Painting with Light

[Wayland]

Light painting is not something I've done much before but I decided to have a bash this weekend.



Comments and questions welcomed.

[Bob44]

​Excellent work Wayland! I also enjoyed seeing your website. You are very skilled and talented! ....Bob

[Sergio M.]

Wayland, wonderful image. How did you set up your lighting and where was it taken?

Sergio

[dje]

Wayland, wonderful image. How did you set up your lighting and where was it taken?

Sergio

Ditto from me. The beautiful colours of the sky provide a great backdrop. Well done.

Dave

[Bobobird]

Well done. That is a really beautiful image.

[JPS]

Please add me to the list of admirers of this picture; very good. Well done.
Cheers
John

[Wayland]

Thank you all. Glad you enjoyed the website too Bob.

This was taken at Magpie Mine two nights ago in almost full moonlight coming from the left.

There is an old story that the place was cursed by the widows of three miners that died in a fire started deliberately underground during disputes about mining rights.

There are four exposures of 2 minutes each. One captures the sky and the foreground detail with natural illumination.

The second captures the front of the building which was shaded from the moonlight but illuminated with a flash unit fired manually from behind the chimney.

A third exposure captures the chimney illuminated with the same flash fired from outside the frame on the left hand side to bring the "moonlight" further round the side.

Lastly there is an exposure to capture the red light which is my head torch illuminating the inside of the building for a doorway on the other side of the building. While the torch was doing that I also popped off the flash to light up the shed to right of the engine house and the inside of the out building on the left.

These frames were then combined as layers in Photoline using masks and various blending modes as required.

[dje]

Thank you all. Glad you enjoyed the website too Bob.

This was taken at Magpie Mine two nights ago in almost full moonlight coming from the left.

There is an old story that the place was cursed by the widows of three miners that died in a fire started deliberately underground during disputes about mining rights.

There are four exposures of 2 minutes each. One captures the sky and the foreground detail with natural illumination.

The second captures the front of the building which was shaded from the moonlight but illuminated with a flash unit fired manually from behind the chimney.

A third exposure captures the chimney illuminated with the same flash fired from outside the frame on the left hand side to bring the "moonlight" further round the side.

Lastly there is an exposure to capture the red light which is my head torch illuminating the inside of the building for a doorway on the other side of the building. While the torch was doing that I also popped off the flash to light up the shed to right of the engine house and the inside of the out building on the left.

These frames were then combined as layers in Photoline using masks and various blending modes as required.

Gee that's quite an involved process ! Thanks for sharing.

Dave

[Marie Hass]

Lovely. Appreciate the technical explanation.

Marie

[Wayland]

A lot easier to do than to explain let me assure you...

[Marie Hass]

Somehow, I had that feeling.

I can see myself out in the dark, trying to read out your printed instructions by flashlight held in my teeth (or on my forehead), and frantically trying to PM you on my Droid!

We are very remote up here on the ridge. I may just have to go skulking about - which may be a problem in itself, as folks tend to haul out the shotgun first and ask questions later.



Marie

[Wayland]

The nice thing is that nothing is moving apart from the moon of course.

Your camera is on a tripod so you take a shot and look at it on the screen and decide where you need more light.

Providing you don't burn anything out you can balance the exposures in the computer. Any frames that don't work don't get used.

It's much easier than doing it on film used to be, that was all guess work and had to be done in one frame.