Hot Bulbs

[smoke665]

Nice execution. I like this idea and may have to give it a try. My take on it though would be to break the bulb about halfway down so it would seem that the sparks were pouring out of it. I happen to have a whole bag of those sparklers from last year at the beach (it rained). I discovered them recently and have been wondering if those things have an expiration date. I guess next night I'm bored I will find out!

Biggest issue I had was with the sparkler I used. As I said earlier these were little tubes of powder attached to a stick. They didn't burn evenly, they changed color, and sparks were unpredictable as to direction (one side of the other). The conventional wire sparklers I believe will do a better job of evenly distributing the sparks on both sides of the bulb, which will give it a better effect. If you wait and watch, shooting when the sparkler has burned down to where it's directly behind the element will also help to give the appearance of coming from inside.

The 200-300 watt clear bulbs are awful thin glass, so cutting them without shattering into a gazillion pieces might also be difficult. The good thing is they aren't expensive around $3-$4 each, so if you break one it won't kill you.

Lastly a disclaimer.....these are not macro shots, don't get close. I was using a 135mm and backed off about 4'. I didn't have any issue at that distance, but I wouldn't want to get much closer.

 

[jcdeboever]

Wow, very cool

 

[wannabe photog]

This is a proof of concept based on a video I saw recently here on TPF. The shot was setup using a 200 watt incandescent bulb, a mirror, and a sparkler. The mirror was laid flat, a blob of granddaughters play dough was used to set the bulb upright in and a blob of the same stuff used to mount the sparkler directly behind. You want the sparkler fairly close for this, but not touching. For anyone who might try this, I have a couple of suggestions. First the sparkler I used was one of the large multi-color ones (only thing we still had left), the powder was inside a tube taped to a stick. The problem with it was it changed to much during the burn both in color and intensity, second the sparks it kicked out always went to one side. If I were to do it again, I'd use the plain wire sparklers as they throw out a more uniform cone of sparks. Second, don't use a cheap mirror from Walmart. Apparently they're not glass, so I now have divots in the mirror from the sparks.

Other then that it was pretty straight forward. I used manual focus to set the focal point on the bulb element. I had to play around a little to get the exposure. I basically started off with the aperture at f/11, then played with the shutter till I got an almost black image, with just some hints of the bulb. Once I started I opted to change the aperture to f/13, for a little deeper DOF. Final was shot at f/13, ISO 100, 1.6. All in all it was quick, fun little project.

Hot Bulb.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

hot bulb 2.jpg by William Raber, on Flickr

Nice results from your experimenting!!

Do you have a way to protect your mirror from sparks with a thin plastic, like a flat portion from a bakery cake cover, for example, without messing up the reflectivity you are pursuing?
Those who cut, grind and weld metal, use plastic cover lenses to protect the dark glass lenses in their goggles and helmets. The sparks will pit and degrade the surface of the glass, but the plastic is good for many, many hours of exposure to and impacts from the sparks, without the dark pitting. The plastic can even be cleaned (with lemon Pledge furniture polish, for example) and extend its useful time.
I do not know if that is even an option. The behavior of the sparks generated by ignition of mixed powders may be very different from that of the hot globules of metal in the metalworking. Also, with the mirror and plastic lying flat, if the sparkler material collects and piles on the plastic, it may not even begin to help...(unless the mirror and plastic can be arranged on a slight incline?)

("Lastly a disclaimer.....these are not macro shots, don't get close. I was using a 135mm and backed off about 4'. I didn't have any issue at that distance, but I wouldn't want to get much closer.")
Excellent advice!! The camera and lens would probably show effects of hot sparks before the photographer suffers any physical damage.

 

[Original katomi]

Nice shots very creative

 

[smoke665]

@wannabe photog Thank you for commenting. The mirror used was of the cheap closet door variety, that was most likely acrylic vs glass. The hot sparks melted divots in it. The bulb on the other hand being even closer, cleaned up without damage.

@Original katomi Thank you

@jcdeboever Thanks man!

 

[stevebohne]

I loved to do "self assignments." This self-portrait was the result of one. I showed it to several of my professional photographer colleagues. One said, "This is the coolest thing I've ever seen." Well, maybe he was biased. But I liked it.