195. Light Painting - March 5-11, 2017
Kevin-
This photograph is a complete hodge-podge. Problem, I had not been to Joshua Tree National Park since October. That is very unusual for me. So I committed myself to shooting the photo up there. Now, there is no way to Light Paint an entire national park, so I knew that the light painting would be selective. Also I didn’t want to use a flashlight for the light painting. The “excuse” I used was white balance and tungsten light would be different from whatever remaining light came from the sky at night. So I brought a couple of strobe units and lightstands.
I made one trip up there on Tuesday to do some testing. And I was remarkably happy with the result. The test images were captured about 75 minutes after sunset. Even then there was still a lot of light in the sky due to the nearly full moon. Still the stars in the sky showed up. In the foreground I lit a Joshua Tree with several pops on a handheld strobe.
But that was all too simple. So I went back up there on Wednesday night. I chose a different Joshua Tree in a different location, one I could park next to and shine the headlights on the scene when it was time to pack up the gear and carry it out. Also I brought a set of cute little flashlights I had ordered via Amazon. These were little LED flashlights that looked like light bulbs and constantly and quickly changed colors. I though one would be fun to twirl around during a long exposure, and at 5 little flashlights for $6 it was a pretty cheap experiment.
But that still wasn’t enough, so I decided to add myself to the scene as well. But that STILL wasn’t enough, so I decided to leap at the beginning of the exposure (requiring me to use front curtain flash sync as opposed to rear curtain like I commonly use). It you look closely you will realize that I am mid-leap and my feet are actually off the ground, captured by the flash. The flash units also illuminated the foreground Joshua Tree. Then during the exposure I reached into my pocket and pulled out the lightbulb flashlight and twirled it around in the darkness. And there are still some stars in the background. Is any of this art? Surely not. More like a bad paint-by-numbers exercise. But I am still going with it as my WPOTM.
Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto Carbon One 440 tripod with an Acratech ballhead, 14-24mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 16mm. ISO 800, f/8 @ 15 seconds
Note the lights on me, the foreground and the Joshua Tree at 1/16 power only lasted for 1/10,000 of a second. The rest of the 15 second exposure was for the twirling lightbulb light, the stars, and the tiny amount of detail still visible on the background rocks.
This photograph is a complete hodge-podge. Problem, I had not been to Joshua Tree National Park since October. That is very unusual for me. So I committed myself to shooting the photo up there. Now, there is no way to Light Paint an entire national park, so I knew that the light painting would be selective. Also I didn’t want to use a flashlight for the light painting. The “excuse” I used was white balance and tungsten light would be different from whatever remaining light came from the sky at night. So I brought a couple of strobe units and lightstands.
I made one trip up there on Tuesday to do some testing. And I was remarkably happy with the result. The test images were captured about 75 minutes after sunset. Even then there was still a lot of light in the sky due to the nearly full moon. Still the stars in the sky showed up. In the foreground I lit a Joshua Tree with several pops on a handheld strobe.
But that was all too simple. So I went back up there on Wednesday night. I chose a different Joshua Tree in a different location, one I could park next to and shine the headlights on the scene when it was time to pack up the gear and carry it out. Also I brought a set of cute little flashlights I had ordered via Amazon. These were little LED flashlights that looked like light bulbs and constantly and quickly changed colors. I though one would be fun to twirl around during a long exposure, and at 5 little flashlights for $6 it was a pretty cheap experiment.
But that still wasn’t enough, so I decided to add myself to the scene as well. But that STILL wasn’t enough, so I decided to leap at the beginning of the exposure (requiring me to use front curtain flash sync as opposed to rear curtain like I commonly use). It you look closely you will realize that I am mid-leap and my feet are actually off the ground, captured by the flash. The flash units also illuminated the foreground Joshua Tree. Then during the exposure I reached into my pocket and pulled out the lightbulb flashlight and twirled it around in the darkness. And there are still some stars in the background. Is any of this art? Surely not. More like a bad paint-by-numbers exercise. But I am still going with it as my WPOTM.
Nikon D4s, mounted on a Manfrotto Carbon One 440 tripod with an Acratech ballhead, 14-24mm f/2.8 Nikkor lens set to 16mm. ISO 800, f/8 @ 15 seconds
Note the lights on me, the foreground and the Joshua Tree at 1/16 power only lasted for 1/10,000 of a second. The rest of the 15 second exposure was for the twirling lightbulb light, the stars, and the tiny amount of detail still visible on the background rocks.
Paul-
I wish I could pull one over on you guys and say this week’s submission was captured with the capricious assistance of a Sprite* I discovered dwelling in a large tree in my backyard. But, no. I employed some pretty non-supernatural techniques to get my picture.
After learning of the theme, I spent countless hours in my nano-studio cobbling together a magnificently sophisticated device that would throw out different wavelengths of light while twisting and bobbing from a chain of rubber bands that suspended it from a tree. I trust you all implicitly, so I have attached a .jpg of the device…secure in the knowledge you will not try to copy it for selfish financial gain.
The photo shoot took about an hour as I moved my tripod-mounted camera (the former which also held a bungee corded brick) to different places in the yard. Each spot requiring a new, best guess for the depth of field I was looking, degree of zoom, and duration of exposure. I haven’t tried this photographic technique before, so I did a little read in advance which resulted in these camera settings:
1) Lens auto focus drive switch set to Manual.
2) Shooting mode set to Manual
3) Long Exposure Noise reduction set to Off (It was cold out, I didn’t feel like waiting around any longer than necessary to see the result of each attempt…and there were a lot of them.)
4) Range Finder set to On
5) Auto-Focus mode set to Off
6) Shutter release mode: Remote activation, single frame, with 2-second delay
7) White balance set for Incandescent. (I read that this can sometimes create a nice effect. What do I know? I went with incandescent.)
8) Shutter speed set to Bulb (which interesting sometimes said “Time”), this option follows the longest automatic setting you can dial in on the D5200: 30 seconds.
Light banter: (03072017 8:10PM) Nikon D5200; 18-55mm focused at 55mm; ISO 200; 73 sec. at f/25; shot in Manual mode; matrix metered; Auto WB set to Incandescent. Camera was mounted on a tripod and triggered remotely.
* A Sprite is a kind of fairy or elf. The name is derived from the Latin word “spiritus” (or spirit), and once meant “soul” or “ghost.” Sprites are used in many folktales. They are found only in places where it is serene and cool. Their job, is to change the colors of a tree’s leaves in Autumn. Sprites are very creative. They are muses, artists, and poets…some of the most creative of the fairies. At night their bodies give off a faint glow that humans often mistake for fireflies, which (along with other flying insects and small birds), they sometimes ride.
I wish I could pull one over on you guys and say this week’s submission was captured with the capricious assistance of a Sprite* I discovered dwelling in a large tree in my backyard. But, no. I employed some pretty non-supernatural techniques to get my picture.
After learning of the theme, I spent countless hours in my nano-studio cobbling together a magnificently sophisticated device that would throw out different wavelengths of light while twisting and bobbing from a chain of rubber bands that suspended it from a tree. I trust you all implicitly, so I have attached a .jpg of the device…secure in the knowledge you will not try to copy it for selfish financial gain.
The photo shoot took about an hour as I moved my tripod-mounted camera (the former which also held a bungee corded brick) to different places in the yard. Each spot requiring a new, best guess for the depth of field I was looking, degree of zoom, and duration of exposure. I haven’t tried this photographic technique before, so I did a little read in advance which resulted in these camera settings:
1) Lens auto focus drive switch set to Manual.
2) Shooting mode set to Manual
3) Long Exposure Noise reduction set to Off (It was cold out, I didn’t feel like waiting around any longer than necessary to see the result of each attempt…and there were a lot of them.)
4) Range Finder set to On
5) Auto-Focus mode set to Off
6) Shutter release mode: Remote activation, single frame, with 2-second delay
7) White balance set for Incandescent. (I read that this can sometimes create a nice effect. What do I know? I went with incandescent.)
8) Shutter speed set to Bulb (which interesting sometimes said “Time”), this option follows the longest automatic setting you can dial in on the D5200: 30 seconds.
Light banter: (03072017 8:10PM) Nikon D5200; 18-55mm focused at 55mm; ISO 200; 73 sec. at f/25; shot in Manual mode; matrix metered; Auto WB set to Incandescent. Camera was mounted on a tripod and triggered remotely.
* A Sprite is a kind of fairy or elf. The name is derived from the Latin word “spiritus” (or spirit), and once meant “soul” or “ghost.” Sprites are used in many folktales. They are found only in places where it is serene and cool. Their job, is to change the colors of a tree’s leaves in Autumn. Sprites are very creative. They are muses, artists, and poets…some of the most creative of the fairies. At night their bodies give off a faint glow that humans often mistake for fireflies, which (along with other flying insects and small birds), they sometimes ride.
Jerry-
Here is my third stab at light painting, inspired by a visit to the local ACE hardware. They has some leftover red led holiday lights for only $ .85, and this idea came to mind. I would put the camera on a tripod with the flash on top in bounce mode. The exposure would be 8 seconds at f11, ISO 200, with 28mm lens. I sat in front of a black background wearing a black coat to hide everything except my face. Wearing the lights, I used a wireless remote to fire off the camera, with the flash going off at the beginning to get my face, and then the remaining seconds to do weird things with the led lights.
Here is my third stab at light painting, inspired by a visit to the local ACE hardware. They has some leftover red led holiday lights for only $ .85, and this idea came to mind. I would put the camera on a tripod with the flash on top in bounce mode. The exposure would be 8 seconds at f11, ISO 200, with 28mm lens. I sat in front of a black background wearing a black coat to hide everything except my face. Wearing the lights, I used a wireless remote to fire off the camera, with the flash going off at the beginning to get my face, and then the remaining seconds to do weird things with the led lights.
Byron-
I decided to use an interesting flower blossom as my subject. The equipment I used was my tripod, Nikon D3200, 50mm f1.4 lens, daylight balanced LED flashlight, byro-snoot, white background, my round 50s style table.
I placed the blossom on the table, composed the shot and shut off the room light. My basement at night gets really dark. I used my wireless remote to trigger the shutter. As it stayed open for 10 seconds, I moved the light around the top of the blossom and a little on the front. The Byro-snoot helped control the light so I would only let a a small amount hit the background.
My submission is the Bird of Paradise. The other photo was almost my submission. It is an interesting blossom and in fact, was my very first exposure. I almost stopped after the first one and submitted it and saying "one and done" or something to that effect.
ISO 200, 10 sec, f11
I decided to use an interesting flower blossom as my subject. The equipment I used was my tripod, Nikon D3200, 50mm f1.4 lens, daylight balanced LED flashlight, byro-snoot, white background, my round 50s style table.
I placed the blossom on the table, composed the shot and shut off the room light. My basement at night gets really dark. I used my wireless remote to trigger the shutter. As it stayed open for 10 seconds, I moved the light around the top of the blossom and a little on the front. The Byro-snoot helped control the light so I would only let a a small amount hit the background.
My submission is the Bird of Paradise. The other photo was almost my submission. It is an interesting blossom and in fact, was my very first exposure. I almost stopped after the first one and submitted it and saying "one and done" or something to that effect.
ISO 200, 10 sec, f11