I got the idea from a pic taken by kiwiness (Thanks!), and I'm sure there will be several other shots like this... it's something that I have always wanted to try, and this was a perfect excuse =)
This is surprisingly easy... but also can be very dangerous... I will post some setup pictures, but as a disclamer I will say DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME =P
you are dealing with live wires here... I built a proper legal metal enclosure for the wires to keep things safe...
Now, there are several steps involved in taking this picture... once you have built a PROPER LEGAL SAFE wire enclosure; this is something I will not provide instructions for.... then you need to get some 100W bulbs... I advise you pick up about 20 of them... yea... you will need a lot of them depending on the result you want... I got them at RONA (lumber store)... they were $0.98 for a pack of four... then, get out your gloves and safety glasses (get an adult to do this) break the bulb inside a pail... BUT don't break the element wire... this is why you need about 20 bulbs... now, get your camera setup with a flash from the side (see setup pics) and have an assistant on the switch (I used a power bar with a switch) Thanks to my brother for patiently flicking the switch for me... basically, just look through the viewfinder, and have your assistant flick the power on and off QUICKLY then take your pic when the smoke looks good... this is the trial and error part... you have to be QUICK to flick the power back off because then the filament won't completely burn so you can get a couple of tries out of one bulb... I was getting about three tries out of each bulb before the filament burned up and broke... The smoke is actually the tungsten filament burning up (DO NOT BREATHE IT IN!!!!!!!)
I am not 100% pleased with the smoke in this shot, I have several others I will post that I like better because they show the bulb... but this isn't a light bulb challenge, so ultimately I had to choose the pic with the best smoke, and I think that this is it...but I really like the way the bulb broke in the other shots I took...
The lens I used is a 70-210mm f4 lens from the 1980's... I just bought it used for $110 on ebay and I was really glad that it came in time because it worked great!
Now, in terms of the final score... another one that could go either way... no predictions here... I'm just glad that I learned another cool trick!
I will post the setup pics shortly, so you will know how to do it too =)
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yay!!! top 10!!! (hoping for top 5... oh well =)
here are the setup pics:
They show a light bulb in them because they are from an out take... but same idea...
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Place: 7 out of 105 Avg (all users): 6.5323 Avg (commenters): 7.4286 Avg (participants): 6.0238 Avg (non-participants): 6.6359 Views since voting: 3568 Views during voting: 482 Votes: 248 Comments: 17 Favorites: 6 (view)
Awesome shot, congrats on top ten!
Explanation is really good, not that im gonna be trying it at home of course ;)
I thought the smoke in this shot was really good and is making a lovely interesting shape, colours are fabarooni too
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