After a week of being on the road travelling around Scotland for work, I finally managed to get my camera out and practice some much needed photo therapy! I've driven around 1500 miles in 5 days and what people often forget is that photography in any format is a very good way to unwind and relax.
So last night we visited our local favourite windmill in North Leverton in the middle of rural Nottinghamshire, England. The mill is fully working and has recently had it's sails refurbished with a lick of paint. The night was partly cloudy so no chance of getting any decent astro or star trail photography done so I settled for a spot of "traditional" lightpainting.
I normally spend my time in the dark using smoke and kinetic movements to create what I do but last night, I decided to try waving a light around. All too rare for me these days!
The Windy Miller tries his hand at lightpainting
I dug out a home made RGB LED light stick, dusted it off and charged the batteries. Surprisingly I managed to find the remote control and even more surprisingly, the remote's batteries still worked!
This shot is simple enough to light with just a gelled flashgun behind Richard, the "Windy Miller" Once I fired the flash, I nipped behind Richard and spun the LED stick around in a circle. This was my first attempt and subsequent tries were terrible! I make a habit of nailing stuff first time, then spend 20 minutes trying to polish the turds!
It's not perfect, but it was the best I got....
Hello, I've been expecting you....
With Halloween fast approaching, it was about time I made a scary image. (Some would argue all my photography is scary!)
Another simple to make shot with a gelled flashgun but this time Richard held a flashlight and lit up his own face for a brief moment while pulling a scary scream face.
Practice
I've been using RGB LED cubes lately and I wanted to use them to practice lighting up an object in the dark. Using flashlights can be very hit and miss where the beam's centre is too intense and you can end up over doing the lighting very easily. With LED panels, the light is more opaque and diffused. Last night I was happy just to practice lighting. I seem to have missed a bit in the bottom left hand corner but hey ho!
If only it was a clear night....
On previous occassions, I've visited North Leverton Windmill and the skies have been clear. This was a star trail shot made up of approx. 120 images of 30 second exposures all stacked in Photoshop.
And another where I was obsessed with lining up Polaris!
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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