Summer months for me are the worst thing. I need darker, longer, not to mention earlier, nights with which to practice my favourite thing to do, lightpainting. During the summer I am finding it increasingly harder to stay up nearly all night and find the day after the night before feels very much like a hangover! I prefer darkness at 5pm, a few hours in the dark and home in bed at a much more sociable hour with a full night of sleep and no ensuing hangover!
So now we are in August and the nights are slowly creeping in! Yay! Everyone else is probably miserable at the prospect of longer nights and shorter days but I'm loving it!!
So last night, the @inksurgeon and I ventured in to an abandoned railway tunnel to practice a spot of light waving. It isn't completely dark inside the tunnel and if you catch the wrong camera angle, daylight can overexpose your image.
We visited Cadeby Tunnel near Doncaster in England, an abandoned single track railway tunnel which apparently has a reputation for poltergeists. I had an idea in mind using a laser level tool and a device to rotate the camera.
This is what I got:
There can be only one!
My homage to Highlander!!
The Test Shot
To get the above shot, it's necessary to practice with a couple of test shots. This is a test for the amount of power from the flashgun where I expose for the walls so as not to overblow them white. The silhouette is dark but I know that if I add a smoke pellet, the flash will catch the smoke particles nicely. There's no point in wasting smoke pellets when I already know what will happen!
I didn't remember to make another test shot for the laser level's lighting so here's one I prepared earlier!
The Set Up
This is the Godox AD200 flashgun with a laser fixed on top with sticky backed velcro. I find placing the laser level on the same point as the flash works best. When I try this technique again I will probably try locating the laser on the floor to see what happens.
Notice the fresnel diffuser on the flashgun partly warped with the heat!!
Experiment...
For me lightpainting is all about experimentation. We tried creating a laser wall using smoke with a hand emerging but quickly realised the laser wasn't bright enough. Or maybe I didn't throw enough smoke pellets. There was a breeze in the tunnel and smoke will do what it likes and there's nothing I can do to control it. Here it is anyway and I will need to think how I can nail this one for next time!
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to create art.
Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/fastchrisuk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fastchris/
Lightpainting is a photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph, either to illuminate a subject or to shine a point of light directly at the camera, or by moving the camera itself during exposure. Nothing is added or removed in post processing.
If you would like to see more lightpainting please give the Lightpainters United Community a follow and you will be introduced into the illuminating world of light painting!
If you want to see more examples of lightpainting, feel free to check out these guys:
Mafu Fuma | Oddballgraphics | FadetoBlack | DAWN | Mart Barras | Stefan Stepke | Nikolay Trebukhin | Lee Todd | Stabeu Light | Maxime Pateau | Stephen Sampson | lightandlense | Neil Rushby | L.A.C.E.
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