CraigWest

Let there be light

I have decided that I really should provide the back story on how this image came to be. I found this burned out bulb in a local antique shop while searching fo...
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I have decided that I really should provide the back story on how this image came to be. I found this burned out bulb in a local antique shop while searching for photo props. There was an immediate appeal, and recognition of the potential. When I picked it up for inspection, the idea for how to create a dramatic image with it just came to me on the spot. Not sure what the bulb's original purpose may have been, but suspect that it is possibly a former sodium vapor bulb from a street light--based on the size of the screw-mount base. In any event, the concept was to somehow back light the bulb to make it look like the glow of a bulb that is dimming slowly after the loss of power. My quest for additional material began as I pondered for a few weeks what the best solution would be. I finally settled on a small amber car turn signal bulb for illumination. I soldered leads to the bulb, insulated them against possible shorting, wrapped a small piece of aluminum foil around the back of the lamp to reflect the light into my large bulb and then used blue plumber's tape to secure it to the back of my bulb, being careful to keep it concealed behind the internal structure of the large bulb. Next, I slipped a piece of black heat shrink tubing (as a sleeve) over the wire that would be exposed behind bulb and secured the wires to the back of the screw base with more blue plumber's tape. I set a chair on top of a small table and draped a black cloth over the back and out across the cushion, followed by balancing the whole assembly in place, and attached the leads to an eight AA battery pack for the necessary 12 Vdc used by the automotive lamp. There was some side illumination coming from a light over my kitchen sink, so I hand-held a piece of foil on the opposite side to provide further definition to the screw base. Last, but not least, I shot the image with my Nikon D90, and then opened it in Photoshop CS5 for post production that included a mask to eliminate the wire trailing off to the battery pack, and to isolate the bulb as a "floating" image. The final step was to fill the background with a solid black for the desired separation and contrast. Voila, a finished project.
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