Light Painting is not something I have had much experience with, so when the theme for the 10-stop ND challenge I have been doing was light painting it presented an opportunity to do some exploring. Not only did I have to investigate light painting itself, but I also had to work out how to use the 10-stop ND filter while painting with light at night. May's Monthly Moments were created as I was learning some of the ins-and-outs of the technique. Below are a few of the shots and and a little about how I created them.
The Home-made Light-tube
I created a make-shift light tube out of an opened-up L-shaped pocket (for sturdiness) and two different coloured sheets of cellophane. I taped the cellophane to one side of the L-shaped pocket, then rolled it around the torch, to form the tube, taping it in place. My torch had a wrist strap which was handy when I was circling the torch during shots.
The first successful shot.
This was taken without the 10 stop ND filter as I was learning what was possible in terms of light painting without the complication of the 10-stop ND filter
Lightwaves I & Lightwaves II
These two images were taken without the 10 stop ND filter. In the second one I moved in close to the camera and further away during the exposure, creating more of the red light.
Ambient Ball
On the second night, I thought I would start early to capture something during the golden and blue hour, this time with the 10 Stop ND filter. I headed out in time and well ahead of golden and blue hour to set up but, had setting issues and only managed to get one decent shot with the light in the background – this was it!
Light Whirl
On the left is the coloured version of the shot I finally choose for the 10-stop ND challenge. The raw image was horrendously noisy, as I had to compensate for the ND filter by ramping up the ISO to 25600 – something I am always hesitant to do, but I managed to deal with it in Lightroom. On the right is the final image I chose for the ND challenge.
Vitruvian Man
At the end of the second night Gerard popped out to see how I was getting on. We thought It might be fun to try to create a “Vitruvian Man”. Using a torch to light the area behind us, I stood behind him and in line with the shadow he cast, and twirled the light tube.
Overall, it was an interesting exercise exploring how to paint with light and something I might play more within the future - but without the ND filter!
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