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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

glass sphere pics pt.1

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These pics were taken about a month ago. It was my first attempt to photograph this very large and heavy glass sphere I purchased. I have since photographed it three more times, getting more elaborate, and trying to build on ideas I thought of when I was photographing it each week. I discovered my favorites are the ones of the laser beams behind the sphere which created very nice patterns in the sphere. Many of the ones posted here are the beams going thru the sphere and while still looking very nice, look much better in the three photo sessions taken after this one because of better beam placement. Though, when using different diffraction gratings and projecting the beams thru the sphere, the beams form some nice geometric patterns when coming out of the sphere on the other side. In the sessions taken after these, I was really able to some beautiful patterns in the sphere. But this was my first try with the sphere. I eventually used some fan diffraction gratings and mirrors to get even more things going on inside the sphere. Also in this session I used 2 -405nm 500mw's with fan diffraction gratings to project thru the sphere. You can clearly see the green lines and sphere turning green because of the way the 405's interact inside the glass which came out really well, Also a 473nm 100mw produced some nice diffraction grating shots. Enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!


 
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GR3EN

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The ones behind are definitely very nice looking. Fantastic pictures as usual. All your photos look very nice.
 
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Yup, once again impressed. R.i.P my prism, it fell from the shelf and chipped all over.
After seeing this thead I might scan surplus shed. Aside from a sphere is there a prism like optic you would recommend ? I have a multi line argon and a few HeNes
 
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Thanks for the nice comments GR3EN and Bowtieguy, Merry Christmas.


Down with Umbrella - Thanks and also Merry Christmas. I just got two of these beam splitters from Surplus Shed

LARGE MTD CUBE BEAMSPLITTER/COMBINER-1 IN-3 OUT OR 3 IN-1OUT - Surplus Shed

I got them when they had them on special for 10 dollars a piece (normally 30 dollars a piece). When white light is shined thru, one side emits blue light, one side reddish orange light and the third side green light. It is actually 4 prisms morphed into a beam splitter. It comes mounted on a plastic frame that obviously fit some type equipment. With lasers shined thru, the beam goes thru and creates another beam at 90 degrees. They have so many neat optics it is always hard to chose which is nice when they email me their specials so I know which is on sale. Here are a few pics of that splitter in action. I only briefly photographed them last week at the very end of one of my photo sessions so I will eventually photograph them both together and in more detail






 
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Pman

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Thanks for sharing those pics. +REP
I'm assuming it is a complete sphere so you wouldn't be able to add some fog inside or actually put a grating/splitter/prism in there.
Merry Christmas guys. Funny how here we are posting on Christmas day. I even posted a month ago on my 25th anniversary lol
 
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Hey Down Under, That is good you ordered one. I am looking foward to photographing them probably tomorrow.

Pman, Merry Christmas to you! The sphere is solid glass, is approx. 6" diameter and weighs about 10 lbs. it is extremely heavy, but out of all glass spheres I have , this one produces the clearest, and visually best image inside of it. I am able to post today on Christmas because we are having people over later and when my wife tells me to do my next task, I have time to post. The next task is vacuuming and washing the floors.
 

Pman

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Got it:) About to go the the movies with my wife. Empty nesters and we are just enjoying the day together. The kids are off to other relatives houses.
I did just post a Christmas tree laser stick figure kind of thing under the Merry Christmas thread. Couldn't turn them on though or I would have left scorch marks and started a potential fire;)
 
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Love the 405nm diffraction behind the sphere and the green it produces, as well the the 405nm+473nm through the sphere. What is the diffraction grating you are using?
 

Pman

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Have to ask. You must get everything set up with the camera in place and then run around to get everything turned on and then run around to shut them all down so you don't blow any diodes. Ever blow one from running too long trying to get the perfect shot? If you kill one of those 589nm I may have a breakdown. Looks like you need a couple 462nm. You could always get 2W ones and then power them with just 1 battery for way less output.
 
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RYDorDIE278 - you are more than welcome to stop by any Friday night. Just hop on a jet, fly to NJ and let me know your coming

clansley - thank you!

Hey Pman,
Yes, there is a lot of running around to turn off lasers after a few minutes, but I have gotten pretty good at it since I do this every Friday for the past few years. I have blown a HL405nm 500mw (which was still under warranty from Laserbtb and they replaced it), and my Dragon Lasers Aurora 445nm, which was my first laser. What I usually do with the 589's and 473's is take my test shots using only RGB lasers to get the exposure, composition, and focusing right. Once I am satisfied with it I will adjust my exposure by shorting the exposure time since there will be more light, especially from the 589's. Then I will turn on the 589's and 473's for not more than 90 seconds and get shots from a few different angles in that time span. I then rush to turn those lasers off. I have also found that I can run most of my Laserbtb lasers for up to 3 or 4 minutes without any problems. When I want to switch camera lenses, I will power down all the lasers, check my previous shots for sharpness, exposure, composition, etc, in case something isn't right before I move on so I can reshoot it to my satisfaction. I would imagine many of my Laserbtb's have literally hundreds of hours on them by now. I try to be very careful with my 589s and 473s and leave them on for as little time as possible. I do not even want to think about those laser dying.
 
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Hey ttnoyyy - the diffraction gratings used in the pics you are asking about were Dragon Lasers transmission fan gratings. They cost 11.99 plus shipping

Thanks - I see they are 50 lines per mm. I guess the more lines per mm, the further apart the fan?

Posting to the UK is another $10 on top, might have to save up a bit for that one. I've ordered a £3 delivered grating slide at 500 lines per mm. Apparently "These Holographic Diffraction Gratings are highly efficient embossed Holographic Optical Elements" whatever that means. I guess embossed on plastic.
 




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