Bulb Photography

[Kan Win]

My new camera (Olympus E-3) has settings up to 30 minutes.

Have a tripod and remote control which I can turn on and off without touching the camera, 4 gig CF card.

Manual, AF and S settings are there.

Never done this before.

So what to shoot? and what settings should one use.

Any ideas?

Yours truly,

Kan Win

[The Vulcan]

Fireworks are a good example of "Bulb" use.

On the attached shot I used bulb, covering the lens in-between bursts. I used the lens cap but anything black and light proof will do.

You need to be aware of over exposure.

I calculate the true light reading first. I then decide how many "exposures" I'm going to allow (i.e. removal of the lens cover). Assuming its (say) 4 exposures I'll re-adjust the aperture setting to allow for this. i.e true reading (say) 20s @F16 = 20's at F4. You cannot adjust the time for obvious reasons.

It's a bit hit and miss and has no scientific justification but it works every time for me.

Bulb is also a technique used in strob flash shots were the moving subject is "flashed" and captured throughout a movement on 1 frame.

Edited January 2, 2008 by The Vulcan

[lopburi3]

Lightning strikes is the most popular use I believe (but not the season for that). Can be very interesting trained on a high building during storms.

[The Vulcan]

Lightning strikes is the most popular use I believe (but not the season for that). Can be very interesting trained on a high building during storms.

But be careful your expensive metallic camera perched on its metallic tripod doesn't act as a conductor!

Edited January 2, 2008 by The Vulcan

[The Vulcan]

I've just remembered another technique we used to use "bulb" for.

Imagine (say) you wanted to create your twin and photograph yourselves together.

Photoshop can do this so easily these days but we used to sit the person down and photograph him/her and then move them to the one side and re-photograph them on the same frame. hey presto, twins. The benefit of this of course was it looked real as although the image was the one person, the facial expression, body shape etc, after the re-alignment, were different thus giving it an air of authenticity.

It's fun, try it. But don't forget to compensate for the double exposure.

Edited January 2, 2008 by The Vulcan

[astral]

I don't have a cable release, sorry remote for my camera........

[The Vulcan]

I don't have a cable release, sorry remote for my camera........

You don't really need one on bulb. You're opening the shutter ONCE, for maybe 10/30 secs or even more. The multiple exposures are then created merely by covering the lens. Over this period of time, any "camera shake" movement should be hidden.

[Kan Win]

Thank all for your advise will try something, as I am out on the West Runway of the New Airport in Bangkok.

Nice fireworks "The Vulcan".

Lopburi3, I hear you load and clear good idea, but only on ground level I think, just have to wait until it rains again.

Thanks once again.

Yours truly,

Kan Win

[lopburi3]

High buildings with lightning systems attract many strikes so it is very effective taking photos of the highest building during a storm as there are likely to be a number of strikes from different areas hitting it.