toxictabasco

Vintage Chevron Gas Station

This one is not in service, but comes with all the amenities of what a Gas Station had back in the day. You can find this one off Route 165 in Eldorado Canyon ...
Read more

This one is not in service, but comes with all the amenities of what a Gas Station had back in the day. You can find this one off Route 165 in Eldorado Canyon Ghost Town. Light painting on a bright moon night.
Read less

Oct, 2016

Views

2257

Likes

+404

Awards

Top Shot Award 22

Featured

Contest Finalist in The Night Photo Contest

Peer Award

+180

Superb Composition

+34

Outstanding Creativity

+24

Absolute Masterpiece

+22

Top Choice

+19

All Star

Superior Skill

Genius

Magnificent Capture

Top Ranks

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 20 rank

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 10 rank week 1

Top 30 rank week 2

Top 20 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Top 10 rank

Top 10 rank week 2

Top 10 rank week 1

See all

Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

The Desert is my Garden. Another sunset at the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. This time during monsoon season in the Blue Hour. With s

A night shot of Zambriske Point in Death valley. Facing West, during a full moon. Star stax time lapse for the background.

A sunset shot from Dante's View in Death Valley National Park. It was a Hazy sunset.
Across is the Panamint Mountain range with Telescope Peak

A gas station off Route 165 in Nevada. Part of an old mining ghost town. It's like a museum, and the people that maintain the area do a great j

A 8 shot 2 row Panorama of the Hoover Dam taken in Oct 2015. From this view, the water levels at Lake Mead seem robust.

A 180 degree panorama of Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley National Park. The desert is my ocean.

Mesquite remains in Death Valley National Park. These trees seem out of place in the middle of the desert. They are mainly found near the Stove Pipe

A lone photographer getting the last light of the day in Death Valley National Park. Footprints scatter Mesquite Dunes after a long week of no strong

A back lit sunset photo of the 20 Mule Team Wagon at Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley National Park.

A Galaxy Panorama from Dante's View in Death Valley National Park. This is the back side view opposite of Badwater Basin facing South East. Sho

While walking the Strip I find myself at the top of the Vegas Eiffel Tower. Luckily, the clouds and sky put on a epic show during the sunset. Luckil

A sunset shot at the Red Rock Canyon. A 2 row panorama using focus stacking for huge depth of field and super large resolution. Using a normal focal

Along Badwater Basin Drive in Death Valley National Park you can find this unusual rock. I'm unable to find information on it so I call it Alien

As I walked on the 3 highest peaks in Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley National Park, I ran across this twig that left a trail. It seemed out of place.

The Statues in Harras in Las Vegas. They portray the dreams of those who think they'll walk out a winner.

A 2 shot composite. In the foreground a strange stick that seemed out of place in the Death Valley Harmony Borax Works. In the background is the nig

"After all the Jacks are in there boxes, and the clowns have all gone to bed..." (Jimi Hendrix). This is Badwater Basin in Death Valley Nat

Behind The Lens

Location

While looking for places to shoot photos, I stumbled across this location on the google maps. It was tucked away in the mountains South of Hoover Dam. The town is called Nelson, and this photo was shot in the area of Eldorado Canyon Ghost Town. It's like a outdoor open museum off Nevada Route 165. Thus, I did further research on the area and was surprised to find that a lot of amazing night shots of old cars that I've seen in the past were taken at that location. Thus, after a day of planning I packed up my night kit and was out the door.

Time

This was shot under a bright moon in October 2016 about 1930 hrs. I had gotten there earlier before sunset to scope out the area, and pay a fee to photograph at night. At sunset the Moon was up about 20 to 30 degrees over the South East. The sky was overcast and It was a colorful sunset. Although I was able to get some great sunset shots, it was the night photography that was most challenging and exciting part of this photo shoot.

Lighting

The bright moon opened up a lot of creative opportunities for night photography. The main source of light came from the moon. But, I also used a headlamp with a clear and red bulb, and a Maglite with a blue lens filter to help with the illumination. With these 3 types of light, I shot various compositions of this scene. For this specific shot I used a 3 shot HDR for exposure blending. Because the moon was bright, I was able to shoot with ISO 800, at f/4 with a 30 second shutter. The area for this shot was wide, and the camera far from the garage. Thus the 3 shots gave me more time to get closer to the subjects and light paint. I was able to use the red and blue lights to paint different areas for 30 seconds each. I used the clear LED light to paint the ground, pumps, vehicle, and interior of the garage.

Equipment

For this shot, I used a Nikon D7100, Tokina 12-28mm f/4, on a 3LT Tony tripod. And for lights I used a Princeton Tec Byte headlamp with clear and red bulb, and Maglite XL50 with clear and blue filter.

Inspiration

In the past, I've seen some great night shots of old towns using the light painting technique. And, more specifically photos from this location. Also, I've seen people use various styles of light painting to create great images in portraits, landscape, automotive, architecture, etc... I've also viewed some tutorials on how to do this type of light painting. And in the past I've experimented with various techniques using a flashlight. On this photo shoot everything came together; the moon light, the subject matter, and the overcast sky. Everything was perfect. And it would be where I put together all my influences, inspiration, visions, as well as technique to see if I had the ability to create something as good as others.

Editing

With all my night photograph, I try to get as much correct in the camera especially the exposure. To me the exposure is the most important part of getting the best shot. The ideal exposure gives me the most data to work with in post processing. With this photo, I did very little adjustments to White Balance, and minor noise reduction. Once I had all 3 photos adjusted, I did the exposure merge in Corel PaintShop Pro 8. And with this photo, I used the same exposure level on all 3 shots. Then, I brought it back into Lightroom for minor touch up and archive.

In my camera bag

Whenever I go night shooting outdoors, I always bring 2 DSLRs, 2 tripods, and intervalometer for time lapse. For lenses: A Tokina 12-28mm f/4, and a Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 and my "L bracket and Nodal rail for multi shot panoramas. All this and the basic safety gear like appropriate attire, food & water, first aid kit, headlamp, flashlight, and spare batteries. My intervalometer, and lights all use AAA batteries. It's much more convenient and lighter weight than having to carry different types of batteries.

Feedback

A lot of people may not like the idea or concept of light painting this way. Some think its bogus, and not real photography. However, I find this type of photography a lot of fun, exciting, and very challenging all at the same time. If you've done it you know what I'm talking about. But for those who have not, I would suggest, looking at online tutorials on how to use a flashlight for light painting. This type of light painting takes some trial and error. There is no pure formula for what will work. A lot of the success will come from the knowledge and experience of how long exposure works, and how flash lights strength works at various distances. Nevertheless, location and subject matter plays a huge part with this type of photography. Thus, look for hidden places on the google maps where you live. Once you find a location, do some online research, look at the videos, the images, and see what photographers have done there. And, plan it like a vacation, get there before dark, and RECON the area for the best subjects and compositions, know what direction and time the sun will set, and when the moon will rise. Having a lot of information about the area you're going to shoot is essential to getting the most out of the photo shoot. And most of all, keep experimenting with different techniques and shooting styles. Anyway, thank you all who voted for my photo to be awarded in this photo contest.

See more amazing photos, follow toxictabasco

toxictabasco

toxictabasco

Vintage Chevron Gas Station

This one is not in service, but comes with all the amenities of what a Gas Station had back in the day. You can find this one off Route 165 in Eldorado Canyon ... Read more

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow toxictabasco

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes. Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.

This one is not in service, but comes with all the amenities of what a Gas Station had back in the day. You can find this one off Route 165 in Eldorado Canyon ...
Read more

Share photos. Enter contests to win great prizes.
Earn coins, get amazing rewards. Join for free.