Playing with Light

 

Taking impressive photographs using slow shutter speeds to capture movement and trails of light is something that I would really like to do well. The next photograph has really inspired me to give it a try and to keep trying until I get it right!

‘Powerful Music Waves 3’ by mmatasic (Marko Matasic) Click the photo to visit Mark’s flickr page

I have never come close to capturing a shot as impressive as this however my love of photography and music will keep me trying.

Below are a few of the shots I have taken when experimenting with light and long exposure times.

My first shot if of an amplifier. In a pitch black room I set the shutter speed to 20 seconds and aimed a small torch just at the parts of the subject I wanted to capture. I like the effect this has produced however it’s a long way off what I would truely like to achieve.

Next, I had a go at creating some light trails to portray sound waves… All I can say is, I failed. It’s an interesting effect but it’s nothing in comparison with Marko’s shot.

I decided to leave that technique for a while and give it some extra thought. I’ll post some more of my attempts in a later post.

Having left that idea for a while I tried a few different shots.

With my camera sat on a tripod in the dark I set my shutter speed to 3.2sec and wrote my signature in the air. This came out extremely well in my opinion.

After the signature success I got my friend Ed to draw some wings behind me and light me up slightly so that I was visible too. This came out very well but it is far from impressive, I’ll be experimenting further with this at a later date.

Next I wanted to experiment with different colours. I got my Red, Yellow and Blue lens filters out and held them one at a time over my torch whilst drawing a very basic scene. With 30 seconds of exposure time to play with, I drew an extremely scribbled beach scene. Looks like a child’s drawing but I think the technique has potential if only I could draw. In case it isn’t clear, the sand is the yellow bit, the sea is blue and the sun is that red mess in the corner.

Everyone loves sparklers on Bonfire Night. We had some left over so decided to get them out, flail them around and see what happened through the lens. Visually the sparklers are very attractive but three people just waving them in front of a camera doesn’t create an impressive enough scene. 

I feel that the next shot is by far my most impressive on this page. In the darkness the only light is produced by the lighting of the sparkler. Taken at 1/60sec it isn’t exactly a long exposure shot but I like everything about it.

Having set my tripod on a bridge over looking the Carrington Spur in Sale, I was able to capture this shot of the head and tail lights of cars passing underneath. Shots like these really inspire me to keep on trying. My shot isn’t the best however I feel I did quite well for my first try. Definitely revisiting this in the future.