Multiple frame shot of a wave...how?

[jbeck3000]

I'm clearly not a photographer so advice is greatly appreciated. Inspired from a photo display I saw in a bar/museum in Santiago, Chile I would like to "copy" a certain style and create my own. Basically, there was a wall with approximately 40 photo progression of the formation, peak, crashing, and dissappearance of a wave...it appeared sort of like this...

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9 10 11 12

etc

and continued for about 6 rows...beautiful work and i loved the display...my question is how can i recreate that? i only have a digital camera...decent but not great...can i use this camera to do it? is there a specific funtion i can use? Let me know if anyone has any thoughts or further questions i can give more info about to help figure this out. Thanks.

[Conk]

What camera are you using? It will need to have a good buffer speed between shots.

[jbeck3000]

Yeah, I wasn't sure if my explanation was at all clear. Imagine the formation i described (layout of photos progressing from right to left). The first photo is the flat ocean. The second is a swell just beginning to rise. The third, larger swell. Etc Etc...The 12th is the wave 3 ft tall, the 17th is the wave at its full height, the 25th is the wave crashing on itself, the 30th is all the foam of the crashing wave, and the 35th is the calm sea again. A long, very slow progression of a wave's life. Meaning i need the ability to take a lot of shots in a short period of time...how can i capture so much in so little time? Possible on digital? Let me know if this is clearer. Thanks.

[jbeck3000]

I clearly don't have the equipment personally, but is it something that is definitely done with a still camera, or is it more likely done on film and then still shots taken from that? Also, what buffer speed would be necessary?

[Jon]

It depends on a lot of things, including where you are (seriously).

In Chile, it'd be fairly easy to shoot a sequence like that because the waves can build up across the entire Pacific Ocean, and they would have long wave lengths and periods. Because they have a long period (time between crests), say 30-40 seconds, you'd only need to photograph every second or so to capture the whole sequence. That's easy.

On the Atlantic Coast of the US, you might have a 10 second or less period, so you'd need to be able to take a picture every 1/4 second. That would require much more of your camera.

In the first case, most high-end digital P&S or DSLR cameras would be able to do the job. For the second, you'd need something like the EOS 1D MkII, with a 40-frame buffer over 3-4 seconds.

You'd also need an intervalometer to space the shots regularly. You could do the same more economically with an inexpensive film SLR capable of auto-winding at 1-2 frames/second. We're talking a couple of hundred vs. four thousand dollars here. But the series you saw was probably done with a still film SLR and motor drive.