I like this! When I first saw the title, I was trying to imagine light painting over a body of water and wondered how it would turn out - what a great idea!
Nice Tim! Just out of curiosity what did you use for the light source? Had to be something stronger than an ordinary flashlight. How long was the exposure?
You've had some really nice light painting shots here, Tim. This is another dandy!
Since you seem to do quite a bit of this kind of work, I've got to ask you if you've ever had any game wardens visit you at night? When I bought one of those big boy spotlights last year at Sportsmen's Warehouse, I had this weird feeling at the checkout counter...I just knew they were thinking...hummm, wonder what he's gonna do with this . If I had told them what I was really going to do with it, they would have thought I was lying for sure!
BTW, Marc Muench teachs light painting in one of his workshops next month (hint, hint...).
I never worry too much, nor pay attention to the law enforcement types if I am not doing anything wrong (spotlighting trees and rocks is legal!). An officer is welcome to come find out what I am doing and watch, but unless they have probable cause I am doing something illegal they had better not give me any grief (doesn't mean they won't, and so far I've never had any issues, even though I spent two nights literally lighting up the entire length of Roark Bluff and not a single soul ever stopped to see what I was up to).
I did have a deputy stop me once at 3 in the morning "just because" I was out on the highway driving. I told him I was on my way to shoot flowers at sunrise down south and he did think that was kind of strange and was not real happy (I was not happy that this jerk tailgated me through some pretty bad roads for a while before he pulled me over for no reason, but what can you do - he had a gun and we are helpless in that situation). Funny thing about that stop - he noticed I had a conceal carry permit in my wallet, and demanded to see my firearm. I told him I did not have it with me, and that really pissed him off! I told him that the permit allowed me to carry a concealed gun but did not REQUIRE me to have one! Anyway, some of these guys are real jerks but most of them are great and would probably be really interested in what the photo thing was all about.
One more note about this that has nothing to do with photography - when I took my FBI/State Police test to get that conceal carry permit, one of the questions was "Jeremiah _____________." Man, it took me a while to figure that one out - I could not remember any special case law we had studied, or any special regulations, so I just said what the heck and put down "was a bullfrog." That was the correct answer.
Hey Bill, I was kind of surprised last year when David Muench told me about how he has always used flash to illuminate some elements in his work - looking back through them it is actually quite obvious. And he used flashlights for some stuff too. My first try was to light up Pedestal Rock back in the 1980's - used my Pentax 6 x 7 on a moonless night and lit up the rock with a big flash (was printed in the original Arkansas Portfolio book). I was amazed at how many different colors of stars there really were up there. It was a four-hour exposure and pointed directly at the north star. (it is all grown up around the rock now so this view is impossible without a major clearcut) I had to return three nights in a row before I got a good one that the lab did not scratch. (How did we ever survive without photoshop!?) I will be adding a lightpainting component to the 2009 weekend workshops, but of course, that will mean less sleep!
Discussion
7 repliesTim!
This location is upstream below Limestone - dang rough road getting there for sure...
Each of these three boulders are about the same size - the one on the left is about 1/4 mile away, a long way beyond that small tree.
Since you seem to do quite a bit of this kind of work, I've got to ask you if you've ever had any game wardens visit you at night? When I bought one of those big boy spotlights last year at Sportsmen's Warehouse, I had this weird feeling at the checkout counter...I just knew they were thinking...hummm, wonder what he's gonna do with this
BTW, Marc Muench teachs light painting in one of his workshops next month (hint, hint...).
I did have a deputy stop me once at 3 in the morning "just because" I was out on the highway driving. I told him I was on my way to shoot flowers at sunrise down south and he did think that was kind of strange and was not real happy (I was not happy that this jerk tailgated me through some pretty bad roads for a while before he pulled me over for no reason, but what can you do - he had a gun and we are helpless in that situation). Funny thing about that stop - he noticed I had a conceal carry permit in my wallet, and demanded to see my firearm. I told him I did not have it with me, and that really pissed him off! I told him that the permit allowed me to carry a concealed gun but did not REQUIRE me to have one! Anyway, some of these guys are real jerks but most of them are great and would probably be really interested in what the photo thing was all about.
One more note about this that has nothing to do with photography - when I took my FBI/State Police test to get that conceal carry permit, one of the questions was "Jeremiah _____________." Man, it took me a while to figure that one out - I could not remember any special case law we had studied, or any special regulations, so I just said what the heck and put down "was a bullfrog." That was the correct answer.