killforfood Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 My Daughters science fair project is due tomorrow and as usual I set myself up for a last minute rush. We are duplicating the Additive Color Wheel using the Veline color system. I understand that there are better colors out there but I just didn’t have time to purchase additional chemicals. We just finished making 7 batches of colored stars and now we need to test burn them and photograph the colors. I don’t have time to build any fancy shells so I was wondering what you guys would do if you just needed to burn them and take pictures of the colors. I could probably throw together some star mines but was also thinking it would be a lot easier to photograph them burning in a shallow pan. What do you all suggest?
oldguy Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 Total black night sky is about the best backdrop there is for colors. I have tried taking pictures of burn tests in a fire pit, steel pan, etc. The fact the comp was against something solid & reflections off those things meld togather or drown out the colors. You might think about fusing some stars. Then with fishing line, string or cord & a short length of tiny wire attached to the star, pull one up against a night sky backdrop using a high branch or something to gain elevation. It might take a few trial & error tests to get the photo shoot process down pat. But, that would not be tough to do with a little experimenting.
killforfood Posted April 20, 2011 Author Posted April 20, 2011 Thanks for the good advice oldguy.My daughter is actually enjoying this more than I anticpated.I'll try to get som photos worth posting.
Mumbles Posted April 20, 2011 Posted April 20, 2011 It may be worth taking a video if that is possible so you can pick and choose the best frames. Another idea is to possibly put something white up behind the star, like a sheet of paper or bed sheet or something. The color reflected off it should be the same color from the star, but will typically have less IR and UV light which can wash out retinas and cameras.
optimus Posted April 21, 2011 Posted April 21, 2011 Mumbles makes some good points, it's good to have something white in frame to reflect the colour. Even if you just photograph the white object with the star out of frame, if you keep your settings the same it can be a good way to compare colours. There is a way to photograph stars directly though but it's not easy to do depending on your setup. I shot this last night using a macro setup, exposure was 1/1000th second, F14, ISO250, shot at 60FPS and slowed down to 35%. Using such a fast shutter speed will mean you can capture the colour in the flames themselves without blowing them out to white and having to rely on the colour of the smoke or other objects in frame. http://vimeo.com/22676763
killforfood Posted April 21, 2011 Author Posted April 21, 2011 (edited) Well it was well past midnight by the time we had completed our science fair project but it was well worth it. I decided to shoot the stars from some small mortars left over from last year's Skylighter fuse mine kits. Star mines were a bit more difficult for me to photograph but I think they better portray real use results. Fortunately my Daughters camera has a fireworks setting that was useable. She was hesitant at first to be the lighter but after some reassurance she began to truly enjoy her role. Yes it was a couple late nights and hard work to complete but it's the closest I've worked with my Daughter on any project and was very satisfying for both of us. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1594.jpg Doing the math http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1599.jpg Weighing chemicals http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1613.jpg Sifting http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1617.jpg Rolling on prime We used ¼" screen to cut the stars. I guess you could call them Rat Turd size. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1632.jpg Baby sized mortars The goal was not to exactly duplicate previous experiments but to arrive at our own color conclusions. Therefor the primary colors were mixed in equal amounts to obtain the new colors. Here are the results… http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1635.jpg Red http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1639.jpg Blue http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1641.jpg Green http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1643.jpg Yellow http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1648.jpg Cyan http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1650.jpg Magenta http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/killforfood/Pyro/IMG_1652.jpg White Well there you have it.Not exactly brilliant colors but this was our first attempt. Our favorite was Magenta. Not sure what happened with the green but it was the weakest.Thanks for all the great forum info.We'll see tonight how the Teachers resond to her display. And for our reward we fused 6 colors together for a grand finale Finale Edited April 21, 2011 by killforfood
Peret Posted April 22, 2011 Posted April 22, 2011 Veline green is not very good. At least you got the damn things to light, but the weakness of the green is obvious in the yellow, cyan and white also.
killforfood Posted July 3, 2011 Author Posted July 3, 2011 Just a quick update, my Daughter won first place at her high schools science fair for this project. I was really proud of her especially knowing that a freshman beat out all of the upper classmen. That’s my girl!
oldguy Posted July 3, 2011 Posted July 3, 2011 It’s great to see father-daughter teamwork on a school project. Even greater to see that she won 1st place. Good for the both of you.
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