Project365 - Second Curtain Flash

Introduction

The kids are over for the weekend, but the continual snow has everybody a little down. So what better to lift everybody's mood than a little RC Car racing ? Since the cars move on a set track, it's pretty straightforward to capture some of the action. It's also a great opportunity to try a new technique called Second Curtain Flash.

The idea is that under normal conditions the flash fires as the shutter opens, freezing the action. Then, depending on the shutter speed, the shutter closes again, finishing the shot. Second Curtain Shutter delays the flash until the shutter is about to close. So in slightly longer exposure shots, the effect is to capture some blur of movement, and then freeze the action with the flash.

The Setup

My trusty Canon 60D, with the venerable 24-105mm f/4 L lens. The Canon 430EX II flash is mounted on the hotshoe, and set to ETTL and Second Curtain Flash. In order to get the blur, the shutter was set to 1/4 second, aperture at f8, and the ISO at 125. I shot handheld, as I was down on the floor, on my belly to achieve the look I wanted.

The Photos

A little racing action sees the grey car passing the yellow car. The blue streaks are actually the Bluetooth indicator lights on top of the cars.

I really like how the yellow car blurs brightly. You get such a sense of speed from this effect !

Taken a little bit wider, both cars are in the frame. Unfortunately, there's not much contrast between the grey car's "blur" and the dark background. So it's not as good as I had hoped.

Lessons Learned

This was a quick little shoot - only a dozen or so photos. I like the effect, but have come to realize that it works best when you have high contrast between the background and the subject.

 

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