A wire cable is exposed to flashes and the exposed image is detected on at least one lay length or a multiple of the lay length and monitored for changes in the image. Preferably, the respective repetition of the same outer stranded wire of the traveling wire cable is detected in the same location and every repetition or every other repetition or every third repetition is used for triggering the flash. In another embodiment, a picture is taken of a large portion of the wire cable using a specialized camera and the image is split up, into recurring units of length that correspond to the size of a lay length or a multiple of the lay length and the successive units of length are compared and inspected for changes in the image.