Had a play tonight...

[TonyHetherington]

White balance is my enemy and is something I really need to conquer

However, appreciate any comments/criticisms. Was thinking of the "light" theme when taking these for this month's competition!













On one hand I'm really chuffed with how these came out, on the other I think the white balance controls TOO MUCH of the photograph, which frustrates me! (grrrrr.....see, that's frustration!hehe)

Thanks all
Tony

[therossatron]

Really nice pics! I think perhaps if you'd left the sidelights on in the Elise it would add something to those particular pics.(?)

[TonyHetherington]

You're right actually it would have been a nice touch. To be honest I didn't go out intending to take pictures of the car; it was purely for the light competition, and both shots of my car I took because I just happened to park it there. Must think more about the shot next time...!

Thanks for the comments

[Shadytree]

imho a slightly longer exposure is needed Tony

good stuff though

[EmmaP]

Some great ideas there Tony. You need to get painting with light. Stop lens down, put camera on tripod and set self timer then run around car like a loon dressed all in black, flashing manually, with all LEDs covered with electrician's tape. I think that this was about a 15 or 20 second exposure.

That's how I got this shot:

Edited by EmmaP on Thursday 16th November 10:28

[TonyHetherington]

Did you process that shot or is that a product of the running-around-like-a-loon?!

How about if, for example in the street light picture of my car (Either one) I got just a normal torch and ran it over the car during exposure?!

[speedeight]

EmmaP said:

Some great ideas there Tony. You need to get painting with light. Stop lens down, put camera on tripod and set self timer then run around car like a loon dressed all in black, flashing manually, with all LEDs covered with electrician's tape. I think that this was about a 15 or 20 second exposure.

That's how I got this shot:

Edited by EmmaP on Thursday 16th November 10:28

I really like that Emma. Can I ask a few questions about how you did it?

When you say cover the LEDs, is this on the other camera you're using as a flash? So you don't get light trails all over the shot?

Also, where were you flashing at (steady )? The car looks quite dark, were you just flashing the overpass and surrounding area?

[djm101]

Nice pics - is that Chatham dockyards? My girlfriends mum keeps her boat down there

[TonyHetherington]

It is indeed - Chatham dockyards and then the stone walls are Rochester Castle

[EmmaP]

TonyHetherington said:

Did you process that shot or is that a product of the running-around-like-a-loon?!

How about if, for example in the street light picture of my car (Either one) I got just a normal torch and ran it over the car during exposure?!

I did have a play in Photoshop. Don't do anything with filters as a rule so was having a bit of fun.

A torch would not output enough light. I used a Metz 45 CT-5 and it is pretty powerful. I must have flashed the front twice and the offside about three or four times. I did some shots to where I was flashing the underside to illuminate ground underneath the car but prefered a more pronounced shadow. The light on the flyover and underpass is all available light from street lights. The front quarter is a bit dark but then it is a fairly dark sherry colour. It would certainly benefit from having the bottom half of the front quarter lightened as it is looking a bit like a big dark blob. I have increased the contrast somewhat so that has intensified shadows further. It's far from perfect and was a bit of a laugh more than anything as I never get to do anything wacky in Photoshop with my work.

I covered up the LEDs to prevent streaks of red appearing across the frame as I moved around the car. I may actually have used a 30 sec exposure.

Edited by EmmaP on Thursday 16th November 13:59

[Podie]

Tony... wait till you start taking pictures with snow about...

[Rednut05]

EXIF Data shows 15 seconds exposure.

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS-1DS
Image Date: 2005:08:05 22:40:04
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 32.0mm
CCD Width: 5.12mm
Exposure Time: 15.000 s
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO equiv: 100
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual

[kojak]

nice shots.

[EmmaP]

Rednut05 said:

EXIF Data shows 15 seconds exposure.

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS-1DS
Image Date: 2005:08:05 22:40:04
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 32.0mm
CCD Width: 5.12mm
Exposure Time: 15.000 s
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO equiv: 100
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual

Blimey! I feel like my privacy has been invaded I didn't have the flash attached via synch lead. It was operated manually, hence 'no flash'.

[franv8]

There was a guy in AP a couple of months ago, he had an article on painting with light - he used a number of different torches to paint light on, typically, seaside rock formations (pretty large) with stunning effects. If you had one of those cheap floodlight type rechargeable (have a 55W bulb in them) then that'd probably be powerful enough, BUT they are pretty rubbish in terms of battery life, about 10 mins.

Must have a go myself...

[Oakey]

franv8 said:

There was a guy in AP a couple of months ago, he had an article on painting with light - he used a number of different torches to paint light on, typically, seaside rock formations (pretty large) with stunning effects. If you had one of those cheap floodlight type rechargeable (have a 55W bulb in them) then that'd probably be powerful enough, BUT they are pretty rubbish in terms of battery life, about 10 mins.

Must have a go myself...

this sort of thing:

www.lostamerica.com/images/ghost.html