photographing lasers

[racedraper]

im wondering if there is a secret or trick to captor laser beams. I doing a shoot that I want to use them. thought maybe little bit of smoke and it will be dimly lit.

[mwfanelli2]

im wondering if there is a secret or trick to captor laser beams. I doing a shoot that I want to use them. thought maybe little bit of smoke and it will be dimly lit.

I assume that you mean the beams themselves, not the end product like a dot on a wall.

The situation is simple: to photograph it you need to see it. Part of the beam has to enter your eye and camera. That means scattering, something that lasers don't do very much of.

The best method for making the beam visible is, as you say, smoke. However, depending upon where you are, that may not be possible. Research and industrial sites don't usually like smoke being blown in their labs! Plus, the beams tend to look "fuzzy."

You say nothing about how these images are going to be used. You could do it the way Hollywood does: use an imaging program to add the beams after the fact.

[drg]

Dry Ice. Lots of dry ice.

Or you can use a friendly smoke like Smoke Test or SafeSmok which are both for testing smoke alarms and air current flow. SafeSmok is neutral buoyancy and Smoke Test is lighter than air. One floats and the other rises so use accordingly.

Another trick is to use a mist-er with water and just spray the area through which the beams are passing and you have shiny beams!

Other possibilities include diffusing or reflecting the lasers off or through an object. Any transparent object will cause laser light to play tricks as long as it is not just a pane of glass or plastic.

Use safety glasses for lasers as even a brief glance into a low power (even battery driven)laser can be harmful if they are at a dangerous intensity. Doesn't take much to cause temporary harm and not much more to scar your cornea and or retina!

Some samples from my gallery of using lasers as the 'subject' of photographs -

Laser Photograph Samples

Best of luck and we want to see photos after the shoot!

Oh, don't hesitate to de-saturate the end result. You can then make very neat b/w photos. And they will be very b/w as there is little intermediate tonal range in reduced lighting.

[racedraper]

well what my idea is doing a spy vs spy theme. A spy model bending over to get something while a another spy model is aiming a sniper rifle or gun with a laser attached but bouncing the beam off different angles until it hits her butt. Im doing a series with these models . something different that im doing

[freygr]

It would just be easier put the laser beams using photo shop. As to make laser beams visible would majorly affect the clarity of the since, unless you are using lasers greater than 5 mw.

[byjamesderuvoDHQ]

I think I agree with freygr ... to a point. In the end, it comes down to the look you want in the shot. If you like the artistic quality that a smokey room with laser beams cutting through them, then I'd go with safe smoke. Otherwise, maybe doing the beams in post is the answer.

[Medley]

Anything that puts particles in the beam will make it visible. Coffee creamer works well. (don't ask me how I know that). Hardware stores sell squeeze bottles of colored chalk dust for use in chalklines- if color is an issue. Just a few options.

- Joe U.

[SmartWombat]

5mw is fine, just use a longer exposure.
Just remember the safety warning "do not stare into beam with remaining eye"

We could see a 1mw beam over 100 yards in misty conditions at night'