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The Beacon.



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Light painting at Beacon Hill Harwich. Long exposure using wire wool effect and torch light.

Light painting at Beacon Hill Harwich. Long exposure using wire wool effect and torch light.
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2 Comments | Report
Truogre
 
Truogre April 11, 2015
Beautifully done!! Look forward to seeing more!!
BMac001 Platinum
BMac001 April 20, 2015
Thank you Russell, appreciate your comments.
crbrown
 
crbrown April 18, 2015
I like the indirect use of the light , more for the imagination ,great image
BMac001 Platinum
BMac001 April 20, 2015
Thank you crbrown, great to hear your thoughts.
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Behind The Lens

Location

I took this at Beacon Hill fort Harwich, its an old coastal defence base left over from the second world war. This was the observation tower and gun emplacement. Most of it has been removed now but its still a great place to shoot, with a lot of the old buildings and gun placements still there.

Time

I went there at about 11pm in the evening with a friend who shares my passion for light painting and we scouted for a good place to shoot. when I found this tower I couldn't resist it as a focal point for my shoot. I set up my cameras and readied my light painting gear, then waited till about 1am so as to avoid as much ambient light as possible.

Lighting

I decided to shoot towards the ambient light of the town, keeping it in the background to give it a golden glow. Then I readied several spins to try and see what effect I was getting. A spin is a small whisk on a dog lead, the whisk is filled with wire wool, which you set fire to just before you spin it. With the camera set on bulb, the ISO at 100, I started at F6.3 and my friend lit the wire wool and did a couple of practice spins, each lasting about 20 seconds. these settings are only a starting point and I adjust them as I go till I get what I am looking for. It was good but it still needed something, after some consideration I decided to paint the walls using a torch.

Equipment

I used a Canon 40D with a EFS 18-55mm kit lens, a Giottos tripod for a stable solid base, a strong torch to paint with and of course the spins loaded and ready. I use a fine wire wool as it burns best when you spin it, a pair of safety glasses ( you really don't want hot wire wool in your eyes ) a solid thick coat and a wide brimmed hat, I prefer leather hat and coat but as long as its not highly flammable you will be fine. I also use a remote trigger but this is not essential.

Inspiration

The inspiration for this just came from the site and its history, I wanted something visually explosive, in what I felt was in-keeping to the events that must have taken place here. I wanted to visually get a feel of the chaos and dramatic lighting that you would have experienced when it was active.

Editing

This particular image took 4 RAW shots, one for each spin and a final 1 for the painting of the walls. I did it using 4 shots to keep the noise down to a manageable level as the longer exposures at night can cause quite a lot of noise in the shot. I then layered them together using Photoshop and did a final edit in Lightroom. Usually I would do it in one or two shots but there was a lot of running about for my friend and that would have put the exposure time into 10`s of minutes.

In my camera bag

As I don't have a lot of money my kit is still being put together lens by lens. So far I have a fairly reasonable set which I take with me to most planned shoots. At the moment that is a Canon 50mm lens, a Sigma APO DG 70-300mm, a Sigma 105mm DG Macro HSM, 2x Canon EFS 18-55 kit lens (one with a wide angle adapter attached), a Jessop DGII 2x C-AF Tele-converter, a Canon Speedlite 430EXII, a Oppilas wireless trigger and of course a Canon 40D. I am hoping to add a Tokina 11-16mm wide angle lens very soon. I also take my Giottos tripod every where I go.

Feedback

If you are thinking of giving this a go I would recommend it, there are so many ways to do it and with various types of light to use. I use wire wool, LED`s, torches, El-wire and on the odd occasion fire, but I would warn fire is a much harder light source to capture. I always have a fire extinguisher with me when I am doing wire wool or fire, (wire wool can start a fire really fast), I also use a thick garden glove when I do spins. The sparks don't burn or hurt, but if a clump were to escape from the whisk and land on you it will. although this is rare I have learned to take it into account (raised eyebrows). For this shot I used only spins, torch and a dark night, (preferably no moon). I had to also take into consideration ambient light sources, in long exposure shots that light will be amplified. Ready extra spins, I have 8 whisks loaded with wire wool that I can attach to the dog lead quickly, things often don't go as you expected. Be safe and always consider the risk of fire, a pile of dry leaves really might not be a good place to spin wire wool. Above all have fun.

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