Light Painting - Blog Posts
Experimenting with "Lightpainting" product shots. Shot on a wooden stool in a basement using some flashlights (both LED and regular).
Bgnd (for the beer) an iPad.
red led used on the V8 can (composited 3 shots)
LED light only on the persimmon, and a smooth plastic wall sheet from ikea on the stoool
a bit of post on all.
Bottom photo is the "studio" where they were shot (a basement ;-) and the ‘high-tech' ;-) lighting tools (led flashlight, krypton bulb flashlight, iPad).
Just playing at this point. Still getting the hang of it all.
Table Top Hoodoos by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Well that's what I call them for lack of a better term. These are in the Bisti Badlands, and are mini hoodoos, only about 2-3 feet, or 65-100 cm high. There is at least one area with numerous small table top hoodoos. Here you can see more of them receding into the background. I'm always afraid I'll stumble in the dark and knock a top off. lol Fortunately that has not happened! The area was the floor of a vast inland sea millions of years ago, and many layers of sediment were formed, eventually compacted into sandstone, some layers harder and some layers softer. The unusual shape is caused by greater erosion of the softer lower layer, and slower erosion of the harder upper layer. Shooting in this direction the sky is wonderfully dark with minimal light pollution. More to the W &NW there is more light pollution. Shot at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Hoodoos in the Badlands of New Mexico by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Bisti Badlands, New Mexico Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Beyond Perception by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama from Joshua Tree National Park taken last spring. There is some light pollution on the horizon that adds some color. I did a series of photos from Joshua Tree that kind of got pushed aside by more recent photos. This panorama is a combination of 11 vertical images taken with a Canon 1Dx camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, at 14 mm, f 2.8, 25 sec, and ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Monarch Cave Ruins by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Anasazi Part 8: Monarch Cave Ruins in Comb Ridge, Utah
Visions of an Alien Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Bisti Badlands, New Mexico Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Eric and the Arch by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Sorry for the title Eric, I couldn't help myself. Once it popped into my head it wouldn't go away. It just has a classic sound to it, like a midieval knight going out to slay the arch (or dragon). I think you definitely slayed this arch. My apologies for posting a similar photo previously, but I ended up liking this one better. By the way, this is Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, Utah. The person slaying the arch with his headlight is Eric Gail, fellow photographer and friend. He volunteered to be the model for this. Hey Eric, I need a model release! You can see his excellent gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios Light pollution from the town of Moab lights up smoke on the horizon from the wildfires in California. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Set the Table for One... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: A quiet night in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico. There are many of these "Table Top" Hoodoos scattered around the area. These develop when the base , a softer rock, erodes faster than the top, making for a wide variety of shapes. These table tops are one of my favorites. When the flat tops are really long or wide, they have been given the name of "winged hoodoos", and some are quite long and wing-like. Here I was playing around with the lights. Canon 6D camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec., and ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Racing the Clouds by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is an image of Cyclops Arch in the Alabama Hills of California (eastern part of Ca. adjacent to the Sierra Nevada Mtns.). I arrived and got a couple of unlighted shots, and this one decent lighted shot before clouds rolled in and obscured the beautiful sky. There is a thick layer of clouds just above the frame, but I was able to salvage this one shot. I ended coming back the next night. One good thing is that cloudy skies = a good nights sleep! This is a single exposure. Canon 6D camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens, f 2.8, 30 sec., ISO 6400. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
A Perfect Night by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: A Perfect Night for Photography in the Valley of Dreams East, In the New Mexico Badlands. There was a lot of airglow in one area of the sky, adding a lot of color. You can see how bizarre the landscape is, a very alien and otherworldly place. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Balanced Rock by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Balanced Rock in Arches National Park, Utah. There is a light panel creating some illumination on the foreground, and Balanced Rock itself is also partially lit by reflected light from a hand held halogen spotlight. This was shot with a Nikon 810A camera and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 30 sec, 14 mm, and ISO 6400. This night I was shooting with Eric Gail, an excellent photographer and now friend I met here on Flickr. Check out his wonderful gallery here: www.flickr.com/photos/dot21studios/ Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Lost in a Dream... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Hoodoo in the Valley of Dreams East, in the Badlands region of NW New Mexico.
Winged Hoodoo in the Bisti Badlands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Winged Hoodoo in the Bisti Badlands, New Mexico. There is a marvelous variety of hoodoos in the badlands. Over millennia sedimentary rocks of different hardness were laid down, and the softer lower layers erode faster than the harder upper layers, resulting in unusual shapes. I accidentally left a light on in the back canyon, and did not realize it until the photo came up on the display, but I think it added to the appearance. This is a single exposure. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Dreaming... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Valley of Dreams, in the Badlands of NW New Mexico. The hoodoos are mostly mudstone hoodoos, with a softer clay like base and a harder rocky cap. This was taken with a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 15 mm, f 2.8, 25 sec., and ISO 12,800. This is a single exposure. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Wandering in the Badlands by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama of one of the flatter areas in the Bisti Badlands in NW New Mexico. A few photos back I downloaded a view of a small wash or ravine surrounded by steep stony hills or ridges. www.flickr.com/photos/pinks2000/22455038082/in/dateposted... This badlands are a mixture of both broad flat areas (with many moderate to small hoodoos), mixed with long areas of water cut ravines and ridges. Both have their own unique beauty. It's certainly easier to walk around in the flat areas, and the flatter areas have most of the named hoodoos, but to get to these areas you usually have to negotiate the hills and ravines. It's a fun but lonely and desolate place at night. The first night I went there a German couple was trailer camping in the parking area and I parked near them. I was going out a little before sunset, and he said, "You're going out there? Now?" The chances that you will be alone out there at night are just about 100%. After all, who is crazy enough to go out there at night? This is a series of single vertical exposures combined in Lightroom. BTW, this was taken on May 18, not April. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Big thanks to the wonderful Flickr family out there. Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Visions in the Valley of Dreams by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Landscape in the Valley of Dreams, in the Badlands of NW New Mexico.
Night on Fire by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: Anasazi Part 4: The Anasazi were a Pre-Columbian Indian people that lived in the SW region of North America. This is the Anasazi or ancient Puebloan ruin called House on Fire or Flaming House ruin in Mule Canyon, Utah. The name comes from the appearance on the rocks just above the ruin. In the morning at a certain time the rock takes on a color that looks like flames. I wondered just what it might look like at night, and found that the warm lights on the rock did reproduce the appearance, perhaps even better. I shot the standard close up views of the ruins but liked this wide view as well, which is a bit more unusual. The ruins are tucked in below a large rounded or elliptical rock dome with the arching Milky Way overhead. Disclaimer: No rooms or ruins were touched or entered in the making of this photo. The lights were placed in the rooms using a fishing pole and string. (No fish were harmed in the making of this photo either!). This is a panorama of multiple vertical images combined in Lightroom. Nikon 810A camera, 14-24 mm lens, at f 2.8, 14 mm, 30 sec., and ISO 8000. If you visit these sites please treat them with respect and care. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Delicate Light by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is the iconic Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, in Utah, USA. I had wanted to try my hand at this for a while, but the site had become so popular that I had major reservations about competing with others over "territory" for filming. Fellow photographer Eric Gail and I made the hike and found 20-25 people there including 2 people who said they were from the BBC making a time lapse. Two of the parities did indeed get into a hostile shouting match and the location "heated up". After everyone calmed down we were able to take turns and everything worked out just fine. Thanks to everyone there for such good co-operation. We did set up this lighting scheme which most found acceptable. A few people preferred the blue light of LEDs, and they had their turn. The time lapse people just filmed it all. There is smoke near the horizon from the fires in California. This obscures the stars near the horizon. You can see a layer of smoke above the light pollution. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Instagram Blog
Where a Civilization once Thrived... by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is the Anasazi or Ancient Puebloan Riun called the 16 Room Ruin. It has many other names but this one seems most common. It is located just south of Bluff, Utah adjacent to the San Jaun River. This is part of an experimental series to see if the Anasazi Ruins are amenable to photography at night. I would love to combine an interest in the Anasazi with nighttime photography. I spent several days in August in the SE corner of Utah photographing several ruins at night, to be processed over the next few weeks. One thing I did discover is this: Being in these ruins at night is fascinating. To see the starlit sky, and be surrounded by ancient habitations where people once thrived is magical. It's like going back in time. The alcoves just glow with the light. You can imagine the glow of fires illuminating the ceiling and walls centuries ago. This ruin is in one of a small minority of Alcoves or Caves that opens facing North, and faces a fertile plain overlooking the San Juan River. Because it opens to the North, the Milky Way is seen overhead to the South. Most of the Anasazi Ruins purposefully open facing South, providing shade in summer and sunlight and heat in winter. It seems they were more concerned with these mundane everyday matters than with the needs of photographers that would come 800 years later. On the other hand the Milky Way may be visible looking out of many alcoves at some point in the year. There are limited choices for photo ops. Sometimes the only decent choice is looking into the Alcove, sometimes the only choice is to look out. Most of the flat "bench" in the Alcoves was used as building sites, and there is not a lot of room to roam around. The maintained and easily accessed Anasazi tourist locations in parks are closed at night. You can get a permit to photograph these at night for hundreds of dollars. There are, however, numerous sites on Bureau of Land Management land that are not maintained. There are unmarked trails to many of these ruins, and if you can find them you can photography at night. Many require a hike of a mile or more through rough trails. They are open to visitation but the BLM does not make them easy to find, sometimes knocking down cairns that mark the way. This is a panorama of 10 vertical images combined in Lightroom. Taken with a Canon 6D camera and a Bower 24mm f 1.4 lens at f 1.4, 15 sec, and ISO 6400. There are 6 lights used. There are 4 very small lights shining up on he ruins from just in front, and there are 2 larger lights lighting the whole alcove. Warming filters were used on the lights. The ridge looks more domed than it really is because of looking upwards at a relatively close structure. Disclaimer: No ruins were harmed in the making of this photo! So what do you think? Is this kind of image interesting or worth pursuing? Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog
Whispers of Time Past by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is false Kiva in Canyonlands National Park, Utah. this is a bit of a different take on the composition, shooting from the far left corner, and covering the whole opening of the cave in a panorama. The right rock wall (outside the alcove) usually looks like a large dark void at night, so I decided to light the wall to give some definition. This was shot with fellow photographer Eric Gail, and the shadows on the ceiling of the cave were his idea. He had the idea of using an Indian Headdress to cast a shadow on the walls, using a small headlamp. The effect was really interesting to the eye as well as in the photo. The sky was nice and clear except for lots of smoke in the air from the wildfires in the Western USA. The smoke mostly stayed near the ground and created the ruddy coloration just above the horizon. Thanks for taking the time to look. Hope you enjoy! Your time, faves, and comments are much appreciated! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog
Stranger in a Strange Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This was the name of a book published in 1961 by Robert A. Heinlein (a very good early sci-fi book), and this is how I felt wandering around the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico at night. It is an extensive area with no marked trails, and a maze of washes, ravines, hills, ridges, etc. It is a broken landscape full of small to moderate sized hoodoos of every shape imaginable. There are also a number of petrified trees. It is incredibly easy to get lost at night because you cannot walk anywhere in a straight line. I used a GPS app and still had trouble getting back to the car because of deep ravines. Anyway it is an amazing place and well worth a trip. This is a single exposure. This photo was lit with reflected light from a hand held halogen spotlight/torch. I reflected the light off of a formation to my left, diffusing the light, and also illuminating the scene from the side. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog
In The Still of The Night by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is Flattop Arch in the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico, located about 36 miles (60 Km) south of Farmington. There are relatively few visitors here and at night the probability is that you will be there alone. It's a rough terrain after you traverse the initial flat area near the parking lot. It's a highly varied landscape with areas of clustered hoodoos, flat areas, ridges and ravines, and a number of small arches. There are a number of hoodoos that look like wings or tables balanced on a rock pedestal. In this photo there is a constant or static light behind the arch, and the front lighting is reflected light from a hand held halogen spotlight. The light is reflected off a formation to my right. This was taken with a Canon 6D camera and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at f 2.8, 30 sec, 14 mm, and ISO 6400. This is a single exposure. Hope you enjoy! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog
A Walk in an Alien Land by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is the most delightfully "otherworldly" place I have experienced at night. This is the "Egg Hatchery" or "Alien Hatchery" of the Bisti Badlands of New Mexico. They are appropriate names. This is a small flat plane between the hills, maybe the size of 1 or 2 football fields (whichever kind of football you prefer). Scattered around the surface are rock formations that look like giagantic petrified eggs and broken eggs. Many look like they are setting on egg cups or holders. At night the erie shapes and shadows let the imagination run wild. This is a panorama, and it may not show the detail well, but I wanted to show the feel of the landscape. I still need to process the closer version of the "eggs". It's a wonderful place to visit but take a GPS device. There are no trails and you find the areas of interest by GPS co-ordinates. Otherwise you wander around forever. This is a panorama of 210-240 degrees, created by 12 vertical images combined in Lightroom. All are single exposures (the sky is not added). Canon 6D camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec, ISO 6400. Hope you enjoy! All comments are welcomed. Thanks! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog
After Midnight Landscapes by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This will take about 3 minutes of your time if you are interested. This is a somewhat frenetic tour of a variety of landscapes at night. This "Take 2" of this video. The first one did not meet Flickr guidelines and got cut off. Here is an edited version that should confirm to Flickr guidelines. Thanks for you patience. Locations in this video include Arches National Park, Canyonlands National Park, Goblin Valley State Park, Escalante, Lake Mead, Grand Canyon, Death Valley, Mauna Kea Hawaii, Port Douglas Australia, Shiprock, Bisti Badlands, Bryce Canyon National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, The Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest,, Trona Pennacles, and others. A big Thanks to Royce Bair! Your photos were the inspiration that got me hooked! Let me know if the video is to frenetic! Please join me at: Website Facebook Blog
Morning Twilight at the Trona Pinnacles by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This one is a bit different. I overstayed my welcome, trying to get as many photos around the Pinnacles as possible before the sun rose, but despite my best efforts, the sun rose anyway. I was still shooting when the morning twilight started. As I took this photo the sun's glow was starting to be seen on the horizon, and with light pollution created a yellow glow. There were clouds near the horizon which were illuminated also. The sky was becoming noticeably lighter, but you could still see the Milky Way surprisingly well. There are 2 static lights helping to light the spires, one downhill to my right, and one downhill from my feet. There is also a fair amount of ambient light present from the twilight hour. It was a kind of "golden hour" before sunrise. Canon 1Dx Camera, Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 20 mm, f 2.8, 30 sec, and ISO 6400. Hope you enjoy!
Joshua Tree and Milky Way Panorama by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama of Joshua Tree National Park at Night, in an attempt to capture to feel of the park at night. This is a panorama of combined vertical images, taken with a Canon 1Dx camera, and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 20 sec. exposures and ISO 6400. there are 2 small lights hidden among the rocks and a larger light approx. 40 - 50 meters to my right. There a a considerable amount of light pollution around Joshua Tree. This creates aa background ambient light so the park does not seem "pitch black", and actually helps to light the foreground somewhat. This ambient light is a very "flat" light however, and does not create a very pleasing look. The added lights create shadows and create some depth to the photo. Thanks for looking. All comments are appreciated. Hope you enjoy!
Sunset Arch Panorama, Escalante by Wayne Pinkston Via Flickr: This is a panorama of Sunset Arch in the Escalante National Monument, Utah. This was taken in a workshop with Royce Bair (his workshops and ebook are highly recommended). This is a combination of 12 vertical images, taken with a Canon 6D Camera, and a Nikon 14-24 mm lens at 14 mm, f 2.8, 20 sec., and ISO 8000. The arch is about a 20-30 minute hike from the parking lot, and is less visited than many of the well known arches in Utah. It's petty much in the middle of nowhere, off the beaten path. Our group settled in for the night and we were blessed with great weather. Escalante is one of the least light polluted areas I have seen in the USA. This makes for excellent detail in the sky. The faint light pollution on the horizon is from Paige, Arizona or Lake Powell, many miles distant. Doesn't the Arch look like a sleeping dragon? Thanks for looking. Hope you enjoy!