Showing posts with label photographer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photographer. Show all posts

Ball of light REVISITED!

you might recall my entry from last week "ball of light"

click here to read

well, given that the weather wasn't cooperating (as after few attempts it started raining), I decided to organize another session...

as I was (as usual) researching on the web, I came across with a similar technique "the dome of light"... still related to painting with light YET, instead of swinging around the cable, you need to secure it to a stick/pole and you can use it to pivot it from a fixed point (which will be the "core" of the dome.

what do you know? I accidentally picked a very peculiar date and time: Full Moon for May, 2011: May 17, 11:09...

location this time was a Buddhist temple nearby Nang Thong beach (coming back to the crime scene!)
anyway, easier to show than to describe it... here's the result of my first attempt

01_painting_with_light_dome_of_light
shutter speed at 87" f stop at 9 - (time: 11:02pm)

Surely you can notice (as I did right away) that despite having a well defined dome edge, some meridians are quite wiggly... so I decided to use this kind of imperfection with a "smokey/swirly" filling effect:

02_painting_with_light_dome_of_light
shutter at 84" f stop at 9 - (time: 11:09pm, blue filter added in post editing), cool but a bit messy dome...

as I've said, weather was slightly better but the mosquitos were hungry! Staying still trying to draw the dome was a challenge with those buggers swarming around me...
change of strategy: back to the ball of light which will keep me moving, swinging the light will prevent mosquito to get closer and I might get neater light shapes.

03_painting_with_light_ball_of_light
shutter speed at 71" f stop at 7.1 (taken at 11:26pm) - pretty cool uh? full moon with the cloudy hazy sky gave the huge flare effect

the ball of light is (personally) much more rewarding! change of composition, change location of the ball and this is what I came up with:

04_painting_with_light_ball_of_light
shutter speed at 84" f stop at 7.1 - full moon super flare!

last change of composition: ball of light by the shrine opposite the temple:

05_painting_with_light_ball_of_light
shutter speed at 66" f stop at 6.3 - time 11:37pm...

my "light tool" started failing for the excessive spinning and the light was coming on and off at each swing... that was the signal that for that night I was done!

I will improve and modify my tool for future "painting with light" projects, for SURE!!!

Until then... take care and keep exploring the endless possibility of photography!
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Ball of light!

few weeks ago, as I was browsing the web for inspiration, I came across a specific project related to "light painting" or "painting with light": the BALL of LIGHT!

Painting with light is a technique in photography that I've already explored briefly last year but I wasn't able to find the right "thing" to do...

the Ball of Light is a fairly simple idea that gives great results so I decided to give it a try...

the tool needed is a commonly found in Europe/USA battery-operated christmas-light string of led-bulbs.

Unfortunately in Thailand all x-mas lights come with a wire and a plug and cannot be converted as they require different voltage...

after searching everywhere in Khao Lak and Phuket, I've finally found a VALID alternative: color led to "pimp your car"!!! They even come in a clear plastic box with a button and batteries (TRY ME! written all over the package)... I thought I was in heaven! a dozen in a clear plastic tube, 9 on a small squared circuit board, on a circle for the head lamps, white, blue... I just needed to grab 2 squared ones and go home to McGuiver-ize them!

Snip-Snip, cut the cable from the button, switch it with an on/off switch, extended the cable from the switch to the circuit board and there you go! 24 blue led (12 each side) with nearly 2m of cable, now I can swing the light!

Next step was to find an appropriate dark location and the beach in Nang Thong is near, dark and has a lighthouse few meters off the beach (nice!)

Tripod? check!
Camera? check!
Wide angle lens? check!
Remote control for long exposure? check!
Swinging light? check!
Sexy assistant? check!

Let's go!

The night was fine, slightly breezy, luckily without rain... YET!
Equipment set, swinger (me) ready, assistant operating remote shutter ready...

this is the first result:

ball of light - painting with light photography 01

not bad as first attempt! wisely enough I remembered to mark a cross on the sand where the light would have had to swing... with a shutter of 65" and aperture  f6.3 you can still see my silhouette inside the right side of the ball...

second picture:

ball of light - painting with light photography 02
much better! I like the light in the background, longer exposure (135" or 2 minutes 15 sec) same f stop (6.3)

Here comes another one:

ball of light - painting with light photography 03
in this one I choose to swing the light a bit further away from the camera and much closer to shore...
shutter at 140" or 2'20" and f8

Last chance I had at it before the storm was a much closer to the camera shot:

ball of light - painting with light photography 04
mmmmm... not the best composition... I had to improvise in pitch black light.... 62" f8

Anyway, overall I'm pleased with this mini improvised project! however, given the rain, I couldn't mess around with all my ideas; accordingly, I played with them in photoshop...


Can't wait to find another location for more balls of light!!!
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Passion for FASHION

On September 12th 2010, ANDARA resort & spa held a fashion show to raise money for the children's foundation "Phuket has been good to us"

My partner Kaye was one of the models, I was the officially-unofficial photographer...



...



scroll down to view and/or download a pdf file I made with some other shots and a quick summary of the event...


Passion for FASHION

soon more fashion shows and more charity!

With love,

Adriano
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