Light Painting Stravaganza @ Middle Head Fort - Part I...

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Light Painting Stravaganza @ Middle Head Fort - Part I...

Postby Remorhaz on Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:21 pm

Joined some old friends and some new for a light painting extravaganza at Middle Head Fortifications which is at the end of Old Fort Road in Mosman on Sydney Harbour.

The seven of us had brought all manner of light creating implements and gadgets (including various dome and orb painting devices of various sizes, EL wires, cold cathodes, LED's, flashes, lazers, lanterns, steel wool and so on) for what proved to be a very enjoyable evening which began around 4:30PM and ended around 10:30PM.

We arrived before sunset hoping for some nice light cloud action and good colour in the sky to take some outdoor images of the fortifications - alas we were not really rewarded. Once the sun had set and darkness was setting in we began our experiments with light in earnest. All the images which follow are single exposures so some planning has to go in beforehand to decide what gets painted where with what implements, and just as important as working out where to put light is where not to light :)

Even though there were a number of us shooting essentially the same scene I'll be very interested to see the different interpretations of the same "shot" as we were all shooting with with various focal lengths from very wide (8 to 12mm) to wide (16 to 24mm) to short tele (50 to 100mm) at different times and from different heights angles and locations.

Light Painting Stravaganza @ Middle Head Fort - Part I - Battery powered light...

The following I call Burning Man - this is a 205 second exposure (12mm @ f/5.6 @ ISO 200) and consisted of:
- green gelled torch into the rooms on the left
- red cold cathode to light the walls
- blue EL wire dragged and flicked low to the ground and then up and around our excellent gun toting model to create the blue fire effect
- a burst of full power flash (SB-900) zoomed to 200mm and with a snoot to focus the beam directly into the back of the model to silhouette him

Image

Electrified - 94 second exposure (12mm @ f/5.6 @ ISO 200) - similar setup as above except using green EL wire to create the "electric" current

Image

The Jumper - 240 second exposure (16mm @ f/8 @ ISO 100) and consisted of:
- green dome generator on a long stick :)
- red cold cathode to light the walls
- orange and yellow EL wire to create the fire around the platform
- blue EL wire dragged and flicked low to the ground
- a burst of full power flash (SB-900) zoomed out to 12mm with a dome diffuser on front fired directly into the back of the model very close to his back to silhouette him and provide the rim light

Image

Left Hanging on the Line - 186 second exposure (12mm @ f/8 @ ISO 100) - again blue EL wire and red cold cathode

Image

Comments and suggestions most welcome...

Part II here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=42333
Last edited by Remorhaz on Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Light Painting Stravaganza @ Middle Head Fort - Part I...

Postby sirhc55 on Sun Apr 08, 2012 1:51 pm

No suggestions, just a single comment - brilliant :up:
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Re: Light Painting Stravaganza @ Middle Head Fort - Part I...

Postby the foto fanatic on Sun Apr 08, 2012 2:55 pm

Startlingly impressive!

I'm going to have nightmares about the last! :up:
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Re: Light Painting Stravaganza @ Middle Head Fort - Part I...

Postby zafra52 on Sun Apr 08, 2012 3:36 pm

I prefer the first photograph, but I have
the impression I have seen something
similar in a photographic mag. Still, they
are very good.
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Re: Light Painting Stravaganza @ Middle Head Fort - Part I...

Postby Remorhaz on Sun Apr 08, 2012 6:16 pm

Thanks guys - and thanks to my fellow conspirators (Gerry, Suren and Cam),

the foto fanatic wrote:I'm going to have nightmares about the last!


Suren appeared to have survived the experience :)

zafra52 wrote:I prefer the first photograph, but I have the impression I have seen something similar in a photographic mag


Yep - many have light painted this location (e.g. Brent Pearson). John Piper (Xenedis/Johnno) did a writeup on light painting in a recent issue of Australian Photography and his cover shot was in this exact corridor (although he did a very different scene - but also with EL wire).
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Re: Light Painting Stravaganza @ Middle Head Fort - Part I...

Postby aim54x on Mon Apr 09, 2012 2:02 pm

Well my shots are pretty similar...I guess this saves me from posting mine!!
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Re: Light Painting Stravaganza @ Middle Head Fort - Part I..

Postby bigsarg7 on Mon May 21, 2012 12:25 pm

i just want to say how amazing these look, its such imagery thats takes photography to new levels. well done guys!!
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