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FollowThis 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 ...
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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.
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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.