Long Exposure

My photography group went to the Tetons area in Idaho and we were able to take and create some great photos out of ordinary things! We did many long-exposure shots using a 8″ – 30″ shutter speed, which helps to capture the light when there isn’t much light to be found.

 

Indoor Light Painting

Light painting works if you have a long exposure and you use a flashlight to light objects in the dark. The Longer you hold the light on a specific spot, the brighter it gets. Painting the light onto the object can help you highlight the object to make it stand out.

F-stop: f/8

ISO: 200

Exposure time: 8″

This photo was actually taken on a burlap sack. I wanted to make the image my own so I used a gradient mesh and altered a photo of the sand. I also used a blue filter and an image of the ocean floor with the reflections from the waves overhead to make the scene feel like it was underwater. The lighting gives the impression like it is really underwater.

 

 

F-stop: f/8

ISO: 200

Exposure time: 8″

I meshed two images together to form an HDR and this helped the cameras have more depth than if it were a single picture. I darkened some of the background to help bring the focus to the cameras and the suitcase.

F-stop: f/8

ISO: 200

Exposure time: 8″

I meshed three images together to form an HDR to give it a little more depth. I also darkened the background and changed the color of the bear, and added a sepia filter in post.

 

Outdoor Light Painting

F-stop: f/8

ISO: 1600

Exposure time: 30″

For this shot, someone shined a light from the left side of the house. We had someone stand in front of the house for a short amount of time then leave the shot to produce a ghost effect. I photoshopped her out since she was right in the shot.

When this photo developed after 30 seconds, it reminded me of the house being on fire with the light reflecting on the glass. So in post, I added a fire image and blended it with the background. I erased some of the fire to have the ghost man show through. I also added some yellow tones to the fire, tweaked the sky to have more purple tones, and added a blue tone in the left portion of the sky.

F-stop: f/5.6

ISO: 100

Exposure time: 30″

This was made with a white fiberglass flashlight. Someone feathered it around my face for almost 30 seconds to create this kind of silhouette.

 

F-stop: f/5.6

ISO: 100

Exposure time: 15″

This was taken in an old barn. Someone held see-through colored plastic in front of a flashlight in different locations around the subject for a short period of time. He first held the magenta plastic up high in the air, then switched to a green tone lower to the ground. He held them in different locations closer to the ground for less than a second and then turned off his flashlight. This is what the effect looks like from using this technique.