While not posting about it today, I DID take this yesterday so it counts for the August Challenge. I had been planning it for about a week, but finally had the time to get outside for a few shots. Luckily, since I had been thinking about how to direct the light, it wasn’t that hard.

Items needed

• One camera
• One tripod (or something else to hold the camera)
• One lighter
• One flashlight
• A little bit of aluminum foil
• One vehicle of choice

The Setup

The setup was fairly simple. I waited until dark and placed my son’s toy school bus outside the front door. I decided to keep it relatively close to the house because I wanted to have a little ambient light so that the bus would be visible.

Instead of using my tripod, I just placed it on the rocker automan and proped it up with a towel. We’re talking hi-tech here. Spared no expenses.

The Flames

The flames were created by dragging a lighter behind the tires. Voila!

Really, the only thing to watch out for is the spead of the drag. I had to play around for a few minutes to get it right.

The Headlights

The headlights were created with a small Mag flashlight. To direct the light, I wrapped a aluminum foil around the tip and compressed it around my finger.

In technical terms, this is called a snoot. I call it a cheap way to make the light go where you want it to go.

Then, holding my hand over the end of the flashlight, I placed it right above the headlights and removed my hand. When that headlight was done, I covered the light, moved it over to the other headlight, and repeated the process.

Final Specs

Nikon D70
Nikkor 18-70mm AF-S
f/8
30 second exposure
JPG large/fine

I should probably admit that I had to do a little Photostop on this one. While looking at the LCD display, I didn’t notice my toes in the photo. Sooo…out they went using the clone stamp.