My Friend of Light

[BigFuzzy]

I've posted about off-camera lighting on many of my comments recently. And I always talk about how it's pretty easy. I think this photo is an example of how easy it can be to create some interesting photos. This example (and explanation) will cover using flash, a snoot, long exposure, and drawing with lights all in one.

Set-up: I'm in a room that has been blackened, ie the lights are off. My camera is on a tripod with a cable shutter release. My flash (canon 430ex) is set on a shelf in front of the subject (me) with a rolled up manila folder acting as a snoot (ie tube) pointed at my hand/face. The flash is being triggered by my Canon infra-red transmitter.

How it was shot: I set the camera to f/9 with a 15 second exposure with the flash set off to fire at the beginning of the 15 second exposure. I start by holding my hand in front of my face as you see it. With my left hand, I use the cable shutter release to fire flash and start the 15sec exposure. What this does is flash me and my empty hand. After the flash, with about 14.9 seconds left in the exposure, while still in a black room, I picked up two small LED flashlights (one slightly bigger than the other) both in my right hand and I "drew" the light figure where I thought my hand was when the flash went off. I retraced the figure as long as I could with the remaining time.

I had to do this at least 20 times before I got the "light figure" drawn in the right place (ie sitting in my hand) and actually looking like a stick figure! The whole thing took about 30min to take (even with all the mistakes!)

Post processing: I slightly cross-processed to add an otherworldly feel. And sharpened on the face. That's it. I wasn't good at PP at the time, I'd, in fact, like to revisit this shot and see what other PP I can do of interest.

Despite the long explanation, this is quite easy to do. All you need is a camera, tripod, a flash and a way to fire that flash off camera, and two small LED lights..

Click HERE to see a larger version if you want.

[chapstick]

This is super creative, thanks for sharing it with us. I love your little friend

[jherman]

Very interesting and makes me want to work with flashlights to get these fun effects in the dark.

[LeeR]

Very clever...and at last we see you sans mask. I was in another forum a while back where there was a woman who did what she called "light painting." She would set up a scene (usually a flow in a vase) in a darkened room and use a flashlight to 'paint' the light where she wanted it. Exposures usually lasted several minutes but the results were stunning.

[Kate71]

What a cool pic! And so clever.
Very nice to see you and your little friend
That's really good work.

[Anner]

Amazing! Great shot! I really like it, it's very creative!
I want to try it now, thanks for sharing

[Torria]

Fuzzy, what an awesome friend you've got there!!!!
Love the idea! Great shot!