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I've finally processed some of mine so....

A huge thankyou to my regular photography crew (Suren and Gerry) for some creative light painting of the sculptures by the sea.

Instead of trying to photography many sculptures we spent a lot of time composing (debatable ), light painting and photographing just a few.

Since Gerry and Suren have already posted theirs I'll try to post some different things - however since we only really photographed six different sculptures on the night I'll be limited somewhat to my take on things

and of course C&C is welcomed

First up is a twilight image of the stag and sunset taken before Gerry and Suren arrived - no light painting here - just the 0.9 Grad ND



I've also got another very similar to Gerry's painted one - the angle on mine is a bit different - and of course I have all the psychedelic coloured ones we did including the accident where the stag is peeing green

This sculpture with metal flames in a campfire of stones was my favourite composition of the night - here are my two takes on it, first up a vertical composition up very close from down very low with the ultra wide



and then a horizontal including the moon behind the clouds in the shot



My version of the giant tap and the red river flow. This one is pretty close to as shot

#1 nice light on this. There is a slight blending in effect of the stag with the background which is slightly offputting but nicely shot.

#2 Very nice perspective and a flowing compo. Just shine a little more light on that foreground stone to round it off.

#3 Looking good. I didn't like that yellow cast so that's why I cooled mine up...

Remorhaz wrote:however since we only really photographed six different sculptures on the night I'll be limited somewhat to my take on things

 LOL Quality not quantity grasshopper.

surenj wrote:#2 Very nice perspective and a flowing compo. Just shine a little more light on that foreground stone to round it off.

Thanks Suren - great idea - much better I think...

#3 Looking good. I didn't like that yellow cast so that's why I cooled mine up...

I assume you mean #4? - I dug that yellow cast (remember I was all gooey eyed when I saw the jpeg on my LCD with the streaky orange/yellow clouds ) - and that was like it was in real life with that yellow/orange moon and clouds

Remorhaz wrote:however since we only really photographed six different sculptures on the night I'll be limited somewhat to my take on things

 LOL Quality not quantity grasshopper.

Oh I know - I'm not complaining - I thought that was great. My comment was really just to say we didn't photograph that many different sculptures so not to expect me to be posting things completely different (except compositions) - since you guys had already posted yours from the night and we "shared" the lighting

Although from memory I believe my exposures were generally much longer than you or Gerry (e.g. I liked most of mine in the 1 to 2 minute mark to have more ambient burn in).

Remorhaz wrote:and of course I have all the psychedelic coloured ones we did including the accident where the stag is peeing green

you know, in hindsight I wish we explored that some more, I think the use of the light painting could really enhance the stag, however simplicity is the key, maybe just a electrified donger? now thats art!

Remorhaz wrote:First up is a twilight image of the stag and sunset taken before Gerry and Suren arrived - no light painting here - just the 0.9 Grad ND

I think being a fraction wider here may have helped, just to include the concrete mount and a bit more antler. Its a nice silhouette which could have been imporved by a more stunning sunet, damn those those clouds (or lack of)

Remorhaz wrote: here are my two takes on it, first up a vertical composition up very close from down very low with the ultra wide

this one works very well and is by far the pick of the bunch, correcting the cast as suren mentioned has helped.

The second version, the landscape one does not benefit from the extra space on teh rhs because some clown did not light paint those rockst, hence left it all dark and a bit uninteresting. This makes the viewer remain on the left side since there is nothing to anchor then lead from the right. I think just a bit more light on those rocks would really help that composition out, possibly drawing more from the RAW file get you there too.


I take back what I said about surens tap one - you had teh best possie! composition is perfect on this one, again, like surens I think a bit of cleanign up is needed. Here is what I did with mine, I cloned up the red at the top and also removed those party clowns on the hill smoking the funny weed.



Good to see you turned up too and battled the crowds.

biggerry wrote:maybe just a electrified donger? now thats art!

Hmm... We should really try this again. I've got some ideas which involves a prop or two. Will keep you informed.

Thanks for the great feedback Gerry...

biggerry wrote:

Remorhaz wrote:and of course I have all the psychedelic coloured ones we did including the accident where the stag is peeing green

you know, in hindsight I wish we explored that some more, I think the use of the light painting could really enhance the stag

- travesties like this...



or this

The second version, the landscape one does not benefit from the extra space on teh rhs because some clown did not light paint those rockst, hence left it all dark and a bit uninteresting. This makes the viewer remain on the left side since there is nothing to anchor then lead from the right. I think just a bit more light on those rocks would really help that composition out, possibly drawing more from the RAW file get you there too.

I'll have another look but I really like the dark shadows on the right (in the rocky area at least) - the sea and sky are admittedly very dark in the top right but hey...

I take back what I said about surens tap one - you had teh best possie! composition is perfect on this one, again, like surens I think a bit of cleanign up is needed. Here is what I did with mine, I cloned up the red at the top and also removed those party clowns on the hill smoking the funny weed.

I did do a hack job of cloneing in a bit more red water at the top but I left the people lying down

and for everyone else - here is what happens when things don't quite work out...



and when you're really stretching for creativity you play

NIce set Rodney

#1 Shame you wernt able to get down low enough to capture the whole of the stags body against the sky. The lower half of its body is lost in the dark background somewhat. I tried and failed as well

The rework on #2 is a definite improvement. The lower angle you have selected for the shot which uses the dark background shows off the intricacies of the metal work better than having the city lights and moon as a distraction as in the horizontal version posted.

#4 Great imagination (i'd assume by the 3 amigos) and well executed

The second version, the landscape one does not benefit from the extra space on teh rhs because some clown did not light paint those rockst, hence left it all dark and a bit uninteresting. This makes the viewer remain on the left side since there is nothing to anchor then lead from the right. I think just a bit more light on those rocks would really help that composition out, possibly drawing more from the RAW file get you there too.

I'll have another look but I really like the dark shadows on the right (in the rocky area at least) - the sea and sky are admittedly very dark in the top right but hey...

I hadn't adjusted the exposure at all with this particular image so I have some latitude from the raw... I added from about about 1/3 to 3/4 to a full stop to various areas on the right (sky and rocks) - what do you think?

Jenno wrote:The rework on #2 is a definite improvement. The lower angle you have selected for the shot which uses the dark background shows off the intricacies of the metal work better than having the city lights and moon as a distraction as in the horizontal version posted.
#4 Great imagination (i'd assume by the 3 amigos) and well executed

Thanks Ray

Without going in to any detail about each shot I think these are great. The idea to lightpaint the water was inspired and really adds to the sculpture.
Iam interested if the sculptures were floodlit or you have just used flash and dragged extra out of the darkness in selective pp.
VEry nice work.

CraigVTR wrote:Without going in to any detail about each shot I think these are great. The idea to lightpaint the water was inspired and really adds to the sculpture.
Iam interested if the sculptures were floodlit or you have just used flash and dragged extra out of the darkness in selective pp.
VEry nice work.

Thanks - to be honest I can't remember who's idea it was to point water flowing from the tap (Gerry, Suren, Me?)

None of the sculptures were floodlit so all "lighting" is some ambient (not much) but mainly from handheld LED torches painting the bits we wanted to "light". Not much selective PP was used to "light" the darkness - it's mostly from the torches.

Remorhaz wrote: to be honest I can't remember who's idea it was to point water flowing from the tap (Gerry, Suren, Me?)

I will take responsiblity if there is a prize involved.