What can be done with blue lasers in light painting?

[JeremyMcG]

So, I've recently acquired a 1.25 watt blue (445mm) hand held laser which is capable of burning things at a close distance. I've got a set of lenses (non-burning) for it that will allow me to use it like a normal laser pointer (but about 50x more powerful)...

This is it here: Arctic Laser <---click Except mine is the 1.25 watt and not the 2.0 watt, everything else is the same.

I'm wondering if anyone has tried light painting a tree line from a long distance with something like this and what the results would be - or what other suggestions can you come up with for photography uses for this thing?

 

[TCampbell]

So... 1.25 watts is crazy powerful. Be EXTREMELY CAREFUL with such a laser in the presence of any living thing. You need to treat this thing like a stick of dynamite. Under no circumstances should you let anyone handle it (adult or child)... it would be like handing a loaded hand-gun to a child.

The "problem":

Lasers under 5mW (that's 225 times less powerful than the laser you have) are considered moderately safe because while such a laser can cause permanent eye damage... the "blink reflex" of a typical human is fast enough that someone would likely closer their eyes and/or turn away in less time than it takes for permanent damage to occur. HOWEVER... lasers above this limit are strong enough that they can cause permanent eye-damage FASTER than the blink reflex. Your laser... t 225x above this limit... would certainly cause permanent damage and there would be no stopping it. Everyone in the area should be wearing protective goggles.

I have 4 lasers... a sub 5mW red laser (that I use in the planetarium when I do shows), a 2.1 mW blue laser (that I use for presentations), a 4.2 mW green (that I use for outdoor astronomy ... pointing out objects to small groups of a few people), and a 50mW green laser (that I use for "large" groups when I do outdoor astronomy presentations.)

I never allow a child to handle the stronger 50mW laser. I ONCE handed my 50mW laser to an "adult" (who was cautioned about it's use and the importance of NOT pointing it at or near anyone's eyes)... and they IMMEDIATELY started waving it around like a light saber pointing it indiscriminately at everything they could find... cars, trees, people, you name it... reflections were going all over the damned place. I immediately confiscated the laser, put it away, and never let another person use my laser (adult or not).

The damage to the cells at the back of the eye isn't instant... it takes 24-48 hours for the cells to die. One might think they got away with the exposure... then 24-48 hours later they discover they don't have vision in part of their eye.

 

[jsecordphoto]

Be careful pointing that toward your camera too, I've heard of people damaging their sensors

 

[JeremyMcG]

Right. I'm aware of the safety issues and take all precautions.
I live on a 60 acre farm in the middle of nothing in West Virginia.

I'm considering doing some long exposure light painting with it on a tree line... maybe do some cloud painting at night (NO AIRPLANES) using a spread-beam lens for the laser that doesn't concentrate the beam.
There won't be others around.

I'm just wondering on how the 445mm wavelength will come out on a long exposure...

 

[MOREGONE]

Safe to say this is pretty unique. My .02 take it out and figure it out. Any info you may stumble across could shoe-box you in and limit your creativity.

 

[tecboy]

That kind of powerful laser. Would it be illegal in some cities?

 

[scorpion_tyr]

I've seen some unique light paintings with lasers before. Leaving the laser in the same general location and just painting stuff with it will color the object and it will still retain some texture and a 3D feel. I do have to say doing this to trees or clouds would be pretty cool. The clouds would have to be very slow moving. I will also say that you need to be VERY careful. As a former aviator myself I can say it's a very frightening experience when someone "lases" your plane, especially a military one. Depending on your location you may have no way of knowing the plane is up there. Accident or not you can get into a lot of trouble if you get caught and worse you could cause a serious incident.

 

[Alexr25]

Would it be illegal in some cities?

Probably. It's certainly illegal in some countries, Australia for is one that I know of, it is after all a class 4 laser!

Why would anyone contemplate doing light painting with a class 4 laser unless they aspired to become yet another blind photographer.

 

[JeremyMcG]

I'm still playing with this. It's cold and rainy and I can't leave the cover of my back porch - so experimentation has been slow. But I thought this was interesting.

 

[18.percent.gary]

For your own benefit DO NOT point a laser of this power into the sky at night.

As a professional pilot who has been intentionally "lased" a few times I can tell you that we report ANY laser sightings (aimed at us or not) immediately to ATC who immediately coordinate with local law enforcement to locate the person on the ground. We can pinpoint your location on GPS to a city block and the FBI or police ALWAYS follow up on the report. Whether you're intentionally aiming the laser at an aircraft or not, if you're spotted, reported, and caught there's a good chance you will be facing federal charges. I know you're not implying that you would intentionally aim it at an aircraft, but just know that it's currently a hot topic and you may find yourself with one heck of a hassle on your hands just from messing around.

Oh, and I still haven't managed to get a $10,000 reward yet but lots of us pilots have some pretty good incentive to nab people pointing lasers in the sky : FBI &mdash; Protecting Aircraft from Lasers: New Program Offers Rewards for Information