Light Painting Model Portrait Session

Last night I had an awesome session with two fantastic models, Elise and Keene-Ann.  This is a studio technique I had been practicing for all week.  This is very different from any Light Painting I had done before.  It required more attention to detail and it was a little more difficult to get the exposures dialed in.  I had some great models who understood the concept and could sit very still for the long exposure.  I also had assistance from the Charlotte Portrait Meetup Group as well.  DayJaVue, http://www.modelmayhem.com/700592, did an awesome job on the makeup!


It was very interesting getting to shoot models of different color.  I found out it was more difficult to get fair skinned Elise's exposures dialed in than it was to get Keene-Ann's.  


All these images were created in a single exposure with some editing in photoshop.

 52 second exposure

  14 second exposure

 58 second exposure

 67 second exposure

 34 second exposure

  76 second exposure

  74 second exposure

 65 second exposure

  67 second exposure

  61 second exposure

  76 second exposure

  68 second exposure

 86 second exposure

I had a blast and hope to be able to shoot these ladies again in the near future.  If you know of anyone who would be interested in having this type of portrait created, please contact me at my Light Painting website, www.lightpaint.me.  Thanks for stopping by.

It snowed!

It snowed it Charlotte, NC!  If you don't know, this is a rare treat for us in this part of North Carolina.  It barely ever snows here.  It started last night and snowed throughout the day.  The temperatures were in the 30s all day.  I was hoping that it would not melt and stay until nightfall so I do some light painting.  It did!


I have a pretty cool natural area close to my home that has a small creek running through it.  I was hoping to get some cool reflections off of the water, but I couldn't find a point to shoot from that would provide a reflection.  I bought some sparklers this week and wanted to try to spin them.  I was very disappointed.  They kept going out.  This was the only image I was able to get.

But the wool spins turned out great and I was able to get a little reflection in this first image!  For those of you who are not familiar with what a wool spin is, it is spinning a single piece of XXXX steel wool that has be ignited by a 9 volt battery on a wire, chain, dog leash or whatever you want to use.  It is the best cheap firework money can buy!

This shot I used a pink gel to color the snow.

Just before the holidays I got a 500 lumen flashlight and am loving it.  I can paint a 10 story building with it.  My son helped with this one.  He light painted the snow with a blue gel on the flashlight.  The light is pretty intense and with the blue gel and it almost makes the snow look like a blue liquid.

Exploring New Opportunities

This week I ventured into a new photographic style: Baby and Toddler Photography.  This was something very new for me.  I had photographed children before, but never any so young.  We had a 3 month baby and a toddler for this session.  I never knew young babies were so posable.  This little guy was great.  Our Baby Handler, Lori Jill did a great job of facilitating the shots.  She posed him sitting, lying on his stomach and back.  She was very attentive to the baby's murmurs and fidgets.  I realized that this would be a very difficult shoot without help.  You really need someone who knows infants and how to work with them to get great shots.

I also photographed Nicholas, who is the son of David, one of our Meetup members.  I photographed him in natural light.  Toddlers move about quite a bit and I soon learned that getting an f2 or f4 aperature was going to be a challenge.  After a little warm-up, he settled down and was a great little model.

South Meck Men's Soccer 2010

South Meck Men's Soccer finished up their 2010 season at their sports banquet last night.  It was a great event.  Players were recognized for their accomplishments on the field and in the classroom.  The senior players were awarded a collage showcasing their talents.

It was a great season for the Varsity team.  They made it to the State quarterfinals!  Here are some highlights.

The JV also had a very strong season. 

It was a pleasure to photograph their games. 

Scouting in Spartanburg, SC

Last week, between appointments I decided to see what I could find for potential light painting locations in downtown Spartanburg.  There are a lot of nice old storefronts and some pretty cool spots to shoot.  


It was a cold and rainy day so chances of actually doing any shooting was pretty slim. But, the rain did let up for a bit and I was able to pull off a few shots. This structure is located one block off of Main St. and would be an awesome model or light painting spot.  What you see is all you get.  

The structure is gutted.  There is nothing on the other side those big windowed walls, but the outside and dock area could offer some options for creative imagery.  

I will be back the next time I am in town for some light painting action!

Rockingham Ruins

This week while driving though Rockingham, NC I saw the old mill ruins and decided to stop.  I have been driving past these for many years and always wanted to stop, but never seemed have the time or motivation to stop and check it out.  On this day, I had some time to explore a bit before my next appointment.  Kudzu has overtaken the site and in the summer you can barely see the structures.   With the onset of cold winter weather, the kudzu was dormant and the ruins were quite visible and easily accessible.

This is a really neat place.  I would love to light paint here, but I think it is a bit too difficult to get into at night.  The mill burned in the early 70s and it must have been an awesome structure in its day.  The windows, the textures, the scale, there are some great photos yet to be made here.  I have to come back before the weather warms to explore this place in more detail.

While shooting, I noticed what sounded like a waterfall.  I couldn't see a thing until I was getting ready to leave.  I noticed through one of the window openings you could see rushing water.  I appears that between these structures is a waterfall of about 30 ft in height.  If you look closely through the center window you can see a bit of the falls.  I was only traveling with my 50 mm lens so I couldn't get any closer than this.

I searched for the source of the falls and found a small stream feeding directly into the structure. Pretty cool! 

I'll be back....  Anyone up for a road trip?