Just My LuckThis was a lucky capture.
I sat, poised with my camera at the ready (ISO 400, f/5.6, 1/2000s, 190mm), on a park bench less than 15' back from the pit Matthew was aiming for. I was a sitting duck for a rogue toss or a bad bounce, but my eye never came unglued from that viewfinder. I was determined to get this shot.
At first I just zoomed way out and assumed that I'd crop later. But that didn't allow for a very dynamic image. It looked faked, which it was.
Then I tried to focus on Matthew through the viewfinder and watch the horseshoe fly at me with my other eye, anticipating when it would cross through my field of view. Goddamn it, that was tough. In fact, I have mathematical proof of why it was so tough:
THE RELEVANT INFORMATION
Conservative estimates put me 15' away from the horseshoe during the last moments of its descent, and have it at approximately 13' high at the peak of its flight. At a focal length of 190mm, my camera's angle of view (from top to bottom of a portrait orientated picture) is about 7.1°.
THE MATHEMATICS
A horseshoe falling 13 feet (4m) achieves a maximum velocity (ie right before it hits the ground) of about 20mph, or 348 inches per second.
At a distance of 15 feet, an angle of view of 7.1° translates to a vertical distance of 22.3 inches.
Therefore, I only have 22.3 inches of time (that's kind of a made up unit, but I'll clarify soon) to capture this horseshoe traveling 348 inches every second.
THE CONCLUSION
The horseshoe was only visible to my camera for 0.063 seconds, or about the amount of time you'd have to duck if you were getting shot at old western style from 75 feet away (assuming a bullet velocity of approximately 1200 feet per second, which is approximately correct for an old cowboy sixshooter).
Unless you're Neo, I don't see that as being a possibility.
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Moving on. I finally found success when I set my focus manually to the front of the horseshoe pit and followed the horseshoe through its entire arch and clicked away when it was nearing bottom. I tried to get the thrower in the background as well, but usually only managed to get one or the other.
But I was able to get both on a few occasions.
6 comments:
did you use burst mode?
That probably would have helped.
haha, no. I should have.
At least this was just photography and a "no. I should have" came out of it.
I mean...think about if this was a 'accidentally knocked up a girl because I didn't wear a condom' situation.
"Did you wear a condom?"
"No. I should have."
OR
a meth cooking incident
"Did you remember to stir in the Anhydrous Ammonia slowly when adding it into the pitcher with the crushed up Sudafed and battery acid?"
"No. I should have."
...awe, you're cute.
Absolutely brilliant!
I like your picture, very much, I like your math, I like your friends, and, most importantly, I like your style.
UH!
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