366! - made it!

Thank you so much for your comments, stars and faves for yesterdays blip - and for the questions on how I did it:

The party popper was shot under studio lights at a FP setting, which will keep up with a motor-drive at 6 frames per second. The shot with the paper firing out wasn't that exciting, but two shots later I recorded the dust from the explosive trigger shooting out (if you look closely on the photo, you'll see it).

The streamers "coming out" of the popper were arranged on black velvet, and photographed separately - and the same streamers were re-arranged to give the 3, 6 and 5 at the end of the "explosion". The various layers were comped together in photoshop using the lighter colour blending mode, so the black background effectively became invisible.

I would have tried more to get a good popper, but Mike would only let me use one - I had to save the others for tonight!

Today is my real celebration - a full 366 days, no gaps, and the bubbles flying in the air might not be 100% genuine (although they are champagne bubbles). The glass was lit by a softbox to the left, and a floor-mounted studio light under the glass sheet that the glass is standing on. Black velvet behind to really make the bubbles stand out.

My first blip
My frist spotlight
My 100th blip
My 200th blip
My first staff pick
My second staff pick
My 300th blip

Now I have to come up with a new journal title by tomorrow!

Happy Hogmanay to you all