Power C&C (56k not advised)

Muineach

Well this all started off trying to make a "spud" gun, using a BBQ igniter to ignite the fuel. After about 200 shocks I got the idea, this might make a good photo op. So last night I took some shocks and photo's.
On the last photo, I used a non-conductive PVC screw with a pencil line drawn on the top of it (conductive) , so the sparks would jump from the main arm onto the pencil marks and then skip along where I told it to


One ring to rule them all










Screw'em




Obey me!

Paulw

Great images there. Lovely detail in the photo.

garthv

:eek:
Thats kickin man

City-Exile

There's almost something erotic about them!

Ruu_Old

Brilliant stuff, love the detail.

leinsterman

Great idea ... came out well too ... did you use a Macro lens ?

ThOnda

You've touched my soul - powerengeneering is my life! It was and I hope it will be again.
Maybe a little less ambient light to make the sparks brighter?
What about multiexposure? And exposure focused and nother exposure less focused? It looks so great!

Morlar

leinsterman wrote:

Great idea ... came out well too ... did you use a Macro lens ?

Looks like a macroscope. (cough)

I liked them - think the 2nd one works best, but they are all interesting to look at.

5uspect

Great shots there. Really great idea too.
This is the kind of stuff kids should do in school to get them more interested in science.

Muineach

well I kinda used a macro lens, it was a Sigma 70-300 f4-5.6 DG, which has a macro option on it, I have a canon EFS lens but this was the best result in "zoom" and sharpness, that lens only cost about 150e if i remember correctly (often i don't).

In PS I had very little to do, sharpen, color cast etc, the trick was with the exposure's, there was no way I could synchronize my two hand to click at the same time, so I upped the shutter speed up to 1-3 seconds, ISO 100 and a f16-22. Then trigger the camera and click away on the BBQ lighter, so where you see 2 sparks I triggered twice in the time frame, others were 10+, the ones with 1-3 sparks didn't really work as a "photo" but still had the blue flame.
There's a few more on my flickr set Muineach Power Set

Muineach

5uspect wrote:

Great shots there. Really great idea too.
This is the kind of stuff kids should do in school to get them more interested in science.

That's what I'm doing, I'm off "sick", long term jobbie (not faking it, honestly), so I'm coming up with interesting stuff for my four nephews, all under 8, plus as a big kid I get a kick out of it as well, nephew called over so I turned off all the lights (no nothing like that) so it was dark then bam, blue lighting, the look on my nephews face when he saw this was priceless

Muineach

ThOnda wrote:

You've touched my soul - powerengeneering is my life! It was and I hope it will be again.
Maybe a little less ambient light to make the sparks brighter?
What about multiexposure? And exposure focused and nother exposure less focused? It looks so great!

Something like this :P
I know it's a bit dark

5uspect

Muineach wrote:

the trick was with the exposure's, there was no way I could synchronize my two hand to click at the same time, so I upped the shutter speed up to 1-3 seconds, ISO 100 and a f16-22. Then trigger the camera and click away on the BBQ lighter, so where you see 2 sparks I triggered twice in the time frame, others were 10+, the ones with 1-3 sparks didn't really work as a "photo" but still had the blue flame.

What about one of those home made shutter release jobbies posted here about 6 months ago? You could have the stutter release switch also fire the spark. Would make in interesting project.

haz

Muineach wrote:

Something like this :P
I know it's a bit dark

There is still detail in there if you adjust the levels (0 to 24 in Gimp works quite well)

Muineach

I made one of those shutter release and its very good, the problem is that the BBQ lighter is not driven by batteries, so I have to give it a good auld thump with my thumb, kinda like the super ser's from year's back. I could go that way but this was a side distraction from making a spud gun, maybe when thats finished

I could also make my own stun gun and trigger that as well
ah MAKE magazine , I love you

Muineach

haz wrote:

There is still detail in there if you adjust the levels (0 to 24 in Gimp works quite well)

I took lots of photos last nite, ranging from darkness to full light, that was one that came out pretty well for a "dark" shot. Thank god for Adobe Bridge

Muineach

phew loads of replies
i'll clarify a few things

1. These were only a few shots taken, no serious setup, I plan on more
2. Here's where it all took place





3. The only lighting I had to hand was a 100 watt bulb in some sort of outside type light thing and a florescent power saving type lamp which i turned off.
So the pictures ended up with the "light" from above more or less by accident, but I do intend to change the lighting.

4. The setup I had was for a spud gun, i.e. a BBQ lighter wired to two hangers than were cut and bent into the shape you see, the big cut on the one on the left is from my excellent skills at using a grinder.

5. As a background I used the case for the grinder and let levels in PS sort it out.

6. For the screw/ring pic's I could only use what fit in between the main "hangar's", and things that I could rig up, trust me you don't want to hold one of these things. This also needs to be addressed to handle other type objects as you can well imagine.

7. I knew that to "see" the blue light clearly I'd need to go "low" light, and with the triggering of the BBQ lighter I'd need to have a 2-3 second exposure, thats why I went for the ISO100 and f16-22 (plus the DOF is really tight when your at 1.2m at 300mm).

So I hope that should clear up some questions, and I'll be playing with this for a few days, seeing what other objects I can zap. If anyone wants me to I can put up the plan/diagram for the BBQ ignitor (Woodies 11e), it took me a good while to add a 6 foot extenstion cord to it (earths, resistance etc) , but now that I know how anyone could do it in a hour or so.

So yes I have the BBQ lighter extender and a home made shutter release so I can be behind the camera, or sitting down having a smoke while I click away

Now I know what Bertie feels like

nilhg

OK now I think its time to go borrow my brothers electric fencer;)

Fionn

i can hear the words

"phasers on stun!!"

Muineach

Ehh....

Disclaimer:
I do not know anyone here, you'll never find me, anything you do with this information is your fault, not mine

nilhg

Muineach wrote:

Ehh....

Disclaimer:
I do not know anyone here, you'll never find me, anything you do with this information is your fault, not mine

Ok i'll be careful (not my strong point at the moment), anyway once you've learned the don't piddle near it rule, a healthy respect is guaranteed :eek: :eek:

Muineach

It's relativley safe, running at about 450 volts but the amp's are low, apparently, imagine a middle setting on an electric fence, mind you it depends where it hits you.

I left a washer dangling down as a earth, then it brushed my "groin" area, now that one seriously hurt. :eek:

rymus

sounds like a delightful way to spend an evening... nice photos though!

Oriel

Officially cool.

440Hz

Really great stuff, well done. Nice bit of imagination there! Very well captured too!