PAINTING WITH LIGHT and Long Exposures at Night

I've been doing long exposures at night for over 40-years. I started using Kodachrome 64 and then Ektachrome 160 pushed to 1000 ASA. The image below is an example using Kodachrome 64 with a 30 second exposure at night.

Cement Henge at Night - Canon F1 @ 30 seconds on Kodachrome 64

Painted tree during Persied Meteor Shower with Canon 5D MK II, Canon 15mm fisheye lens @ f2.8 for 20 seconds at 3200 ISO. 

What made this image was getting the lights of the small airplane passing through the frame.  This was not a lucky accident as there is a large busy airport only a mile away.  I was set-up, with my tripod, waiting for a plane to pass through this field of view.  The purple sky is a natural result of using the daylight balanced Kodachrome after sunset--again, no accident, this was the result I wanted.  This is what we did to create radically different views of the world before digital and Photoshop.

So, let's jump forward to the present century…current technology has made these unusual views of the world commonplace, so as an artist, I'm always looking to try new things on different subjects.

This next image was created during a week long camping trip to McCall, Idaho at the Ponderosa State Park.  My goal was to capture a starry night scene with some meteors in the sky and a light painted object, of some kind, in the foreground.  I know that's a pretty ambitious undertaking for my first ever outdoor light painted--star field image…but what the heck I knew I would learn something !!!  On my second day there I discovered this great, leaning, dead tree at the edge of the lake.  It was perfect since it's position there gave me a big patch of sky behind it.

 

McCall Milky Way with Canon 5D MK II, Canon 15mm fisheye lens @ f2.8 for 30 seconds at 3200 ISO. 

Thinking I needed a more powerful flash light for light painting I purchased a 6-LED high quality flashlight for this trip.  When doing exposure tests for this image I found that a 30 second exposure with my new flashlight was over exposing even when I dropped the exposure to 20 seconds.  So, I borrowed my friends cheap headlamp, with only 3-LEDs, and nailed it!  (The maximum of the Perseid activity in 2014 is expected during the night of the 12th August 2014.)

This next image was done the following year at the Ponderosa State Park, but in a much darker area where I could avoid any light pollution.  The timing was right, as well, and since there was no moon, I wanted to do a Milky Way image the something light painted in the foreground.

Even with the 15mm fisheye's 180 º field if view I still had the camera pointed nearly straight up to get the Milky Way and just the tops of the trees in the foreground.  On this trip I had two assistants, that I quickly trained, to light paint from each side of the frame with the Red LED flashlights.  As usual, the light painting was the hard part--getting the Milky Way was easy! It's very difficult, even dangerous, walking around in these pitch black locations especially when there's no moon!  So, walk carefully.

At this location the spot I picked was on a slope and covered with loose rocks and small boulders.  Even with their flashlights my friends had a difficult time making it back to camera position to view the results.  However, we succeeded in getting this image after only 5 attempts.  The only thing I've done, so far, to the RAW file is dial down the color temperature to 3400º K, to bring some blue into the Milky Way, that I think enhances the image.



Next week I will be posting some tips on the technical issues of creating starry night skies without star trails.  As usual, if you have questions don't hesitate to ask.

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, Master Photographer CPP
Training site:  http;//www.LightAtTheEdge.com

BEFORE THERE WAS PHOTOSHOP

(A competition print 29 years in the making)

The image below was a competition print I entered into the PPA International Annual Competition in May of 2000.  It was a National Merit Print and was one of the merit prints that helped put me over the top in earning my PPA Masters Degree. 

Title: Warped Speed - Subject: Kenny Roberts

It was a 29 year journey, waiting for future technologies, to complete my vision of what you see here.  It's the result of a blending of old analog and early digital technologies, that I manipulated, to create a new image that I could not do with traditional wet photo-technology.
I took the original photo in 1971, at the San Jose Mile, of the soon to be famous, and hence legendary, racer Kenny "The King" Roberts. Kenny Roberts went on in 1978 to become the First American to win the 500cc International (FIM) Grand Prix road racing title. And then he did it again the following two years!

The original image was done on Kodak Plus-X black and white film (ASA 125), so I could slow down my shutter speed to do pans as the racers flew down the straight on the fastest part of the track.  In the resulting image the bike and rider are nice and sharp with a really streaked background with the bike's wheels nearly empty of spokes.  But I wanted something more than just a competent action image, I wanted an artistic interpretation of Speed.

The original negative taken 43 years ago on Kodak Plus-X film (125 ASA) - Shutter speed: 1/30 sec. at f16.0

The final print as printed on Kodak Poly contrast paper.

Starting the journey in 1971, I hand printed some 8x10" and 11x14" B&W prints on fiber based paper.  Using Edwals toner I dipped my prints in Red toner using Edwals' suggested mixture ratios.  But no matter how strong I made the toner all the prints just came out a pale pink.  Not at all what I was looking for…That's where I stopped--I had no other way, at the time, to improve on what I had done.  So, I boxed-up the prints and moved on with other projects.

Fast forward to 1986 and there's still no Photoshop to come to my rescue!  Photoshop 1.0 won't be released until 1990, Damn!  However, I had a brain storm! I dug in the boxes to dig out my old prints--all I could find was one, pink-toned 8x10 print, dry mounted  onto an 11x14" mat board. I took that print to a local copy center that had the latest color copiers to see if I could enhance the color of my print.  It was so much fun! I discovered that playing with the color knobs I could really alter the color--pumping up the pink to red.  I played with contrast and exposure.  It was like a primitive Adobe Camera Raw!  And I could enlarge as well, making 11x17" prints just like that.

I finally got my color, and for the final modification I did that made my image "Warped Speed" was the discovery that this copier would stretch an image. So, I stretched the image in the long dimension warping the bike's wheels into more of an egg shape, stretching the whole bike.  Now the image was complete!  But, all I had were a bunch of 11x17" copies on flimsy paper.  Now what?  I again stored my stack of photocopies with my mounted original 8x10' print and onto other projects.

Fast forward again to January 2000.  Our professional photography business is going strong since opening in 1989, I had recently gotten my PPA Certification and I'm on the track to earn my PPA Masters Degree.  I needed a fourth print to include in my print case for the PPA International Competition….So, again I dig out the "Warped Speed" print and photo-copies.  Since we didn't yet have the capability to get these images into our computer, I sent the best photocopy to our lab to scan at their highest resolution and make us a CD.  It's finally digital!

To finish off the print for competition I asked Kathi to position the image with more space in front of the bike, slim it down and create a digital fillet.  She placed the image on a black background and enlarged to span the full 20" of the printing space (full bleed from side to side), removed some of the top and bottom of the image to create a slim-jim effect and then added a color fillet (cloned from the print itself) to create a clean edge on the top and bottom of the image area.  Looked Great!  The final file went off to the lab to make the 16x20 comp print on silver photo paper with a lacquer spray finish.  Done, and it only took 29 years…it is now on the wall in my office where I can admire it everyday.

Author:  Jerry W Venz, Master Photographer - Certified
Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

USING A GOBO, FLAG, OR LIGHT BLOCK, ON INDIVIDUAL PORTRAITS

THE PREMISE--WHY USE SUBTRACTIVE NATURAL LIGHT FOR PORTRAITS?

The problem doing portraits by natural light, two hours or even one hour before sunset, is NOT that there is not enough light--it's that there is TOO MUCH!  There's light bouncing all over the place and from multiple directions. So, how do I see many, self-proclaimed, natural light photographers solve this problem?  They bring in MORE light--using flash and it's usually on-camera flash!

What they most often create with this technique is a VERY unnatural look and FLAT LIGHTING--where all the shadows are gone--which means they loose the three dimensional effect that we as artists seek to make our subjects look real.

THE SOLUTION--SIMPLE, NATURAL LOOKING, AND WAY LESS EXPENSIVE THAN FLASH:

SUBTRACT the extra light, creating a nice shadow side on your subject's face, using an OPAQUE BLACK LIGHT BLOCK, which I call a GOBO or FLAG--terms I learned many years ago when Kathi and I were doing independent short films.

NOTE: If you want to learn lighting I suggest you study the work of great CINEMATOGRAPHERS like:

Freddie Young  (Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter).
John Alcott  (Barry Lyndon).
Jordan Cronenweth  (Blade Runner, Altered States).
Frank Tidy  (The Duellists)
Andrew Lesnie  (Lord of the Rings--The Fellowship of the Ring)

These are just a few of the MASTERS of lighting ( and their films) that I suggest MY students study instead of the mostly clueless drivel being taught by most still photographers these days.

O.K., getting off my soapbox and back to the practical use of the GOBO….

If your outdoor location has no usable trees or structures, where you have placed your subject, the light you'll most often encounter will be flat and directionless--there's TOO MUCH LIGHT.  I see some photographers, in this situation, try using a REFLECTOR.  That does not solve the basic problem--it's adding more light from another direction, creating another catch-light in your subject's squinty eyes!

Enter the GOBO  (from: to go between) which is the more generic of the terms since ANYTHING can be a GOBO---trees, scrubs, buildings, and the like.  While the FLAG or BLACK FLAT usually refers to something hand-held or on a stand. Whatever you call it the principle of the thing is what is important.  We are BLOCKING LIGHT with an opaque device.

With that said, some photographers have been asking to SEE how I use a GOBO in a portrait session.  I'll begin with the image below of the young man in a less than ideal spot out in the open. There's strong light on both sides of his face even though the sun is setting BEHIND him. It's just FLAT LIGHTING.

 Image with NO GOBO used

In the next image you can see how to correct the lighting.  Kathi, my wife and partner, is holding  a 42" black FLAG close to the subject creating a dimensional shadow on the young man's face.

Image showing use of the GOBO

As the final portrait shows, just that simple modification, of the direction, of the natural light, creates a nice THREE DIMENSIONALITY on this young man's face.

Image of subject with GOBO used

In this next example, we have our high school senior model, Jasmine, in a popular alley (called "Freak Alley") in downtown Boise. The sun is setting on camera left--and was striking her face which is something I usually avoid. The sun was also reflecting off a tall, mirrored, building on camera right. So, I had Kathi block the direct sunlight, on the left, with a 42" black flag, creating a nice shadow side on Jasmine's face.

f5.0 @ 1/125 sec. at 400 ISO

Removing the much brighter sunlight coming from camera left (over 2-stops brighter than the reflected light on the right) also meant that I could open up the lens and slow down the shutter enough to record the dim light in the doorway behind her.

Using true natural light, modified with the subtractive technique, will produce superior portraits that will ALWAYS look more natural than ANY flash technique. In addition, with the money you save NOT buying speed lights , soft-boxes, stands, weights, and radio triggers, you can invest in a REALLY nice portrait lens. How's that for a WIN-WIN!

LIST OF SUPPLIERS FOR GOBOS:

Larson still has the 42" square rig that I use ( plus other sizes ) and THEY call them GOBOS.

f.j. Westcott has their Scrim Jims that you can get in a Flat Black Block or their Illuminators in blocking black.

Chimera has nice Panel Frames (like the old Lightforms in design except these are made of Aluminum-alloy) in many sizes.

Or, you can make your own GOBOS using foam-core painted black.  Use your imagination!

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer - Certified
Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

THE COLOSSEUM: DAY AND NIGHT

Kathi and I only had two days in Rome on our way down to Naples and the Isle of Capri. So, I was determined to make the most of our time there by staying at a hotel within walking distance of the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. These were the two areas besides Pompeii and Capri that I really wanted to photograph.

On our day walk to the Colosseum I was awed, disappointed, and appalled, when we got there.

This was the view walking to the Colosseum from our hotel.  I was awed at it's size and the magnificent architecture and was disappointed in the ugly gray patina of the Colosseum in daylight--it didn't look any better when we got there, and appalled at the numbers of tourists already there in the morning.  There were six large tour buses there and more arriving as we approached.

It got worse as the buses unloaded and while the tour guides rounded-up their tourists, into platoon sized groups, some of the tourists actually lined-up to have their photos taken with the guys dressed-up in their cheesy Roman soldier costumes posed with the Colosseum in the background! It was more than I could take so we moved on.

This is when you should pass on the major outdoor tourist sites and go to a museum, a church, or just go have lunch. I vowed to come back at night.

Walking the six blocks at 11:30 that night was a little scary, having all my expensive photo gear and tripod, mostly because we were alone--we saw no tourists or locals and very little traffic. All concern melted away every time I looked down the street.  The Colosseum was aglow, internally lit by hundreds of incandescent lamps, looking like a huge four layer wedding cake spanning the end of the street.  The closer we got the larger it grew--it seemed twice as large at night than in daylight!

Having seen THOUSANDS of images of the Colosseum on the internet I felt it was my obligation to do something different with this beast.  So, I did what I often tell my students, "NARROW YOUR VISION ON LARGE SCENES."

  f13.0 for 1.5 seconds @ 800 ISO

  f13.0 for 1.0 seconds @ 800 ISO

I got out my medium zoom lens ( Nikkor, 24-85mm, f2.80-4.0, Macro ) and started carving-up the old "wedding cake" into nice pieces. I like showing the interesting details of great architecture.

f11.0 for 1.0 seconds @ 800 ISO                                                          f11.0 for 1.5 seconds @ 800 ISO

EVERYBODY photographs this side of the broken structure--so I did a VERTICAL SLICE of it!

Closer to midnight a light rain had begun, we got out the umbrella, and I changed to my Nikkor 20mm f2.8 lens. With Kathi's help holding the umbrella to protect my lens--as I was titled-up--in a vertical composition, still only getting a slice of the Colosseum, this was my favorite image.

 f22.0 for 4-seconds @ 800 ISO

I was really happy it rained since that gave me the wet streets and the reflections of the street lights and cars' tail lights. I did the 4-second time exposures to get the cars' tail lights to streak as they went around the Colosseum. And, finally, I did the "Dutch tilt" to break-up the, very static, vertical and horizontal lines of the Colosseum.

The lesson I learned long ago when photographing major tourist sites is to avoid doing what everybody else is doing AND when they're doing it!  Those two things alone will dramatically improve your photography overall.

Author;  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photog., Certified - Training site: http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

USING MY NEW CANON 70D AT HISTORIC SILVER CITY, IDAHO!

I recently purchased a Canon 70D as a backup camera to my 5D MKII AND for it's advanced auto-focus capabilities--particularly in the video mode. So, when our close friends invited us to go along with them in their four-wheel drive, crew-cab, truck for a day trip to Silver City, we jumped at the chance. Silver City is a well known, almost ghost town, nestled in the Owyhee mountains at 6200 feet, in the middle of nowhere--like most old mining towns. It's a 25-mile drive on a dirt road from the tiny town of Murphy--not a good road for a big RV, fifth-wheel rig or trailer!

One of the tests I planned for the 70D was how well it performed in low light at high ISO's.  So, when we arrived in town I headed for the much talked about, 130-year-old, Idaho Hotel to photograph it's 19th century interior.  When I walked in my eyes had to adjust to authentic 19th century dark rooms lit only by window light--the restaurant was being heated by wood stove--it was GREAT!

The front desk @ 1600 ISO  f4.0 1/20 sec.

The front desk actually had the MOST light of any area--the restaurant was darker--and I still had to use 1/20th sec with my lens wide open!   Good thing my lens ( the Canon 24-105mm L) has stabilization--I didn't bring a tripod.

3200 ISO  f4.5 @ 1/30 SEC.                                                        1600 ISO  F4.5 @ 1/30 SEC.

This great old wood stove--being a dark subject in a dark environment--was a good test for ANY camera!  So, I did it first at 3200 ISO and again at 1600 ISO to compare noise levels.  I don't use 3200 ISO much even with my 5D MKII and it has a full frame sensor unlike the 70D with it's smaller APS-C size sensor--so I was really pushing my new camera to it's limits.

 3200 ISO  f4.5 @ 1/30 sec.

This is inside the old telegraph office--in 1874 it was the first telegraph in the Idaho Territory--which was lit by a small dirty window about ten feet behind me. I had to not only hand hold--now NEEDING 3200 ISO--but I also had to shoot through the barred--off entrance gate.

 400 ISO  f5.6 @ 1/800 sec.                                                                 400 ISO  f11.0 @ 1/1250 sec.

Finally OUTSIDE with lots of light!   Doing some detail images and a basic scenic of their old church on the hill.

400 ISO  f8.0 @ 1/640 sec.

I had read about the old school building that's under restoration but I was surprised how BIG it is!  MY challenge was to find a different view on this much photographed historic building.  So, later in the day after some nice clouds rolled in I spotted this view through two big trees that had grown together creating a nice arch--framing the school house.

 400 ISO  f11.0 @ 1/500 sec. 

This outhouse, with it's dark wood, was a nice contrast to the old white school house, so naturally, I made it B&W!

 400 ISO  f11.0 @ 1/100 sec.

After climbing up the rock hill to the church--only to find it locked--I wandered around behind the church and found this old rusted car. The Photographer's Mother Lode!  This is just one of MANY photos I did of this car.

Overall I am VERY happy with the performance of the Canon 70D.  The low light images are surprising good and I NEVER had any problems with the auto-focus even in the really dark areas inside the hotel. The outside images speak for themselves.

Author: Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer, Certified - http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com

ELEMENTS OF BUILDING GREAT OUTDOOR PORTRAITS THE SERIES - #2

FINDING THE LIGHT - PART 1
GOOD LIGHT versus BAD LIGHT---WHAT IS BAD LIGHT?

DIRECT SUNLIGHT--midday--is EVIL!  It may be great for growing flowers, but not for portraits, I NEVER allow it to strike my subject's skin. It's just too hard a light source--it's harshness just gives your subjects squinty eyes and unrelaxed faces. The midday sun will also sabotage your portraits of people in the shade.  If won't provide a good hair light because with the difference in exposure on their shaded faces and the direct sun you'll just get blown-out highlights on their hair. And for the same reason if you catch ANY direct sun on the background it will just go white.

FULLY OVERCAST SKY--contrary to popular belief--IS THE WORST POSSIBLE LIGHTING FOR PORTRAITS OF PEOPLE.  It might as well be raining--when I think I'm only going to get overcast sky--I reschedule the session. Here's why:

1. Most of your light will be TOP LIGHT creating the dreaded RACCOON EYES--dark eye sockets--on your subjects. ( some of you may be saying, "Why not just pop some flash to fill those dark eyes?"  hmmm, bring a point light source, into a flat light environment, that will further darken the background and create the most unnatural LOOKING lighting possible--it's too late, if you've already gone over to the dark side!)

2. Overcast sky light is very flat and dull.  You will loose the three-dimensionality of the portrait because there will be little difference in the light on the foreground, the subjects, and the background.

3. Color intensity in the background is GONE.  IT'S DEAD!  If you've read my previous articles you know how I feel about this!

4. There's an ISO issue: With CLEAR SKY--one or two hours before sunset--when my subjects are in the shade my working ISO starts at 400 to get f6.3--for good depth-of-field on groups--giving me a shutter speed of 1/100th sec. (that's putting my camera on a tripod). Then as the light fades I go to 800 ISO and slow the shutter speed to maintain the same f-stop.  In an OVERCAST SKY scenario I'm forced to START at 800 ISO to use the same f-stop/shutter speed combination---then I have to go to 1600 ISO as the light fades---WILL YOUR CAMERA PRODUCE A GREAT 24X30" OR 30X40" PRINT AT 1600 ISO?

SO WHAT IS GOOD LIGHT?

The good light for natural light portraits is CLEAR BLUE SKY--the biggest patch of blue sky you can find--without the SUN in it.  My ONLY exception to this rule is the setting sun at the "magic hour". That's usually at the beach starting the half-hour before sunset--down to actual sunset as the sun melts into the ocean. Hard to beat this light for drama and warmth!

THE FOLLOWING TWO PORTRAITS, DONE IN THE SAME LOCATION, SHOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE LIGHT QUALITY OF OVERCAST SKY AND CLEAR SKY.

In this OVERCAST SKY portrait you can see that the light is VERY top heavy creating dark eye sockets in my subjects and that the background is rather dark (there's no back-light).  The only reason I have ANY separation between my subjects and the background is because I picked this location for it's fall colors.

In this family's portrait I have my usual CLEAR BLUE SKY coming from the left, creating a beautiful light on all their faces, light in their eyes, and nice back-light in the background.  This is how true, subtractive, natural light portraiture can look with careful placement of the subject within the location at the right time of day.

Until next time....

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, Master Photographer, Certified

HOT AIR BALLOONS OVER BOISE--A RIOT OF COLOR!

Having photographed aviation and sports of every kind for over 30-years, hot air balloons have somehow eluded the scrutiny of my lens…until I moved to Idaho.  Arriving at Ann Morrison park before dawn, so I could cover their preparations for the 7:15 AM launch, I discovered that my photo-vest over my short sleeved polo shirt was completely inadequate in the chilly morning air--silly Californian!

Seeing the deflated balloons laid-out on the grass, like dead jellyfish, with the lines limply trailing back to the humorously quaint baskets, that people actually stand in and allow themselves to go aloft to ridiculous heights, was a sobering sight before sunrise!

Next they place large fans near the balloon's bottom while the crew lifts the top edge, like a skirt, to let the air from the fan start the filling process.

When partially filled, and photographed from the inside when there is backlight, the balloons can be quite striking. It's even better when you get the silhouettes of the ground crew on the other side.

Meanwhile there is furious activity all around as other balloons are at the next stage with their propane burners roaring, as they blast fire into their balloon's cavity to heat the captured air.  It was surprising how quickly the balloons went from horizontal to vertical once the burners were started!

There were thousands of possible photo compositions I could take every minute during the, willy-nilly, melee of dozens of balloons in different stages of preparation, sometimes overlapping each other, in a jumble on the ground.  Then as they launched the jumble started to sort itself out and they became these graceful, floating, bubbles of color, like Christmas tree ornaments, rising into place at different levels as if the sky was their Christmas tree!

As usual, should you have questions don't hesitate to shout out.

Author:  Jerry W. Venz, PPA Master Photographer Certified - Training site:  http://www.LightAtTheEdge.com