Saturday, July 02, 2005

Sparklers


While I'd normally say that you can pretty much take a good photograph with any camera, but in this case, this sort of photograph is only possible with a DSLR or a film SLR (or more advanced prosumer digicams). This is because only these cameras offer a "B" (Bulb) setting which lets you open the shutter for as long as you want.
This picture was actually a 6-second exposure, and the camera was locked down on a tripod. I asked my niece to write her name with the sparkler. At the end of this exposure, I provided a burst of flash to illuminate my niece. Voila!
In case you're wondering why it's called "Bulb" mode, it's actually a throwback from the days when film speeds were something like ISO6 and cameramen had to always use a flash in every shot otherwise run the risk of taking an exposure which could last several minutes.
Bulb mode of course refers to the flash and in this mode, the shutter would remain open and the exposure would actually be taken when the flash went off. Remember, since exposures could have been several minutes long even in daylight, ambient light would make very little difference in the final exposure so leaving the shutter open was okay. With film speeds being so fast these days, Bulb mode is relegated to only night exposures. By the way, in the old days, you had to replace every flashbulb after just one burst -- I still have one of those in my father's collection. Fujifilm S2Pro, AF Nikkor 28-105mm Posted by Picasa

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