To Spark or Detonate



Nikon D90, Shutter: 1/60, Aperture: F6.3, Focal Length: 105mm, ISO 2000



















So recently my 2006 Ford Escape began making a fuss, and my initial thought was that one of my cylinder ignition coils had gone bad...turns out I was wrong.  After spending $55.00 for a Ford mechanic to tell me my ignition coil on cylinder 4 was bad, $70.00 to replace the ignition coil on cylinder 4, another $70.00 to replace the coil on cylinder 2, for a total of $195.00, and a few check engine light resets and recurrences...I finally figured out that my standard ole spark plugs were the culprit the whole time!  Two of the four spark plug electrodes had completely dissolved to nothing, in effect reducing my 4 cylinder to a haphazard 2 cylinder.  I did recoup my money for the two ignition coils, and also found out that Autolite spark plugs have a bad history of performance issues...I've since switched to Denso's!  I ran the Autolite's for about 6 months before they failed or, literally, detonated!

Nikon D90, Shutter: 1/60, Aperture: F9, Focal Length: 105mm, ISO 2000

In regards to photographic theory, I inappropriately had the ISO set at 2000 for the pictures above.  I was still very new at tweaking settings on the D90 when I was taking these photos, and I didn't even realize I was shooting at a relatively high ISO setting...thus these pictures may seem a bit noisy...