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Night Photography

Night Photography with a "flashlight"

Several examples below!

A great way to express your artistic side with night photography in the desert. Photographers have been doing this for a long time, in different ways. We'll show you some examples and an explanation of how we used "light painting". You can use this method of photography to highlight objects in the desert at night. Vehicles, buildings, plants and flowers just to name a few instances where this might come in handy. Also - photography inside caves and mines where it is really dark!

This should help you get started with "Light Painting". However this is only one way that you could use this effect for photographing something at night or in the dark. Remember, the subject has to remain motionless. In some instances you'll need a calm, windless night. The LED flashlight shown in the video is very small - only 4 1/4 " inches long.

In the Desert

Light Painting

First, we'll show you how we've used "light painting" for our purposes and what it takes to do this type of photography. The photo at the top of the page is just one example, a star photo where you might want to show viewers where you took the photo.

More examples below.

Short Tutorial Video

Other Uses of Light Painting

Vintage automobiles: Photographed by professional photographer, Denny Thurston. Many of his photos are used commercially for calendars and other uses. His method for obtaining these really unique photos is much more time consuming and complex than what we've done here - and it shows in his outstanding work. Photo Gallery - Web Site

We were inspired by these two other photographers to go out and try "light painting" ourselves. Hopefully this will inspire you to give it a try yourself. It's not hard, but does require a little inexpensive equipment and some time. Several tries are often needed to get the desired effect. This is a good way to learn to use another option offered by new Digital Cameras.

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Photography

Underground Photography:
Mike Schriber, (Underground Explorers): "For light painting you do need to use a tripod. An external shutter release is often used but for shorter exposures you can use manual mode (good to 30 seconds on most D-SLRs) and the self timer to prevent camera shake. The light depends on the distance but most of the time I use a very floody LED in an effort to prevent hot spots". Mike does a lot of this type of "Light Painting" and his underground photos are always amazing. Here's an example.

Notice how Denny has used a really neat old barn as a backdrop, and has lit up the barn and brick entrance to enhance the effect.

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Photography