I'm not a big fan of New Year's Eve, in fact I hate the whole damn thing and can't wait for it to be over! Thankfully the morning after the night before, it's all over. I can now get back to being normal, if I could ever describe myself as "normal"
In order to distract myself that is the horror of New Year's Eve, @neilru75 and I decided to head to a tunnel under Junction 29 of the M1 motorway. We'd previously recce'd the location in daylight and knew it could be a great place to practice the dark art of lightpainting.
This is a set of what I bagged during the evening and I know Neil got quite a few keepers too with my assistance.
All of the following images are created in one photographic exposure and are not Photoshop creations. Nor are they AI generated!!
An evening under Junction 29
For this shot I spun an orb tool 3 or 4 times in a circle close to the side walls of the tunnel. The camera was rotated by Neil in 30 degree increments while I moved towards the camera at a uniform distance between each spin. I liked how the floor of the tunnel has been hidden by the light from the orb hitting the tunnel walls.
The Tunnel
For context, this is the tunnel. The walls are coated in an artex type finish making for some great textures.
Overcooking the rotation
I tried adding more orb spins in to the rotations but I'm not sure this was quite as successful. It's good to show the failures maybe and here I came to the conclusion that less is more.
And another version:
Laser Level Nights
This is what happens when you place a laser level on top of a rear mounted flashgun. I shot the flash to create a smokey silhouette then rotated the laser beams with my camera rotation tool. You have to be sure to keep the laser from shining on to the camera sensor so as not to damage it!
Rotations
On the last occasion I visit this tunnel, I promised myself to rotate the tunnel like this. To prevent the rear light from spilling over in to the rest of the scene, the model is closer to the flashgun to block some of the light.
Laser Beam Nights
This is a pan of the camera during the exposure to create this light trail. It's a matter of careful timing also to create the little starburst at the end of the beam.
The camera rotation tool
For context, this is the camera rotation tool which I used to create a few of the above images. This arrangement allows the camera to be rotated on the lens axis.
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex, landscape and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; the social side of photography is always good!
Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/fastchrisuk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fastchris/