Category Archives: Long Exposures

Paint by light using Steel Wool

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Last Wednesday, the Foyle Camera Club went down to Lisfannan beach to catch a sunset. Afterwards we decided to do some paint by light images using Steel wool.

This is done by inserting some steel wool into a wisk with some cord through the handle – to enable us to swing the wisk around. The steel wool is then set on fire while it’s being spun around. NB – This is quite dangerous and requires certain safety precautions i.e. Whoever is swinging the wisk must wear safety glasses/monogoggles, gloves and long-sleeved tops. This must also be done in a safe environment so as not to cause a fire. Everyone else must be a suitable distance away as there will be a lot of sparks.

This was a great nights craic. It was our first time trying this out. Not sure if there are any specific rules, but you can spin the wisk around in one direction to create a circle of light, or spin it erratically for other patterns. We did both.

From a photography point of view, we used different exposures lengths to try to capture the images, eg 10 -30 secs at various apertures. Ideally its better to do choose an environment with interesting features which are also captured (and safe of course). We done it at the beach, with no real background. as it was our first attempt. Some of the more experienced photographers used wide-angle lens to capture star trails along with it. Unfortunately I was out earlier in the day with the camera and still had the telephoto lens (55-250mm) on. I never even thought about changing it, as the craic was that good. Still,there’s always next time, and igad a few interesting pics.

Circle of light
Circle of Light

Check out a few others over on Flickr

~Keith~

Long Exposures at Fahan Pier

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After a long day at work, I decide to go and take some photos to unwind. I ended up in Fahan, down at the old pier. It was getting late and I’ve always want to try to take some photos of it, when it was getting dark. Luckily the tide was out.

So, wellies on, and down I went and set up my tripod. As it was getting dark, it was kinda hard to get a focus on anything. I tried different time periods from 30 secs to 2 minutes for the exposures with varying results.

Below is one of the images I took (probably the best one). If you’re interested, take a look at my Flickr account for a few more images. A bit more practice is required – but it’s all about learning.

~ Keith ~

Fireworks

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Well it’s been a while since I posted, but I haven’t been resting on my laurels. I’ve been out on several locations over the last few weeks, trying for a few more good shots 🙂 . I’m only getting around now to editing them. Hopefully over the next week I’ll be able to update the blog to cover the shoots.

Anyway, I’ll start with the latest  shoot – Fireworks.

Last Saturday (25/06/11), Derry celebrated the opening of the new Peace Bridge. On Saturday Night, there was a firework display. This was the first time I have actually photographed fireworks properly. I normally just point at shoot – but they never come out properly. I met up some of the guys in the camera club along the quay, where I set up my tripod. Due to the low light (well, it was night-time – lol) and to get the best shots, I went for the jugular and went in to manual mode.

I set my ISO to 100 for less noise. To get sharp clear shots, I was going to have to use long exposures. So with various f-stop settings, I messed around with different shutter speeds to try for different effects etc. By doing this, I started to click on to the relationship between the shutter speed and f-stop. I started to see the fact that, when I have a higher f-stop number i.e. F22, this means that the aperture opening is small, therefore I need the shutter to stay open and vice versa.

I managed to get a few good pictures – albeit having to crop another member of the club  out of some of them– 🙂

Although the location I was at, was quite good, I feel that maybe if I’d have gone further back up the key, I could have avoided some of the fireworks getting clipped due to their height – it’s hard trying to guess how high they’ll go. Anyway below is one of the shots which I took.

Fireworks – Derry Footbridge Opening

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more photos – check out the links to Flickr and my photo albums.

~Keith~

Long Exposures

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I was out with the camera club on the 4/5/11 down to Neds Point & Fr Hegarty’s Rock, Buncrana. It was getting late, not too mention very overcast. To be honest, I didn’t think it was even worth taking the camera out of the case. It was one of the lads in the club showed me a photo he’d taken – using a long exposure. That got me thinking – I should try that.

So I did, after a few shots which were either too dark or bright – I got a couple that (I think anyway) were not too bad. See what you think. Will definitely give it a go again.

~Keith~