1.  Announcements: 

a.  Thanks to students who have sent email. You may still send a message if you haven’t done so.

b.  Our next class session is Sunday, 9 AM-12 PM.

2.  Here are some photos from the last class.

3.  Here are the student photos. (If you want a different photo for yourself, please email it to me.)

4.  Taking photos with the D60. Some of you may be using the D60 camera in this course or for projects. To prepare the camera for taking high-speed photos, do these things.

a.  Set the camera dial to manual (M) mode.

b.  Set the lens to manual focus (M) and VR off. Turn the outer lens ring to focus on the subject you will photograph.

c.  Use the large, inner lens ring to zoom in or out on the subject.

d.  Set the lens aperture. This is also called the f-stop. This controls the size of the opening through which light enters through the lens. Larger f-stop numbers mean smaller aperture diameters and less light. For high-speed photography, f/5.6 or f/8 are usually good choices. You can change this if your photos have too much or too little light.

e.  Set the shutter speed. For high-speed photography, select the BULB setting. With this setting, you must hold the shutter button down while you are taking the photo. When you have your photo, release the shutter button.

f.   Set up the camera on a tripod. Be sure the camera is firmly in place on the tripod.

5.  Here are the steps for taking high-speed photos of balloon bursts with the D60. We'll try them now.

a.  Place the balloon in front of the background that you want to use.

b.  Set the sound trigger where you want it. Remember that the farther the trigger is from the balloon, the more time delay there will be. A good number to remember is that the time delay is about 1 millisecond for every one-third meter of distance. (The speed of sound is one-third meter per millisecond.)

c.  Set the camera on the tripod where you want it, and prepare the camera as described in step 4.

d.  Turn out the room lights.

e.  Press the shutter button and hold it down.

f.   Pop the balloon.

g.  Release the shutter button.

h.  Turn on the room lights.

i.   Examine your photo. Decide whether you need to focus better, hold the balloon in a different place, or change the f-stop to increase or decrease the amount of light.

j.  Try again and again to improve your photos.

6.   If you're using a snapshot camera, the steps are different. These cameras are automatic and don't let you make the same choices as the D60 does. However, you can trick some of these cameras into taking high-speed photographs. Here's a way that works for some cameras.

a.  If you have a flash on your camera, turn it off.

b.  Set the camera on automatic photo mode. Since you will be taking photos in a dark room, the camera will automatically set a slow shutter speed to try to let in more light.

c.  Turn out the lights.  Shine a light on the balloon so the camera has enough light to focus automatically. Hold the shutter button down halfway to focus.

d.  Keep the shutter button halfway down, and shut off the flashlight. Now press the shutter button down all the way and pop the balloon.

e.  Release the shutter. When it closes, turn on the room lights. Check to see if you have a photo. If you don’t, try again. You have to be patient with automatic cameras when doing high-speed photography.

8.  Now take your own photos of balloons. After you're successful, be creative and try different things.