Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
Brad, can you explain the sparkler/long exposure shot?? I have to try that!
Tucson T4R
Expedition Leader
Moonlight heaven. :wings:
Tucson T4R
Expedition Leader
I have to credit Aaron for that trick. :sombrero:
He stuffs a whisk with fine steel wool and has that attached to a dog leash. Then you light the steel wool and spin it over you head to throw out the sparks. Very cool,
He stuffs a whisk with fine steel wool and has that attached to a dog leash. Then you light the steel wool and spin it over you head to throw out the sparks. Very cool,
graynomad
Photographer, traveller
Love the steel wool shots, and the moonlight ones are great as well. You guys shave some nice scenery over there.
The star trails are very short, what sort of exposure times?
Oooo a macro thread, one of my favourite interests, I'll post some shots soon. And I found a pano thread as well, ditto with that.
The star trails are very short, what sort of exposure times?
Oooo a macro thread, one of my favourite interests, I'll post some shots soon. And I found a pano thread as well, ditto with that.
Tucson T4R
Expedition Leader
The moonlight shots were about 30 seconds.
Tucson T4R
Expedition Leader
Thanks Black Bowser. "The boys" made me do it. :elkgrin:
Tucson T4R
Expedition Leader
I planned an extra day off before going back to work. Instead of unpacking, I processed images for 10 hours. :xxrotflma
graynomad
Photographer, traveller
I've not done a huge amount of night shots but it's been a pretty painless process, especially since I when digital.
"Night" shots of buildings are actually better taken at dusk, depending on the time of year you may need to do a double exposure to get the lights because they often don't come on until the best part of the ambient light has gone. Here's an example (on film)
The initial exposure was shot before dark, there was almost no lights on at this time. Then I waited for the street and building lights and took another exposure. Then I decided I wanted a lot of car headlight streaks but the cars were coming in waves (presumably because of traffic lights somewhere down the road) so I waited again for a "wave" and exposed the film again, I did this 4-5 times.
The and result is as you see, all on one sheet of film. In the digital age you would take them all as separate frames and combine in Photoshop. In fact using this approach is way better because you can organise the various exposures so there's no blow out in the highlights (ie a floodlit sign).
Usually a really long exposure has the affect of "equalising" the brightness range of the various subjects. Buy that I mean that a bright subject (street light) will blow out within seconds, but once it reaches 100% it can't go any further, meanwhile the darker subjects are getting more exposure. So as long as there's not too much flare I find just opening the shutter for a "while" and closing pretty much always works.
Digital is fantastic for this sort of work, it picks up light levels and colours you can't even see.
Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
Great workflow Rob
It's times like these when I like to remind those who always say "Digital is so cheating" For those of us who worked a lot in the dark room, stacking negatives was some of my favorite time spent in that soft glow
It's times like these when I like to remind those who always say "Digital is so cheating" For those of us who worked a lot in the dark room, stacking negatives was some of my favorite time spent in that soft glow
graynomad
Photographer, traveller
Heck yeah, we used to "cheat" all the time, I remember having a set of stock "large full moon" negs with the moon in various locations, I could sandwich them with another night shot to get an instant full moon photo 
And using 2-3 enlargers with different negs to make a composite image was common, in fact that was my day job in London.
Man I miss the darkroom, but even if the world hadn't gone digital my travelling lifestyle precludes having one.
Everyone prattles on about people manipulating images in Photoshop, they were doing the same in the 1880s, there's a famous photo of an Indian (by Edward S. Curtis), the original had a clock in the shot which wasn't "Indian" enough for the photographer so he retouched it out of the neg.
And of course Ansel Adams manipulated the hell out of his images, even removing the huge "LP" from the hill in "Winter Sunrise, The Sierra Nevada" by retouching every print.
And then there's Matthew Brady's "arranging" of dead confederate soldiers to set the scene for a photo, even adding props.
OK, I'll stop now
And using 2-3 enlargers with different negs to make a composite image was common, in fact that was my day job in London.
Man I miss the darkroom, but even if the world hadn't gone digital my travelling lifestyle precludes having one.
Everyone prattles on about people manipulating images in Photoshop, they were doing the same in the 1880s, there's a famous photo of an Indian (by Edward S. Curtis), the original had a clock in the shot which wasn't "Indian" enough for the photographer so he retouched it out of the neg.
And of course Ansel Adams manipulated the hell out of his images, even removing the huge "LP" from the hill in "Winter Sunrise, The Sierra Nevada" by retouching every print.
And then there's Matthew Brady's "arranging" of dead confederate soldiers to set the scene for a photo, even adding props.
OK, I'll stop now
Every Miles A Memory
Expedition Leader
Yeah, dont get me started either. I just roll my eyes when people try and say or ask "Well do you use editing software on your work? If so, then it's not real photography."
I had a whole set of Full Moon Negatives too! Funny
I had a whole set of Full Moon Negatives too! Funny
