Lasers And Die Experiment

[tybrad]

I had a translucent die and three laser pointers in front of me and thought that I'd do some light play with them. The lasers are standard 650nm red, 532nm green, and 405nm violet. The violet is energetic enough to fluoresce the die.

1. All three laser grazing the die.


2. Red only into a pip.


3. Green only into a pip- I like the diffraction star!


4. Green and violet make the nicest combo, for me.


I like the results, but what do you all see here? Anything to think about for next time?

Cheers,
Ty

[Andrew76]

Pretty cool experimentation with light!

I don't think the carpet that the die is sitting on helps make an artistic image at all. In fact, it kind of just looks like a die sitting on the carpet. Maybe next time (since you asked for C & C - I don't want to get into trouble!!), try and make the background, and everything around the subject 'disappear', so that it looks a little more refined, and intentional.

There's something about the colour I don't like. They all look a little noisy. I'm not a Nikon shooter, but I know that the D7000 is supposed to perform well at high ISOs. I see you're only at ISO400, yet they all seem really noisy. Also, for shots like this, where you're playing tricks with light - I would suggest NOT using 'auto WB'. Is there any other ambient light when you're shooting these, or just the light from the lasers?

Lastly, can you maybe use a laser that atomizes the the die next time? I think a photo of the die blasting into a million pieces would be very cool!

[tybrad]

Hey Andrew,
Hahaha- no such high powere lasers.

The carpet is actually tablecloth and I see your point. The noise is from the fact that laser light is "grainy"; the speckle effect is caused by the laser light interfering on the surface of your retina after it scatters off the object and is an optical artifact in the eye/sensor and is not easily eliminated without introducing other image effects (desharpening being the greatest artifact).

I did not even think about resetting the WB- will try again soon with all manner of Kelvin settings... just to experiment. Great suggestion!

Thanks for the comments!

[Mike Buckley]

Try putting the die on a reflective surface, such as glass, mirror or shiny black acrylic.

[tybrad]

Good thought, Mike. Thanks! I was also thinking black velvet or felt, black poster paper, and other similar items.

[Mike Buckley]

In this situation, I would advise against using black poster paper or black foam core unless you are willing to deal with their inadequacies during post-processing. Their surface is not uniform enough to stand up to the scrutiny of such a highly magnified image. Even the black velvet would have to be of superior quality.

[MilT0s]

Even the black velvet might not work as there is no perfectly-black material. The best solution is to find a way to hang it from the ceiling .

Tyler be very careful not to burn your sensor. I remember about a year ago a member posted a photo with some burned pixels after a laser accident.

I suspect you use the standard chinese 5mW pen style lasers. Keep in mind that the green one emits more than half its power at 1064nm which is infrared thus invisible (no such thing with red and violet) and that both specular and diffused reflection can damage the sensor.