I'm sure there are many outdoor photographers who lament the changing of the hour and the fact that it's dark before you get home from work.True, you miss the sunset, you don't even get the long afterglow purples and blues, it's just black and thats your lot.
So hang up your camera bag, shoot macro or get the stuidio lights out till the spring?
You can do, or you can spend £10 and get some coloured Gels from EBAY, a flash and a torch and go outside and paint the darkness whatever colour you like!
It's best to go out in pairs, or more, for many reasons:-
The photos in this blog are from an abandoned petrol station we found in Yorkshire. It's truly derelict and full of broken glass, but also full of intersting shapes and objects to cast colour on.
A shot in normal daylight would just be a boring shot of a ruin, but when painted in progocative colours like red and blue, you get a different world appearing.
The top shot is looking though a carwash to Dave on the far side. I painted the majority of the scene with my Speedlite 550EX and a blue/red gel, then took out my Maglite and focussed it to a spot, and coloured Dave green.
This shot is a documentary of a shot Dave took - in the dark, you can move around freely infront of the camera, you'll make no impression on the exposure so long as you don't have a torch on or glowing eyes! It's best to go out in pairs, or more, for many reasons:-
- safety - people do mug you for cameras
- holding torches - when you're chaing lenses etc in the dark
- extra lighting - 2 people colouring the world can be useful
- emergencies - you are scrabbling around in the dark, you may fall or hurt yourself
The photos in this blog are from an abandoned petrol station we found in Yorkshire. It's truly derelict and full of broken glass, but also full of intersting shapes and objects to cast colour on.A shot in normal daylight would just be a boring shot of a ruin, but when painted in progocative colours like red and blue, you get a different world appearing.
The top shot is looking though a carwash to Dave on the far side. I painted the majority of the scene with my Speedlite 550EX and a blue/red gel, then took out my Maglite and focussed it to a spot, and coloured Dave green.
Here I was stood in 3 positions, he then used his flash to colour me in each spot.The technicalities....
Well we're talking long exposures, so you need a camera with bulb setting and a cable release to keep it open.
You need a tripod
Shoot with your lens reasonably wide open, if you're on cheap lenses, best keep them sweet at around F8 or 7.1, otherwise they loose sharpness. If you're on a decent lens, then you can open up of course.
Focussing... well some focus in infinity, but I tend to shine a torch on the thing I want in focus, use the AF to focus for me, then switch to manual focus so it doesn't change.
Once you're happy, then just put the camera in bulb and walk around with your gel over the flash, and flash away.
The main thing to bear in mind is that this is inexact - I usually do 5 or 6 minutes, then curiosity gets me
Have fun
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