Lab Setup

• This diagram shows an overview of the setup we used for the experiment.  The placement of the equipment made the setup convenient for our purposes while still protecting the camera and computer.

• Our setup let us access all the equipment quickly and easily.

     The lab space is setup to allow the most convenient composition of quality photos and to allow a margin of safety for the more expensive pieces of equipment.  To protect all the equipment and the personnel from the rebound of a soccer ball kicked in a small room, we hung blankets about three feet in front of the wall to slow the ball’s velocity before it bounced off the wall.  Because of the ball's weight and momentum we had to weigh down the sides of the blankets with buckets of sand to increase the resistance on the ball.  For further protection of the camera we placed the unit in a cabinet with the doors open wide and a piece of plexiglass over the top to ensure that no accidental rebounds would harm the unit.  The flash units were placed in a row on the counter above the camera.  These were taped down so that none were able to slip off the counter when we were moving around in the dark.  The flashes were set to go off from right to left when the trigger is activated.  The flashes are then attached to the interface which is connected to the computer.  The computer (setup specs below) is an Apple II series that we used with the Multiplexer program for this setup.  The Apple II is programmed to time intervals at the microsecond range so we can use its timing with accuracy.  Next, the trigger is connect to the Apple II so that the trigger sets off the flash went the leads are connected.  The trigger is a contact/pressure device, when we step on the trigger with the left foot to kick this cues the computer to set off the flashes at a certain delay and interval.   A black background wash taped up to reduce the chance of overexposure and increase contrast on the subject.  We used a digital motion camera to capture our images, our setup specs are below.  To get our two variations of the kicks we placed black tape on two different distances from the trigger.  When we set up the ball for the kick, it will be in the same place for each style. 

Camera Setup (Progressive Mode)

Apple II Setup (Multiplexer program)