Burning light bulb

Clever shots and awesome colours

Sometimes the smoke patterns these bulbs make don't need any added color to make them interesting.

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Like those last two also, Phil. Pretty cool shots!

That's a cool idea. Very nice.

I gave it another go today and managed to put a small hole in one. The bulb was hazy cause it still had some of the powder in it. Tough to get it clean. Also some more on my 500px.

SmokeySiFy wrote in post #15803072
Thanks, it was fun. A bit nerve wracking at first. I do have formal training on electrical safety, so I made sure to follow some of that. I would have preferred someone be home while I did it so if something went wrong I could be helped immediately.

Just want to be clear here. This is dangerous. We are basically exposing live wires hooked to 120v AC on a 15-20 amp circuit. This could kill you if you forgot to turn off the power before attempting to unscrew the broken bulb. Once again, this could kill you (at the very least, it will ruin your day to touch the exposed wires with current going through them). I used a switched powerstrip to trigger the light. I then turned off the powerstrip and physically unplugged the light from it before even moving towards the broken bulb. I also double checked before touching the bulb or putting a new one in. Probably a slight overabudance of caution, but I would advise everyone else to treat this like the danger it is.

Ok, lets see everyone else's photos now.

I would recommend to use a GFCI breaker for safety. As for putting a hole in the light bulb, I would use a variable dremel with a diamond bit.

More interesting shots; like that, Smokey.

gpswiz wrote in post #15853612
I would recommend to use a GFCI breaker for safety. As for putting a hole in the light bulb, I would use a variable dremel with a diamond bit.

Yeah, a GFCI probably isn't a bad idea. I did happen to be using one as I was shooting in the bathroom to use the fan. For breaking the bulbs, I ditched the ziplock bag/drop method. I bought some cheap leather work gloves and safety glasses as well as a glass cutter. Scoring the glass in a clear pattern is pretty damn tough. I just got lucky with breaking that one. Maybe I should rinsed it out with water or alcohol.

Ishrani wrote in post #15854187
More interesting shots; like that, Smokey.

Thanks Ishrani. I want to figure out how to take them to the next level. They are tough to process exactly right. I was trying a different method for blending the colors in this time. Tried to blend the colors by brightness. I shoulda thrown away all my processing and done it again tonight. Then repeated till wednesday and had something perfect. Maybe I'll try on one and see if they do come out better. I kinda wanted to have them done to show off at work.

Speaking of work, I gotta run. Have a great day everyone!

I gave that last one another go. What do you think?

I like the latest shot much more. What aperture and ISO did you shoot that at?

Thanks pw, glad you like it since you showed me how to do it.

I shot it at f/7.1 iso 200. And it was either 1/640 or 1/800. Don't quite recall exactly right now. I am stuck at an overcrowded grocer waiting for the deli. I did the colors all in acr.

I was shooting f8, ISO 400, 1/2500th sec. This gave me a good balance between depth, overall color, and controlling the brightness of the filament burning.

hmm... interesting combination. I tried 1/800 with the 38watt bulbs and didn't like it much. I will have to play with faster shutter speeds with the higher watt bulbs. I just checked now that I got home and I shot the above at 1/640. I knew I shoulda bought more bulbs at the grocery today, but decided against it as I felt I should push what I have further with processing.

Last shot is great!

Thanks Ishrani! Here is another one from my set yesterday. I didn't post it before, but I did reprocess it with a fresh head tonight. Hope you like it!