Painting with Light
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The dictionary (Webster) defines photography as "the art or process of producing images by the action of radiant energy and especially light on a sensitive surface". This means that we create our images by capturing light (photons), reflected from our subjects, with some sort of detection device. That means we will not be able to capture anything in absolute darkness. On my last trip to Mono Lake, I thought that the bizarre shapes of the lake would lend themselves to this technique. After the sun set, I set up my camera on a tripod and chose an exposure of around 30 seconds, so I would have enough time to sweep as much of the landscape with my spotlight as I needed. I used a mid range aperture setting of around f-8 to start and adjusted the aperture accordingly after the first shot. You have to use manual settings, as the camera cannot evaluate the scene correctly with the spotlight. You need about 20s-30s to evenly paint a scene with a strong spot light.
If you light something that is farther away, you need to expose longer. If you double the distance, you need to increase the time by roughly four times to get the same brightness. Painting with light drastically changes how a scene looks like (compare the two images at the top of the post). Bookmark/Search this post with: |
I bought a 2.2 Million Candlepower light, before I went out to Mono Lake. I recommend at least 1 Million Candlepower for landscapes. The further your subject is away from you, the longer you need to paint it. Stand a few feet away from your camera and use a remote control or timer or another person to release the shutter. If you stand too close, your light beam might make nasty streaks across the frame, especially if you are shooting with a wide lens. Start painting shortly before releasing the shutter and keep painting until you hear the shutter again. Move your spotlight with an even pace across your subject.
Flicker
I don't see any mention of Flicker on your site. Do you have a photo stream there? You really ought to, your work is quite good.
I'm not a photographer but I absolutely love browsing through the images there. Sometimes I'll pull up something random, or I'll type in a search that I a certain will show 0 results, only to find that someone on the planet has indeed photographed it and posted it in their photo stream. It's a lot of fun for me and I just thought I'd ask whether or not you have a stream there. If you don't, you should think about it. It's a great way to share your photos, get feedback from others, and just have dorks like me find your work. ;)
Flickr
Well, since you found my site anyways, I do not think it is my most pressing issue to get on flickr right now, although I agree that I probably should some time. Its a matter of time for me, since I still need to upload a few hundred pictures to this site to keep pace with my photography, I do not want to do everything twice either.
Thanks for the suggestion though. I will take it under advice for when I have some more time.
Great photos!
Hey Andre,
Really great photos. I love the painting with light effect!
Keep up the good work (would love to see more of your painting with light shots)
All the best
Lloyd
Me too
Well, good thing winter is coming. This means more time for a night owl like me and maybe some more light painting. I sense a trip to Death Valley coming up ;-)
Yes..those 2 pictures are so
Yes..those 2 pictures are so different...at first glance you cant even recognize that they are even similar..
hey
yes I agree wit you... the above two pics are really mark able....... good work.
Keep it Up...
Thanks a lot
Really great photos. I love
Really great photos. I love the painting with light effect!Keep up the good work.
Your art & Landscaping photographs
Hello, This is the first time that I have seen your photographs and I'm very impressed. I too love to take landscape and sky formations. I recently enrolled in the Art Institute for a BA in Professional Photography. I'm 44 years old and this is my second career and hopefully it's as fullfilling as I've always dreamed. I'm taking up this change of careers because I want to do something I love and feel I will do well in. I was just wondering if photography is very profitable. I mean will I at least make a little money to bring in the household. By the way, I'm doing an assignment on a famous photographer and I thought I would do it on you.
If you have any comments please write me back at bud3200@yahoo.com
Thanks, Betty
Painting with light
One thing to mention since you talk a bit about time, is that darker subjects absorb light while lighter subjects reflect light. You will need to compensate for that when you are painting your subject. If you look closely at the photo above you can see that the green bushes at the base absorbed a lot of the light, loosing some of the detail in the foliage. But as anyone who paints with light will attest, it is definitely trial and error. Using colored gels adds another level as well. Happy shooting.
I do not think it is my most
I do not think it is my most pressing issue to get on flickr right now, although I agree that I probably should some time. Its a matter of time for me, since I still need to upload a few hundred pictures to this site to keep pace with my photography, I do not want to do everything twice either.
Do yo have any archive that
Do yo have any archive that we can see your entire work??
Galleries
I have gallery links in the left sidebar, however I haven't uploaded new pictures in a long time. I will soon get back to it though.
inspired
I'm a novice photographer and will be heading to Monolake for a photo shoot based on this photo alone. We will also be in Yosemite. Thanks for posting.
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