A lot of these triggering problems were solved by Harold Edgerton, the E in EG&G for you physical sciences wonks. He developed this kind of stroboscopic photography, among other things.
There is a WGBH portrait of Edgerton that was shown periodically on PBS when I was still watching TV; it may still be making the rounds. Edgerton comes off as very charming and interested in learning how the triggers should work. The 'bat in flight' portrait where the bat is catching a worm is profiled in that show.
The transcript is at
http://net.unl.edu/artsFeat/edgertontrans.html