This is an unusual set of images from me. I spend all my time making images in one photographic exposure where I combine different elements in an image using two or three tripods and two or maybe even three lenses. The trouble with that is it's very much experimental and you never quite know what you are going to get unless you try it. I usually have a rough idea what I'll get but it's good to expand my mind by messing around to see what could happen!
I've been thinking lately of a way to "dry run" different elements in order to spark ideas for lightpainting. This involves using Photoshop! Some of the lightpainters I know will look aghast at me doing this but it's a good way to get a spot of inspiration or a spark for an idea. These images are all Photoshopped and are definitely not straight out of camera but the excercise has given me loads of ideas which can only be a good thing!
By profession, I am a CAD designer and I grew up being taught to rough draft ideas before drawing anything up. This is a kind rough draft exercise except with Photoshop....
So please, all you lightpainters out there, please forgive me! On the next post, I will be back to normal shooting straight out of camera!
Digital Tanya
This is an inverted mono image of the very blonde model, Tanya. I overlaid a rotated image of a derelict factory in to the dark unexposed parts of Tanya's inverted silhouette. The only way I'll be able to do this in one exposure is to use an inverted iPad image of Tanya. I find this strangely compelling:
Circuits by night
This is a combination of a tunnel image and a test shot for a circuit board. I can see how I could do this next time I visit a cave. That's another idea chalked up on the board!
Dry running Georgia
Another shot with Gerogia inverted in monochrome. Definitely would need to be shot with an inverted iPad image. Worth exploring....
Digital Moll
With these experiments I seemed to have gone down a rabbit hole with silhouettes. The inserted image is a vertical pan of the camera and it's sparked another idea for the next time I visit a certain location in the Peak District.
Dry Run Selfie
I've been mulling over the idea of filling a silhouette shot in the dark so that only the silhouette has the textures or lightpainting inside. This shot demonstrates that it might be a little tricky isolate just the silhouette and nothing else. This is another idea spark where I can mask off the cental portion of the lens.
Digital Liv
And finally this is probably going to be something similar to my next lightpainting image. Take a backlit silhouette then lens and tripod swap pointed at trees. The dark, unexposed parts of the base image are filled with the light on the trees. I may well have Photoshopped this but it was certainly a worthwhile exercise to point me in the right direction!
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.
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