Light Painting!

Friday night I decided to get my camera out to try a unique night photography technique called Light Painting.  I drove from St Thomas out to Port Bruce to get a shot of the Light House and shore line. Anyone that has ever been there knows that there is not much around for street lights or lights in general.  The sky was cloud covered with sign of stars or any kind of ambient light. So I arrived with my truck and parked next to the canal to unpack my gear.  The wind was up and the waves were crashing along the shore.  There was also no sign of life near by.  I gathered my gear with my flash light and tripod in one hand and my camera bag in the other. Then headed down to the shore line.  It literally was impossible to see if it wasn't for my flash light. Crouched down in the sand I set up my tripod, camera and remote trigger.  I started with a few test shots to see how my SB700 and flash light were going to pan out with my camera settings.  At the same time wondering how my composition was since I couldn't see anything through the viewfinder. (Meanwhile about every couple minutes I was finding myself wondering if there was going to be someone sneaking up on me and panning with my flash light to make sure I was still by myself.  I would have had no idea as the waves and darkness took away all my senses available.  lol )

After a few test shots I started to see some light appear in the camera.  I started to experiment.  Running up and down the pier so I could send light up against the lighthouse. Also shooting light along the shoreline to catch some of the waves crashing. It took a few attempts and I have to admit that it made me nervous to leave the camera sitting on the beach while I took off up the pier.  Anyway I decided that the results I had were good enough for the night. (especially since I was by myself) I gathered everything everything up and headed out.  Below is the image I ended up with.  I plan to go back some night with a clear sky and see if I can create this photo with star trails.

On my way back to town I decided to go check out another location.  I arrived there but found that there was a gate preventing access at that time of night so I had to carry on.  I got to thinking that there was a cool bridge down a back road from where I was.  I decided to go there and see what I could make of it.  I arrived and went across the bridge to the other side as I didn't see any ideal composition popping out at me.  So when I got to the other side I decided to turn around and check it out from the other angle. As I was turning around, my headlights illuminated a tree across a farm field that had an extremely interesting shape to it.  I had to give it a try.  I gathered all my gear but this time kept the truck close by with the lights on so it would make it easier to see.  I took about 5 shots before deciding that I had something I liked.  Here are the results from this location as well.

I'm pretty happy with the results of this image, but I think I could tweak it a little more as well. Maybe see about getting star trails as well.

Anyway I hope you found this interesting.  I'm not exactly a scholar when it come to writing so please bare with me.  :)  I will try and blog more about some of the shoots I do in the future.

Cheers.

Corey Gardiner