http://www.martin-waugh.com Father, engineer, artist Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:29:14 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I often get requests for information about techniques. Here is the "stock reply" that I have been using to save me some time. Now I can just point people to this post! Equipment I don't use special cameras or lenses, really. I am currently using a Canon 5D and a 180mm macro ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=44 I recently purchased a Canon 5D Mk II. A fine camera it seems, and the added resolution will be helpful. One small issue is that Canon redesigned the battery. Well, times change and things progress, and we can always use better batteries. It uses the LP-E6 battery and the camera ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=39 I realize that I haven't written about my trip to Boston. Last August, I was invited out to Boston to help on the set of Discovery Channel's show, "Time Warp". It was an opportunity to finally get some high-speed video of the kind of drop-on-a-splash collisions that I have been photographing ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=37 Every now and then I get a question about managing depth of field in drop photographs. Indeed, it can be a bit frustrating. Depth of field is a perennial problem with macro photography. It’s just the physics of it. The depth of field is shallower with higher magnification, so it makes ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=33 Andrew Davidhazy just pointed me to this kit for high-speed photography. It looks like a great way to get started for not a lot of money. The heart of the device is a microcontroller, so it has few parts and is extensible for the experimenter. It has both a sound ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=32 This is a question I frequently get. The short answer is, "Most likely it will." Most any camera will do. I use a an electronic circuit to trigger the camera, so I need one that has an electronic shutter release (most do). I use a variety of methods to create my ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=31 I suppose it's obvious to many that water is a special substance. To recount a few of its properties that make it so: It has the highest surface tension of any liquid except mercury. It has one of the highest heat capacities of all materials. It expands (floats) when it freezes. It is a ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=29 Here is a fascinating, old device: Lord Kelvin's water drop static electricity generator. Here is a physics class demonstration of it. Do my drops suffer from this distortion? Well, I don't have such a generator built (yet), so I don't have just this effect going on. But, I do believe that I ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=27 When people think of high-speed photography, the name that most often comes to mind is Harold “Doc” Edgerton. And rightly so, as he contributed so much to the discipline. However, in 1876, A. M. Worthington wrote a paper entitled "A Second Paper on The Forms Assumed by Drops of Liquids falling ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=26 Note to car manufacturers: I never want a dead car battery. Never. Ever. Call me contrary, but I don't want my wife and kids to walk out to the rainy parking lot after a movie and find that they need to jump-start the car. We have two cars made in the past ... http://www.martin-waugh.com/?p=24