Painting on the Lake

Here we are again... on the road in Salt Lake City, UT for a team meeting. A few of us got in a day early and decided to head out and play south of Salt Lake City and light some night sky... and some other things... turns out, that lable that says "do not hold mortar in hands" is a good suggestion. It typically results in a trip to the ER. This time our co-worker was somewhat lucky (if you can call it that) he can still count to 5 on his right hand.

Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM

Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM




Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM



Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM



Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM



Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM




Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM



Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM


 
Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM



Here's "The Shot" that will probably be the most expensive shot Jeff has ever done lightpainting...




Canon EOS 5D Mark III EF24-70mm f/4L IS USM

One Last Spin in Valley of Fire

This is probably the last trip (this year) for me to Valley of Fire...but you never know :) so we took advantage of our NAB travel to Las Vegas and went out to the desert again. This time most of our team that could make it in early went out with us. We had a great time but I can tell you this, when you get 13 people who all are Canon educators, the knowledge level is pretty high and you better be on your game...otherwise, well take a jab at each other at any opportunity, needless to say, we laughed pretty hard the whole trip. I work with a GREAT team!

There is just something about the sunsets there that are inspirational.

Of course, we had to break out the "illuminating tools"...

The "river of light" was not added in PS, modified a little, but...

Here is the original, which do you like better?

Early Mornings and Late Nights

Whew! I am in need of a recharge! The last few weeks have been hectic- I am writing this post as I am doing laundry in a hotel in St Simmons Island, GA. Over the last few weeks, I spent the night camping in the desert, worked another show in Las Vegas, traced the outer edge of the state of Florida from Tampa to Miami, and now prepping for a workshop with Parish Kohanim in Jekyll Island, GA.

My boss and good friend Jeff Jensen and I decided to get some REAL camera time in the Valley of Fire (yes, we have become a little obsessive with that place) by going out to WPPI a day early. The goal was to scout for new locations so we could do a team building shoot, and to get some new light paintings done.

There are few places in the world where every single direction you look is as breathtaking as Valley of Fire. If you get to spend time there, make sure you see a sunrise or sunset, we got BOTH.

 5D Mark III f22 (HDR in Nik)

While the colors did not really "pop" like we wanted them to, the cloud cover was somehow "blown away" and by nightfall with no moon at all, we had stars... LOTS of stars.
5D Mark III f5.6 10min ISO 400

The "Cabins" were a great location to play with some new lighting tricks, "domes" and EL Wire we brought with us...its a good thing Jeff drove his Suburban, we had LOTS of gear.

 5D Mark III 14mm f5.6 6min ISO 400 and 6 or so pops of 3 600EX-RT's placed behind and on top of the cabins. the blue "smoke" is the EL Wire.

 

 We did one last shot that night on the way to the campsite, setting up a camera with an intervelometer to capture star trails. This is a 34 image stack from a  5D III 14mm f2.8 30sec. Thats either a plane or aliens streaking through.

Well, I did do ONE more that night... my little tent light painted. 

Like I said, sunrise or sunset, either one (or both) are spectacular!

 5D Mark III f22 1/25th sec ISO 250

Team Time

We did manage to convince some of the rest of the team to come out for some more on another night. I think we could have just left the cameras in the car and had just as much fun... but we did get some great shots.

5D Mark III 14mm f4.0 3.5min ISO 400

While Jeff spun an orb, I was waving the EL Wire to make a "river of light". Our coworkers were not sure what to think of this odd behavior until they saw the images on their screens... 

And then....

5D Mark III 14mm f6.3 4min ISO 400

This was the first time they had seen the steel wool set ablaze... 

5D Mark III 14mm f4 6min ISO 400

And for one final shot, we broke out the wheels again... NOBODY was going to come down that road.

Satellite Beach Orbs

Well, as usual I was on the road again this week. Recently I picked up a Manfrotto Befree travel tripod. This has been a great little addition to my backpack (ThinkTank Street Walker Hard Drive). While it's not a gorgeous Gitzo Carbon Traveler, at only $200 with the ball head, I'm finding this going with me everywhere. 

I called my friend Ashley Kuvlesky (http://www.a-kphoto.com) in Melbourne FL and she wanted to see how we do our light painting orbs. I brought a couple LED lights with me and she had scouted a location at Satellite Beach for us. Upon arrival, we noticed the tide was coming in QUICK so we had to work fast- hmmm long exposures, tricky lighting, getting dizzy spinning in circles and the tide ready to wash our gear to Cuba...this could be fun. 

Our first set up was ok, there was a ramp that brought you down to the beach and looked like a decent background. After a few test shots, we determined a 1.5 minute exposure would be good. I grabbed the LEDs and did a few orbs varying the time. In the end, a 60 second orb (about 2x around) this was the result. 

Man, I need to work on my "orb technique"

We REALLY wanted to get some water in the next shot, but time was getting short so we only had time for one or two more. So we turned around and reset. We tried to get more water in the shot, but the tide did not want to cooperate. One big surge did come up and Ashley had to grab both cameras to keep them from a watery demise... That girl can move quick (esp when her 5D III is in danger)!

Again, need to work that technique... On a hill is not easy. 

We then wanted to use the ramp we came down on and this is where it got fun! 

We kept the same 90 second exposure and shot down the ramp. It was a little narrow, but I really liked this view shooting down. 

I had one more shot I wanted us to try, a "warp". We adjusted exposure to 30 seconds, I stood in front of the camera and proceeded to walk away from the camera while slowly spinning the LED. I think this is my favorite of the lot. 

The "gaps" are from where the light passed in front of my legs and head. 

In case you're not familiar with this effect, a few things you need:

DSLR, intervelometer (Canon TC-80N3), tripod, a fairly bright LED light (these are blue camp LEDs from Dicks Sporting Goods with the "cone" removed), string, and BandAids (from the rope burn you may get from the string)

Orbs in NYC (1)

We started our quest in the morning taking a walk on the New York High Line. It's an old elevated train track that was converted into a walking trail and park. We found SEVERAL places ideal for done light painting. We went back at night but alas, we got there right after the gates were closed... So, we will go back later this month when we return for PhotoExpo

Plan B- Madison Square Park. 

Orbs are done by spinning a light or steel wool connected to a string. Since the local law enforcement probably would not like us slinging sparks all over French tourists, we used a handy LED set of lights. 

You need a good tripod, a cable release and some good timing along with trial and error to get the exposure. Some crowd control is wise too. 

This one ended up my favorite. Looking forward to our next trip up.