New photographic technique - Tesla Coil Arcs

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: "Daniel McCauley" <dhmccauley@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Here is a new photographic technique i discovered when editing some old
tesla photos.  This technique allows you to combine multiple images (the
arcs) without changing the level of the background illumination.  It does
require Photoshop.

So for example, say you are taking a photo in a well-lit garage, and you are
only able to take a 2 second exposure because
of background light.  2 seconds might only capture a few arcs, but you want
many arcs.  You can simply take a number of 2 second exposures, combine
them, increasing the number of arcs in the photo, yet leaving the background
unchanged.  It also helps to reduce random noise as well.

Here is a sample image of Terry Blake's coil at the 2003 RATCB.  It combines
about 10 images.  The background illumination is kept constant, and the arcs
/ corona are stacked on top of one another for a very sweet final image.  Of
course, there is some movement of the people in the background, but oh well.

This is a full size original (about 4.5MB)

http://www.easternvoltageresearch.com/terryblake01.jpg     (Original Size
4.5MB)

PHOTOSHOP METHOD:

1.  Shoot all your images from a tripod (images need to be aligned)
2.  Open single frame
3.  Open second photo
4.  Copy second photo (Select All, Copy in Photoshop), and Paste into first
photo
5.  Under Blend Methods, choose LIGHTEN
6.  Voila.  Now, go to Layers menu and FLATTEN image (this keeps file sizes
down)
7.  Open up new frame and and copy and paste into your working image
8.  Repeat!

This really does allow all kinds of cool shots.  I think once you try this
technique, you'll be pulling out those old images from past teslathons
etc... and experimenting all day!

Another cool thing to do is if you have a DRSSTC for example, and want a
cool picture with arcs eminiating in ALL directions, simply take a whole
bunch of shots, but move the break-out point in each shot.  Then combine in
the end, and you have a very cool DRSSTC photo with arcs in all directions!

Dan McCauley
www.easternvoltageresearch.com