Category Archives: light painting

Lincoln Slept Here

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_mountian-springs-flowers2-copyThis is the only remaining structure left from the mountain springs resort built in 1848 and the rest was torn down several years ago ,with this part being restored. It sits on a steep hill and the large expanse of coneflowers made an impressive foreground so I made an attempt to capture the scene.The hill falls away fast,which necessitated me placing my tripod at maximum height and using my laptop to gets things lined up correctly. I started shooting about an hour before sunset and held in there till the sky started to light up with an amazing sunset. I almost wished I had gone with a wider shot because the sky was even more dazzling to the left of my composition but I was too locked in at this point. The shadows on the back wall of the porch are from my big flash,which I used to add detail under the roof line and I experimented with different angles till I got the shadow to fall on the wall between the windows,which shows the woodwork detail. Several presidents including Abraham Lincoln stayed in this building,so its kind of neat to capture it today.

 

Colorful Hydrangea

Posted by reesephoto on

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Hydrangea is one of my favorite summer flowers because of its pastel hues and the way it can enhance any garden setting.Shades range from deep purple to blue to pink and lavender and the plant never fails to be visually stimulating. This scene is in my hometown and was shot at dusk using several pops of flash on  both the foreground home and the next door neighbors home as well. Thankfully both home owners were more than happy to let me fire the flash a few times to get the shot.

No Place Like Home

Posted by reesephoto on

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This local home is one I have always considered to be a true masterpiece. It was built in 1905 by Benjamin Gonder and the architectural detailing is magnificent. I was driving by recently and noticed this patch of flowers along the driveway entrance. The blooms were calling out to me,so I bravely knocked at the door and was met by the owner who graciously allowed me on the property. I said I wanted to snap a few flower pictures and as usual I spent more than an hour at it.

Whenever you meet someone new like this,there is always a bit of uncertainty on their part about who this person is and are they legit. The owner came out after an hour because they wondered how long a snapshot takes? I reassured her that with me,it can be pretty involved to get it all right. She then offered to allow me to go take a peek out back and possibly shoot the rose garden,which was absolutely stunning and that will be a post for another day. For this image,I waited till dusk for the interior light to show,and then lit the plants with flash. As I recall, the owners referred to themselves as the caretakers,which I took to meaning that some homes are so special that they are really something unto themselves and are not owned but cared for, but I might have that all wrong too.

The Light Still Shines

Posted by reesephoto on

 

strasburg-angelThis image was taken this past weekend in the town of Strasburg,Pa, and was shot at St Michael’s Lutheran church, which dates back to the early 1700s. I had been driving around looking for scenery and the evening was a little lackluster so I decided to stop and light paint this scene.The Angelic statue was lit using a small flashlight to bring out the details and the rest of the scene was illuminated by flash.

 

Spring Palette

Posted by reesephoto on

wisteria-gardenSpring is advancing rapidly and this most special time of year will soon fade away. I photographed this lovely garden scene that is located within an easy walk from my home and this was shot with winds in the 5-10 mph range, and for this type of work,that’s a little strong. The owners were not home,so I had to light everything from the sidewalk,and wish I had been able to get in different angles with my flash,but this turned out nicely despite that. The scene  was shot with a 70-200 mounted on a tripod and linked to my laptop. I used radio poppers to fire the wireless flash,and a wireless transmitter to fire the camera. I shot about 50 frames,lighting the plants as needed and then brought the pieces together for the result. The owner takes great pride in the property and has a wide variety of unique plants throughout the season. The Wisteria was my main objective,and its fragrant blooms were a delight to see and smell.

The Rabbit Lodge

Posted by reesephoto on

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This scene is one I decided to shoot this past weekend after we had a light snow pass through the area. This neighborhood has some very nice older homes and some include architectural elements that appeal to me for photos. This scene is right along the road,so I could shoot it from the street. The old dilapidated shed with lanterns that have been dark for years beckoned me to add some light to bring them to life. I placed a flash behind the lanterns to light them and then lit the snow and shed to show the details.The bottom photo shows my starting point and the top my final result. The title refers to the three rabbit tracks heading toward the shed.

Into the Woods

Posted by reesephoto on

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Admittedly this is not anything special,but I wanted to encourage anyone interested in photography to try painting with light. The two photos show the scene as it was on the bottom image and how it looked after firing a flash multiple times on the top image. It’s a little intimidating in the middle of the woods in pitch black,but it was a fun exercise. You can do this several ways,but this shot is actually one frame with about 20 flash pops over a 30 second exposure. I basically hit the shutter and started walking and firing my flash as I quickly made it as far as I could in thirty seconds. You could use multiple exposures and light one tree at a time,then blend the shots if you wanted.Remember that I said thirty-second exposure,so even though the bottom shot appears brighter than night-time,it was much darker in reality.

Flowers behind Glass

Posted by reesephoto on

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This close up window scene was captured at a state historic site,and I utilized flash to add some light to the scene inside.The flash also helped reveal the window texture,adding another detail. Everything was lit from outside by carefully directing the light.

Take a Bite

Posted by reesephoto on

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This digger could take a serious bite out of almost anything it dug its teeth into. I lit this in overcast conditions with a flash and the bucket alone was lit with one series of eight flashes on multiple exposure on my camera. I set the shutter speed to the highest allowable on my camera at a 250th of a second and set the camera to record 8 exposures on one frame. Eight shots were just on the edge of possibilities because each ambient exposure built up on the frame as I shot,so you have to watch for overexposure when you do that many on one frame. My usual technique is to overlay separate frames,but multiple exposure allows flash to build up on the frame with each blast,so you effectively can make your weak flash more powerful.I wish they used this thing to give you a scoop of mulch for landscaping,although my trailer tires would explode when it dumped the bucket.

Gazebo in Fog

Posted by reesephoto on

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This image comes thanks to encouragement from my friends who have been exploring light painting in the fog. The scene you see was taken in the dark on a very foggy evening.This gazebo is in a local park and I decided to give it a whirl with flash. The lights you see are lamp posts in the background,which if you notice, have been hidden behind posts and tree branches to keep them from overpowering the scene and the blue and yellow is from different types of bulbs. there was literally one spot where I could position the camera to hide all of them. I spent nearly two hours in the dark in this park in the fog and it was very magical with the lamps glowing in the stillness of the enveloping fog. I got there at the very edge of dusk,so exposures were running anywhere from thirty to sixty seconds plus. A light drizzle made things a little  wet,but I shot several scenes this night.

Gazebo in Snow

Posted by reesephoto on

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This little snow scene was taken in a local park and I am still amazed by the fact it was taken at almost eleven o’clock at night under a full moon. The images over the last several days were all shot in the same twenty-four hour period. The home in the distance adds a touch of balance to the shot.

Historic Lantern Tours

Posted by reesephoto on

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This image was taken after yesterdays shot as I headed home and noticed the local historical site was conducting lantern tours. It was shot around eight o’clock at night and had I been able to get there at dusk,it would be even nicer. Again,the full moon lit up the sky like I have never seen before and actually allowed me to get color in the sky after dark.The lanterns sit waiting to be picked up by tour participants who go building to building at the Ephrata Cloister learning about the past. A fresh snow earlier in the day made for a very special night for guests.The Cloister is one of Americas earliest religious settlements and was founded in 1732.

Full Moon Illumination

Posted by reesephoto on

 

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This image was taken at the location of the first sleigh image I posted recently and after loading the sleigh on the trailer,I decided to shoot one more image. Strong winds were forecast during the overnight hours,so I knew this shot would be gone by morning. This was shot after dark but thanks to a full moon,the sky was brighter than normal,and with a bit of flash added to the tree,the snow showed up nicely.I still make stupid mistakes when light painting shots like this and in this instance,I used a shutter speed way too slow,because I had it in my head I wanted a good ambient exposure,when in fact what I should have done was gone with a fast shutter speed,so all I was capturing was the flash on the snow.When you go to layer your flashed snow frame and the sky is also bright,it will brush in along with the snow and that is not what you want.

 

Next stop on the Sleigh Tour

Posted by reesephoto on

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Tried another location for the sleigh I borrowed recently, and this time I wanted to show the beauty of the sleigh from the back.This old farmhouse has been lovingly restored by the current owners, and I thought it created another scenic backdrop for the sleigh. A lovely sunset kicked off the photo shoot and then I proceeded to light paint the sleigh,buildings, and even skim some light across the snow to reveal texture. A street light behind me cast some terrible shadows across the snow,so by lighting the snow I overpowered the street light to help pull the shot off.The sleigh was one of the first areas I lit and thank goodness for that, because three separate times I had to pick up packages that got blown off in about 15 mph winds. Would love to have a good horse to pull me as I take a ride in this thing instead of just hauling it on a trailer.

I ran the sleigh photo idea by the owner a year ago and they were excited about it,but the day I shot this,I could not get a hold of them,so they were surprised to see the sleigh in their yard and me hard at work photographing it that evening as they came home from a brief vacation. All in all I am very happy with the result of this little escapade with the old sleigh. Now lets see whats in those packages.

A Christmas Memory

Posted by reesephoto on

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This winter scene came to be thanks to the generosity of the homeowner, the sleigh owner, and my crazy desire to live in the past. The red sleigh was loaned to me by a kind lady who I have done photos for,and the property was made available for my idea by a generous gentleman who entertains my wild photo ideas. The two photos represent my vision for the shot,with the top being the final shot and the bottom was my pre-planning stage to decide where to place it.

This property is an ideal backdrop for the sleigh and the building on the left was actually hand-built by the owner and his son several years ago. I put a light on a stand in that building to shine light out the window across the snow toward the sleigh and lit everything else with flash. From the light illuminating the sleigh to the shadows on the roof from the pine tree,I had to light every element. The old lantern was provided by the property owner as well,and the fancy gift packages and decoration on the sleigh was courtesy of my wife.

The tricky part in doing something like this is knowing exactly where you are going to place the sleigh,and if you look closely at the bottom shot you can see two yellow stakes at the runners leading edge,which were my target spots on the snowy night. I placed a stick in the ground to mark my shooting location and had to walk very slowly as I pulled the package laden sleigh into position.One of the annoying things I had to deal with on this night was the fact that it was still snowing as I started to get the sleigh off the trailer,so I had to keep a tarp over it and try and set packages in place on the sleigh with a tarp on top of it. Thank goodness the snow stopped just in time to let me finalize everything or else I would have had to scrap the shoot. I will definitely remember this night and the fun I had doing this shot.

The Old Church

Posted by reesephoto on

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I photographed this old church in Lititz,Pa on a recent cold winter morning. This church is located beside the linden hall girls school and the church was built by a father in memory of his daughter. I used flash to create light and shadow to accent the details.

London Bridge

Posted by reesephoto on

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Yet another scene from the Dickens gingerbread display. Take note of the smoke effect above the buildings,which is the result of thin metal rods that have spiral paper attached and during a long exposure,the spinning spirals blur ,creating the smokey chimneys. London bridge can be seen in the background.

Snowy Christmas Eve

Posted by reesephoto on

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This scene features a lovely farm-house that I have admired for years,and it has always been landscaped and decorated so nicely during the summer months. My Christmas eve included a family get together, and a brief snowstorm earlier in the evening had everything coated in a heavy layer of snow. As we drove home,my mind raced to think of places that I might capture that night and I could only hope someone would be home and allow me to try. All the lights were on here as I drove by at 10pm,so I stopped and knocked and the owners were more than happy to let me do my thing. This scene was actually more attractive than what I captured,but several things complicated the shot. The greatest problem I had was a dusk to dawn light on a barn that cast the most sickly green color temperature over everything,and despite shooting raw and having the ability to adjust color temperature to the file,the green cast throws everything else off as you correct it.Anyway,I added some flash to gain control over the green but it was a persistent issue nonetheless. Another issue was the fact I was shooting after dark,so contrast was terrible,and If I get another chance,I will shoot at the preferred time at dusk,so I get detail in the sky and things are much more balanced.The family dog also came meandering through the snow after I had four frames shot,and thankfully I had the pristine snow captured already. I was glad I went out this night because most of the snow had melted or blown off by morning.