Last week I visited Bellmount Tower with the aim of some astrophotography. What I didn't appreciate was how good the scenery was on the way up to the Tower. The tree lined avenue was very old with mature oaks at least 200 years old. I knew I would need to return to shoot these fine looking trees and this post shows the results.
For the first time in a while, I took along my camera rotation tool, a device which allows the camera to be rotated on it's lens axis.
The Leaves are in the Sky
This is a simple two way rotation shot in one photographic exposure. I work out where I want my centre point to be then expose for the top half. I then replace the lens cap without ending the exposure and rotate the camera 180 degrees. I then remove the lens cap and repeat the first step.
The silhouette cast by the tree is black and unexposed on the image sensor. During the 2nd part of the process, the light exposes on the image sensor in the dark areas.
The bonus for me with this style is the textures created with partly exposed leaves on the ground appearing to be in the sky.
Unexposed parts of the frame
This shot demonstrates the partially unexposed or darker parts of the frame when shooting the first part of the exposure. The leaves in the foreground end up in the sky.
Four way
Here I repeated the same process as the above rotation image but exposed in four parts. My favourite bits are the textures and branches in the sky.
We live in an upside down world
Using a camera rotation tool can lead to a serious case of OCD. I don't have OCD in the clinical sense but it does drive me crazy when something doesn't quite line up. This has grown on me since I shot this last night.
I built myself a Flux Capacitor
This is another shot which grew on me. I often try stuff to see if something works and often reject the idea as a bad one.
I didn't spend enough time aligning this four way rotation because I quickly moved on to another idea. I should have slowed down and tried again with this:
Stood in a field in the middle of nowhere in the dark
That's how I describe to non-photographers what I do. And that's exactly what I did last night!
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/
WHAT IS LIGHTPAINTING?
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.
Single exposure Light Art Photography - no layers - no tricks - no photoshop
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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