It's light outside!!!!

It was time to try and combine the El wire with torch light and a human element......

Using my daughter and a friend from Camera club I tried different locations and different scenarios to get a varied amount of images.

Below is a contact sheet for all the images taken. I then selected the best images as final images.

The first image I have selected as a final image is DSC_008, Entitled "Alien Landing"

This is an image of my daughter stood in a forest, with the camera set up on a tripod in front of her.

Setting the shutter speed to bulb, I then asked her to stand as still as possible, with arms outstretched, whilst I ran around her with Blue El Wire.

The effect I was looking for was that of something (an alien), surrounded by a glow.

I was hoping that the light caught by the sensor from the El Wire would then define the shape of the person.

I wanted the person featureless, so that it would portray an air of mystique.....

I also like the way the light was captured through the trees, adding to the story of the image and supporting the "on location" feel to the image.

Camera settings for this image were.......

Shutter speed ~ 226 seconds... F stop of f/11, ISO of 100 and a focal length of 26mm

I chose f11, as this is a figure a lot of professionals believe to be the "sweet spot" of most lenses.

We then  moved to a different location, a place not far from my house, locally known as "The Beech Tree", not much of an original name, as it's a Beech Tree..... but as kids growing up, and even now, if you say you went for a walk up to the Beech Tree, there probably isn't many residents of Blaenavon who don't know where that is......

Anyway, back to the image.....

The second image I chose from this "outing" is entitled " The Pods Return" Photo number DSC_0023

 

 

This image was taken as a single exposure of 466 seconds (almost eight minutes).

I placed the wheels into position first, then moved each one out of the way whilst capturing the other, using a black piece of card to hide the senor each time I moved into frame.

Once the "pods" were captured, I then moved onto lighting the tree with a torch, as well as the surrounding ground.

I tried to capture a small part of the road as well to add to the atmosphere of the photo.

I quite like this image, one criticism I would have is that the sky has too much light pollution, light's of a town over the mountain have encroached on the image due to the long exposure time.

Manipulating the image by dropping a different sky in could be a solution, but that's cheating!!!!!

Spec's for this shoot are, Shutter speed 466 seconds, ISO of 100, F/8 and 18mm focal length.

It was time to move to a different location next and try a combination of torch light, El wire and a human element.

I only had one shot at this because it was getting very late and very cold.

Taken in the local quarry, it is of a camera club member on the quarry floor illuminated by torch light and El wire.

The concept for this image (DSC_0032), is that of a person becoming invisible after being affected by a strange blue electric current......

Once the image was taken, it was loaded into Photoshop to remove the hands and head using the "content aware function".

This shot had to be done right first time, and I was pleased with the result, there is good detail in the surrounding area to again, ensure the viewer is under no illusion that it was an outside image.

It's a fun image....

Settings for this one are, shutter speed of 82 seconds, f/8, ISO of 100 and 18mm focal length.

All these photos are my attempts at re-creating the effects of the individuals I have reviewed and not to copy their images.

I Think I have succeeded........