 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:27.120 you're a tech stuff listener normally, UM that we like 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.640 to get into the history of things, and I wouldn't 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:34.080 necessarily have thought of high speed photography is I would 0:16:34.080 --> 0:16:37.280 have thought it was a more modern, um, something that 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:40.760 was more modern phenomenon. But really the history of high 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:44.640 speed photography goes back just about as long as the 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:49.080 history of photography itself. UM. The first example that I 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:53.640 I read about, um uh from a a uh an 0:16:53.720 --> 0:16:58.680 article by Lincoln l Endelman, which was William Henry Fox 0:16:58.720 --> 0:17:04.840 Talbot's uh AH trial, where he basically exposed a piece 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.800 of the London Times newspaper that was on a wheel 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:09.879 that he attached it to, and he was using a 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:12.840 wet plate camera, which is basically a piece of glass 0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:15.840 that's treated with chemicals rather than a film camera. Interesting. 0:17:15.920 --> 0:17:19.360 I had never heard of that before. There was eight one. 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:21.880 I've heard of the camera obscura, which, by the way, 0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.080 you can actually build one of those yourself if you 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:27.000 ever wanted to. But I've never heard of the wet 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:31.000 plate camera. That's interesting. He uh and for a flash, 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:35.280 he was using laden jars elimination from laden jars. This 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:39.400 is like the coolest camera ever. Yes, and cumbersome because 0:17:39.400 --> 0:17:41.080 you know, you don't really take this thing out to 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.240 go take shots at the family on vacation. I'm out 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.119 to the high school football game. Let me carry my 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.640 laden jars and wet played carara with me. But I'm 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:53.399 gonna need the team's help setting this up. But he 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:56.800 didn't manage to get a readable photo of the newspaper 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.119 at a shutter speed of one two of a second, 0:18:01.160 --> 0:18:04.120 well unexposure speed. Let's say that it actually used the 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:09.679 But you also probably remember Edward mind Bridge. I remember 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:12.840 the name. Yes, yes, he had a famous experiment where 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:15.600 um he had set up a series of cameras too 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:19.320 because there was a challenge. Um. You may have heard 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:24.200 of this guy, uh um Laden I'm sorry, yeah, I'm sorry. 0:18:24.840 --> 0:18:27.800 He may have heard of this guy. Leland Stanford he 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:30.439 was the governor of California, and he was that that 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:32.920 was the challenge was does a horse pick up all 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.840 four of its feet when it's running? And he was 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:38.360 the one my bridge and a lot of people have 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.640 seen this, UH seen this series of photos where they 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:45.199 proved that the horse was picking up all four of 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:47.040 its feet because he had a series of cameras and 0:18:47.080 --> 0:18:49.119 that the horse was tripping it as it ran by, 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:53.000 and so each camera took photos a different a different 0:18:53.000 --> 0:18:55.199 way of doing it, but they captured a series of 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:57.600 still photos because as the horse was running by, it 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:00.280 took you know, each camera in turn took a still 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:02.960 photo and when you put them all together, you get 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:07.240 essentially slow motion of this horse running. Yeah, and yes 0:19:07.320 --> 0:19:09.680 it does pick up all of its feet when we'll 0:19:09.680 --> 0:19:11.800 get it, and we'll get into that in a little bit, 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:16.960 because of course the photography does lead into cinematography. But 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:19.520 before we do, I, before we jump into that, I 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:21.560 just want to mention one other kind because I did 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:25.720 mention burst photography when we were first introducing this podcast, 0:19:25.760 --> 0:19:31.439 and that that John Fuller, Editor Extraordinaire UH wrote the 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:34.960 article on how burst photography works. First photography works on 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:38.240 a similar principle of high speed photography. Now, with high 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.360 speed photography, you may be talking about taking a single 0:19:41.400 --> 0:19:44.879 image and then setting up and taking another single image, 0:19:45.359 --> 0:19:48.639 right right, That's like I'm pointing, I'm pointing my camera 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:51.320 at a hummingbird, and I take one photo. Right. The 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:53.480 point of the high speed photography here is to capture 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.520 a very accurate still. Yeah, yeah, something that's going to 0:19:56.520 --> 0:19:59.680 be It's really used a lot in things like sports, 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:03.080 you trying to capture capture that dramatic moment where the 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:06.800 quarterback is releasing the hail Mary pass. I'm saying that 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:09.560 right right, because I don't know anything about football or 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:12.639 you know the people who absolutely positively have to have 0:20:12.760 --> 0:20:15.639 that shot of the water balloon after the balloon is 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:17.960 broken and the water is still in the balloon shape, 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:19.760 but for the apple with the bullet through it. But 0:20:19.840 --> 0:20:22.240 clearly this sort of that has to happen, this sort 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.680 of this sort of event is of course really hard 0:20:24.720 --> 0:20:28.000 to capture on film, not just because of the nature 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:30.840 of the mechanics, where you know, you've got to have 0:20:31.600 --> 0:20:34.119 a camera with that proper shutter speed and film with 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:38.960 that proper um photochemical reaction speed. You also have to 0:20:39.000 --> 0:20:43.160 have insane timing, and even by setting up an automated 0:20:43.160 --> 0:20:47.040 system where everything's going to happen automatically, you know, as 0:20:47.040 --> 0:20:50.160 soon as the event happens that triggers the camera. Even 0:20:50.200 --> 0:20:53.080 that is really difficult to do. So perhaps what if 0:20:53.080 --> 0:20:55.320 you could have a camera that could shoot a series 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:58.920 of photos in a very short amount of time using 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.080 that same kind of a principle. Well, that's what burst 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:05.280 photography is all about. These are cameras that have not 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:08.199 just the really fast shutter speed and not just the 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.600 special film that's going to to react quickly to a 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:17.320 very brief exposure, but also the ability to advance film 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:21.919 rapidly as you're taking photos. So with a burst photography camera, 0:21:22.359 --> 0:21:26.359 it's pulling the film through very quickly, and the shutter 0:21:26.480 --> 0:21:29.879 is opening and closing, causing multiple exposures, but you're not 0:21:29.880 --> 0:21:32.119 not a double exposure because you're you know, the films 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:35.239 being pulled through as you're as you're doing this, so 0:21:35.280 --> 0:21:37.520 that you can take a series of photos in a 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:40.160 brief amount of time, So like in a second or two, 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:45.680 you might take dozens or more photos. And this way, Uh, 0:21:45.720 --> 0:21:47.640 the nice thing about this is that you can point 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:50.800 your camera at whatever the event is and just start 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:54.359 shooting photos until you're out of film and you have 0:21:54.400 --> 0:21:58.320 a better chance of capturing that iconic moment you're after 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:02.240 as a photographer. Yeah, this is uh, this is one 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:05.320 of those times if if you haven't really done a 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:10.320 lot of work with people who are professional photographers, and 0:22:10.320 --> 0:22:12.520 you might be going. Well, last time I bought film, 0:22:12.560 --> 0:22:15.399 I only had twenty four exposures on a roll. You 0:22:15.400 --> 0:22:18.679 can buy you know, if if you are interested in 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:22.520 doing this, Uh, you can buy whole magazines of film 0:22:23.240 --> 0:22:25.000 and you know, attached them to the back of your 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:27.600 camera where you have a very very long roll, or 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:29.880 you can of course make your own, uh, if you're 0:22:29.920 --> 0:22:33.760 so inclined and are good in the dark. I used 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:35.480 to have to do. Actually, I was a newspaper report 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:37.920 for a couple of years, and um, you know, we'd 0:22:37.920 --> 0:22:40.000 have a big roll of film and we'd load the 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:43.960 magazines are are the cartridges ourselves And after a while 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:46.359 you get pretty practiced at it. But the first few times, 0:22:47.119 --> 0:22:50.200 UH wasted some film. Um, but yeah, I mean so, 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:53.160 so this is sort of one of those times when 0:22:53.520 --> 0:22:56.600 digital cameras sort of have an advantage because now that 0:22:56.640 --> 0:23:02.640