Monthly Ian's 12 for 13 - January

Harlequin565

Harlequin565

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So... Messing around with lights is January's topic. I'm not sure how my submissions are going to work, but I have a few today from last night's experiments.

First up was Physiograms. These were made with an LED torch tied to a bit of Christmas ribbon. Like all my home-start photography projects, it all looked a bit heath robinson when it was finished.


Physiogram 2 by Harlequin565, on Flickr

This was the end result of quite a few shots and is the one I'm most happy with. I tried a couple of different "swinging" methods (pardon the pun!) and also turning the zoom ring during the exposure, but the results were not very interesting. I do have some gels though which I stuck over the lens and the above is just a red gel which also took a lot of the "flare" out of the torch.

I think I could probably get something more interesting if I tried moving the camera too, which is on my "to-do" list.

I also had a go at some light orbs. We had one of those Christmas fairy light nets that was going in the bin so I gathered up 8 or so of the LED lights and then taped over the rest to give me a "light on a string". Once the exposure was complete, I tried a bit of light painting on the tree.


Light Orbs 1 by Harlequin565, on Flickr

Hmmm...

So this isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Problems:

1. Had a torch with me for painting the tree which kept getting under my feet.
2. Didn't concentrate on keeping my arms steady while turning through an approximate circle which has resulted in a rather messy looking orb. This was compounded by making three revolutions before moving my feet.
3. The location wasn't brilliant. Background is cluttered (we have a messy garden!)
4. The cluster of LEDs all taped together has given a tyre tread sort of pattern to the light lines.

So that's day 1 experimentation over with. At least it's early in the month! Time to see what others have been doing now.

Ian.
 
It was a good idea to use gels, that had not occurred to me, I might crop a little off the right side to give a square result as the pattern is so rounded ?

You have done fairy lights and orbs in the same picture - does that count as a two for one. I like the "tyre tread" pattern, it is something different and gives a nice effect
 
Your physiogram would definitely benefit from a square crop IMO. Looks a bit squew wiff currently.

Orbs are on todays to do list, Good luck with the others this month :)
 
Key word in your post, Ian, is 'experimentation', that's why I'm he.

Good start. Really sting start here. Strong red in the Physiogram. Just parts of the edges have faded. Square crop, I'd agree.

The orb, never done one and I did think, 'how did he use a tyre for this :thinking:', :LOL:. I like the inclusion of the tree, pity you couldn't exclude the house in camera or in post.

Cheers.
 
Good start Ian. I like your physiogram, and using a gel has deffinately helped it.

The orb is a little uneven I agree, but I've never tried be so can't really criticise. I think that some LEDs have a very fast flicker to them, invisible to the naked eye, which gives the tyre tread effect.
 
I love the tyre tread effect on the orb :) and the dark edges help keep the focus in the right place. I think the physiogram is great, but like others have said, I'd go for a square crop.
 
Have to say i like both images, really well done. Keep at it.
 
Great start and attempt, I've only ever done an orb once. I was going to try the physiogram thingy but couldn't find my torch.

Matt
 
Heath Robinson would have been proud. Half the fun of this type of photo comes from trying to work out how to do it. One big advantage of the digital age is that you can try different things and get to see the results straight away, I recall trying physiograms using film many years ago - three weeks and three rolls of film later I had one good one.
 
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