RE: Some pretty good sparks!

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Mccauley, Daniel H by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com>


Charles,

What type of camera are you using???  Although Dr. Resonance claims shooting
at f/1.4 is good, I think it is much
too large an aperature for shooting a tesla coil since it does have a very
narrow depth of field.  I'll usually try to
shoot at least at f/5.6.  Also, shorter exposures always look better in my
opinion as longer exposures tend to have too many arcs which doesn't look as
good as a few good streamers.  If you are shooting digital, you can also
shoot a bunch of quick shots (<1/10sec) and then stack them in photoshop.
Also, if you are shooting in brighter light conditions, you may have to use
photoshop to bring out the streamers a bit more against the brighter
background.

The following was a shot taken with my Canon D60, but originally, the arcs
were very faint compared to the overall brightness of the scene.  Because I
only had a few shots, I had to make modifications in photoshop to salvage
this photo.
Basically, I created an alpha channel (mask) of the arc streamer using
quickmask mode, and then adjusted the levels to brighten up the arc a little
bit.  The arc looks a bit more unnatural, but it does emphasize it which is
important in this shot.

http://www.spacecatlighting-dot-com/images/sstc2_action02.jpg

Also, Terry Blake has had much success in capturing great arc shots with his
DV camcorder by using frame capture.  You can see some of his frame capture
shots at:  www.tb3-dot-com

Dan




Charles

Try using some Fuji Velvia -- it has the very best color saturation I've
ever seen for spark pictures.  We shoot wide open f1.4 and 4 sec. times
exposure.  It also helps to have a vertical ground wire approx 5-6 feet long
hanging down near the coil as the spark "walks" up this ground wire and
gives some very interesting effects when photographing.

Dr. Resonance


Resonance Research Corp.
E11870 Shadylane Rd.
Baraboo,  WI  53913
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Monday, January 20, 2003 10:33 AM
Subject: Re: Some pretty good sparks!


  > Original poster: "Charles Brush by way of Terry Fritz
<teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <cfbrush-at-interport-dot-net>
  >
  >
  > >Original poster: "Chris Roberts by way of Terry Fritz
  > ><teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <quezacotl_14000000000000-at-yahoo-dot-com>
  > >
  > >Those are really great sparks! They have very great color and a
  > >"bolt-like" quality to them. I have never seen a PDT powered coil in
real
  > >life before so I don't know if they all have that purple-white coloring
or
  > >if it's the film your using. Do you use any special camera techniques
when
  > >photographing your coils? (Filters, film, etc)
  >
  >
  > Chris,
  >
  > Re: http://www.VoltNet-dot-com/tesla (scroll down to 12" coil)
  >
  > Thanks for the comments!  The sparks from this coil look much more bright
  > white when you see them.  I took those using a Canon G1 digital camera at
  > 2048x1536.  The digital camera gives the sparks a different "look" than I
  > have gotten in the past with 35mm film, but I have to say I love using
the
  > digital.  I used to waste rolls of film trying to get one good shot, but
  > now I can shoot dozens of photos, see any problems while I am shooting,
and
  > adjust the camera as needed.  During that shoot I got a whole lot more
  > really good images which I can upload to a directory if anyone wants to
see
  > them.  They were all taken with the rotary gap turned off, which was
  > providing some surprisingly good performance.
  >
  > Zap!
  >
  >
  > Charles Brush
  >
  >
  >
  >