Long exposure of winter night landscape
This is a single long exposure of a lonely tree during the winter night in Austria. I lightened the tree with a flashlight using different gel color filters for...
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This is a single long exposure of a lonely tree during the winter night in Austria. I lightened the tree with a flashlight using different gel color filters for different parts of the tree. Shutter speed was 344 seconds.
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Mar, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
I’ve taken this photo at Ramsau am Dachstein in Austria during my first (and up to now the only) ski vacation. During my companions were resting after a long day of snowy fun, I took my photo gear and went scouting for some nice places to do some light paintings. I walked a couple of hours through the empty mountain woods, covered with snow, taking shots here and there, but somehow got nothing really interesting. As I almost returned to the homestead where we were staying, I found this lonely tree and spent almost an hour shooting it.Time
It was almost midnight. As I came back to the homestead, everyone were already sleeping. I mostly shoot after dark, since it is the best time for long exposures and light painting.Lighting
I used a powerful LED flashlight with the self-made multicolor gel filter to light up the tree like this. I lit up the tree slowly starting from the bottom and proceeding to the top, changing during that the part of the filter which the flashlight was shining through. I also moved myself from right to left, which resulted in different coloring of the snow.Equipment
I used my Nikon D610 full frame camera with Nikkor 24-70mm f/2.8G lens on it, set to 24mm. I also used a tripod and an IR remote to make the long exposure exposure. And an powerful but noname LED flashlight with a self-made multicolor gel filter to light up the tree.Inspiration
I guess a lonely tree staying there in a field is a very popular and inspiring landscape motiv. Especially when the field is covered with snow and you have some beautiful mountains in the background :)Editing
I processed this shot in Lightroom, mainly correcting the white balance and improving the contrast. I also cropped the shot changing the orientation from landscape to portrait. The original shot is thus much bigger on the right side, but I wanted that the tree gets more attention and I like it more when it’s positioned on the right side of the shot.In my camera bag
I normally carry along my Nikon D610 full frame body, a Nikkor standard 24-70 f/2.8 zoom lens, a Sigma 70-300 tele, just for the case, a prime Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 and a cheap russian Zenitar fisheye lens. I always have a tripod and one or even two IR remotes, which are essential for making very long exposures. Of course I also carry along a ton of diverse flashlights, Christmas lights, EL wires and other staff which I need for my light paintings.Feedback
You may need a lot of patience and a solid time investment if you want to produce some decent light paintings. You will also need to be prepared to evolve your painting skills, since a light painter is sometimes more a painter than a photographer. A blind painter actually, since you will see the result only after the shutter closes and the exposure ends. Light painting is simple to start, but hard to get perfect. Don’t give up soon, get the inspiration from a result and try again to improve it until you get your perfect shot.
