In these long summer days and with no long dark nights, lightpainters get pretty annoyed at not being able to get out in the dark. At least that is what happens to me. Yesterday in the late afternoon / early evening I managed to bag some lightpainting and it reminded me how much I was missing my obsession!
I also realised that I was obsessed with flashlights (or torches if you're British!). This is a collection of images where only flashlights were used and all shot in one photographic exposure.
St.Benet's Abbey in Norfolk, England
St.Benet's is a place just slightly too far away to visit being a 320 mile round trip! So I grab every chance to go shoot it in the dark when I'm staying in the area.
For this shot I wandered around in the dark waving my trusty LED Lenser X21r2 with colour gels applied. It's necessary to walk around (or in my case, stumble!) in the dark to avoid light trails appearing on the image sensor. It would be preferable to get someone to assist and place the lens cap on the camera during the exposure but you can end up with odd looking clouds or incomplete star trails. Solo stumbling in the dark works for me....
Stranger Things
Another shot taken with the LED Lenser X21r2 torch. The beam this thing creates is amazing especially when there's a little fog or moisture in the air. It was pointed out to me that this reminded them of the TV series, Stranger Things, something else I haven't gotten around to watching yet!
Industrial Strength Lighting
Abandoned buildings have rapidly become my favourite places to shoot in and this long old factory had this structure within perfect for framing.
Ancient Lightpainter
I am lucky enough to live near an ancient monastery laid to waste by the English King Henry VIII and the locals who stole most of the stone! The bits that are left behind make a great frame for a volunteer holding the really heavy torch aloft for 30 seconds or so.
St.Benet's Orb
I have a curious love hate relationship with spinning orbs with a light source on a cord. I either get them spot on or mess them up and spend ages trying to get it right. On this evening, I nearly failed but just about managed to squeeze this one out which was very nearly perfect, but not quite. It's tricky trying to balance the length of time it takes to create this image with the lighting and the orb whilst not overexposing the sky.
Tresppasing for art
We wandered on to the Duke of Portland's private estate mainly because we could and also because of this great cutting in the landscape, perfect for framing a subject.
My homage to Bladerunner 2049
I'd waited years and years for the new Bladerunner 2049 movie to come out and after watching the trailer, I got the inspiration for this photo. I used an iPad image of a sculpture I'd shot previously and combined both elements all in one photographic exposure. Still one of my personal favourites!
Beam over the Mother Cap
You will probably never me shoot this PoV ever again. The walk up to this Peak District landmark is a killer especially due to me being a larger chap and also be weighed down with too much camera gear! This shot makes look forward to darker nights and the astro potential of the new gear I have!
Light polluted nights
The area in which I live is fairly light polluted in the skies. And being in an abandoned chemical processing works, it made sense to add the light pollution rather than avoid it in such an unhealthy place!
Lightpainting a Croatian Istrian Kazun in the Peak District
This is an unusual thing to find in the English Peak District but it was cool to light up. This was a "back to basics" session armed with just a small torch!
About me:
I usually specialise in shooting lightpainting images but occasionally dabble in urbex and artistic model photography. I'm always on the lookout for someone to collaborate with; please don't hesitate to get in touch if you'd like to create art.
Social Media
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Lightpainting is a photographic technique in which exposures are made by moving a hand-held light source while taking a long exposure photograph, either to illuminate a subject or to shine a point of light directly at the camera, or by moving the camera itself during exposure. Nothing is added or removed in post processing.
If you would like to see more lightpainting please give the Lightpainters United Community a follow and you will be introduced into the illuminating world of light painting!
If you want to see more examples of lightpainting, feel free to check out these guys:
Mafu Fuma | Oddballgraphics | FadetoBlack | DAWN | Mart Barras | Stefan Stepke | Nikolay Trebukhin | Lee Todd | Stabeu Light | Maxime Pateau | Stephen Sampson | lightandlense | Neil Rushby | L.A.C.E.
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