There is a really cool way to make moving things look as if frozen in time. I don't know what it is called or how it works but I know it uses a rapidly flashing light, anyone know what it is called and how it works?

freddy_krueger

It is called strobe lighting. Sep 09 03, 5:12 PM

sequoianoir

Stroboscope It is an optical instrument for making a moving object appear to be slowed down or stationary. This effect is created by interrupting the observer's view so that the object is seen only at regularly spaced intervals rather than continuously. In its simplest form the stroboscope is a rotating disk, along its edge are evenly spaced holes through which the moving object is observed. If the object's motion is cyclic, the speed of the disk can be synchronized with it so that the object always appears in the same position when viewed through one of the holes. During the time that a solid area is blocking the line of sight, the persistence of vision enables the eye to retain the image previously seen, while the object moves to the same or a similar position by the time the next hole is in front of the eye. The effect is thus one of a stationary object. If the stroboscope is not quite synchronized with the object's motion, the object will appear to move slowly either backward or forward, depending upon whether the stroboscope's rotation is too fast or too slow. Sep 09 03, 5:22 PM

gmackematix

The effect explains why wagon wheels appear to be rotating backwards in some old westerns. Sep 10 03, 8:06 PM