My time is limited lately so I grab every chance I get to go out in the dark and shoot pretty much anything or anyone that catches my eye. For the last two nights, I was hoping for clear skies which didn't materialise so as usual with British weather I had to improvise and make the best of the conditions I can get.
Friday night wasn't quite clear enough for star trails I was hoping to grab despite the promising forecast. And Saturday evening was clouded over with a full moon peeking through the clouds.
This is a post of what I managed to grab over the two nights:
Set the Phaser to Stun
I realised tonight the flashlight I used to make this image is the oldest one I own. The trusted LED Lenser P7QC quad colour torch I've owned for 10 years or more and it's still going strong.
For this image I first shot the silhouette with the P7QC turned off. The model then turns on the P7QC while I simultaneously pan the camera over to the left. For the starburst effects, I paused the movement briefly and used a smaller aperture to get a better point of light.
All shot in one photographic exposure as usual.
Selfie in Sherwood
I've been on lifestyle change and / or diet lately and there's much less of me than there used to be. I've historically avoided appearing in my own lightpainting images due to looking like a gorilla in the dark. So going forward I made a promise to myself to appear in my images more often and I apologise in advance if this is a scary prospect!
I still haven't been abducted by aliens yet
Another silhouette shot but with my new Sony 14mm G Master lens. I'll be obsessed with this lens for some time to come and I make no apologies for shooting with this for a while!!
Bellmount Tower
I'll admit to being a bit obsessed with Bellmount Tower and it's surroundings. Trees and architecture with dark skies is right up my street.
This is a simple silhouette shot with a smoke pellet for effects. This was quite difficult to achieve here due to the howling gale blowing all the smoke in every direction but the one we wanted!
Beware the werewolf
I've shot this tower from a similar point of view on a previous night only to realise I missed a trick. On this evening I rectified that missed opportunity and added a creepy looking silhouette in the shadow of the tower. Not as successful as I'd like but it's sufficiently creepy enough to change the mood of the image.
Not as scary...
Sometimes the practice shots turn out quite well. I was just working out what exposure time I would need for the moon to correctly expose the tower only to realise my LP buddy on this evening, Neil, was faffing around with his torch and inadvertently lit up the overhanging trees. Notice he's left his camera gear by the doorway....
A flare for lens flare
Setting up another shot, I noticed in the corner of my eye that the flashlight I was using was hitting my Sony 14mm G Master lens. I spent way too much time experimenting with different positions for the torch to get this effect.
I resolved to use this flare in a future lightpainting shot.
A work in progress
Using the lens flare on the 14mm lens, I combined a forest silhouette with a wave of a flashlight at the lens. It's not as successful as I'd like and it needs a bit more work to perfect it. Work in progress.
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex, landscape and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; the social side of photography is always good!
Social Media
https://www.facebook.com/fastchrisuk
https://www.flickr.com/photos/fastchris/
The images came out really nice! The first one is my favorite ☺️
That looks like some fun nights. My LED Lenser P7QC has long gone broken, which i never expected. One time LED-Lenser replaced a couple of torches when I sent in the broken ones. But how often do you want to do that? I always hoped they make the P7QC focusable. Then I found a really cheap one that looks the same and has a focus mechanism. Anyhow .. great stuff .. rock your Sunday!
Cheers @gunnarheilmann my favourite torch has been the Coast TX10 quad colour although it was never bright enough for my use. The blue LED on the TX10 has a certain quality where it appears blue through a green circuit board. Still not sure why this happens but it looks great! My TX10 is battered and bruised but the P7QC still looks like new!