Fire Within
4 way Camera rotation of a disused railway tunnel with an Led Eddie inspired silhouette centerpiece achieved using my mum's old net curtains and a 10w rgb torch...
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4 way Camera rotation of a disused railway tunnel with an Led Eddie inspired silhouette centerpiece achieved using my mum's old net curtains and a 10w rgb torch.
Shot during another great nights wafting with Chris and Alan T.
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Shot during another great nights wafting with Chris and Alan T.
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Oct, 2014Views
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Awards
Member Selection Award
Winner in Light Painting extended reality Photo Challenge
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
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Behind The Lens
Location
This shot was taken in Sheffield during a light painting collaboration with my mate Chris Thompson in a disused railway tunnel he had discovered in his home town. Its called Broughton Brake tunnel and is a relic of the booming Steel trade the city of Sheffield is famous for. We parked on a dirt track at dusk and made our way down the old embankment and followed the tracks for ten minutes or so. The tunnel is the longest I have shot in and the other end is barely visible. A great spot for light painting.Time
This one was taken some time after 9 at night when it was pitch black inside and outside of the tunnel. Like all of my light paintings the darker the location the better as the shutter needs to be open for 5 minutes or more.Lighting
The lighting for this took us a while to perfect. Finally we settled on two Flashguns fired remotely from their stands, camera left and right. One gelled green and the other red. I own a device which sits on my tripod called a CRT. This allows me to accurately rotate my camera around the centre point of the lens during a long exposure. More about that later.Equipment
I owned a Canon 650D and a Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 at the time of shooting this. As mentioned above I have my CRT and a plethora of led light sources and flashguns, different coloured gels and a pair of net curtains!!! Those were important for this shot. I fired the shutter and popped the gelled flashes, rotated my camera 90 degrees and repeated the process until my camera was back to its original position. Next I stood in a pre determined spot and Chris shone my rgb flashlight (set to blue) through some old net curtains to create my 1st silhouette. Next I walked backwards for twenty or so feet in a straight line and we repeated the process but with the flashlight set to orange. This created the silhouette within a silhouette. Shutter closedInspiration
There are many unbelievable light painters out there and I have immersed myself in this art form for over a year now. The creativity and imagination used to create light art blows me away. This particular shot was inspired my LED Eddie. He created a silhouette shot within another with gelled flashguns, fog and a laser and this influenced me to try it out for myself. I must also mention Chris Thompson as he is the brains behind the CRT and without his help I wouldn't have been able to create this shot. If I had to mention all the other influences and Light artists who inspire me we would be here for a very long time but they know who they are.Editing
As I remember I just boosted the contrast and saturation a little. Other than that its straight from the camera. That's a bit of a "thing" with light painting. Trying to achieve the impossible with out the use of photoshop.In my camera bag
My crt is the first bit of kit I reach for, led lights by the hundred such as my orb tool, dome tool and various light wands. Steel wool, rainbow paper, net curtains and neutral density filters. My torch is very important. I have a LED Lenser P7.2 and my home made 10 watt RGB flashlight which comes in really handy for shots such as this. Remote shutter release and triggertrap are always in my bag. Coloured gels are proving invaluable at the moment also, the more vibrant the better.Feedback
Just get out there into the darkness. Camera on your tripod, manual mode and bulb. Fire the shutter and wave any light emitting object around until you find something you like. I get asked on a regular basis which settings I use but there is no real answer to this. It depends on the ambient light and the strength of the light you are using. Just experiment and don't follow the masses. The most important thing to have in light painting is a vivid imagination. If you have one of those you are half way there. Plus the light painting community are a friendly and helpful bunch as I have found out in my light painting journey.
