The Big Photography Thread

[KenElevenShadows]

Thanks! I love taking these photos.

[KenElevenShadows]

[KenElevenShadows]

 

 

Pandora's Trunk (4829)

This evening, the sky was filled with unusual, beautiful cloud formations. I decided to make this composition look as if the clouds and stars were streaming from the open trunk of the car, almost as if spirits or the very stars were being unleashed. Pearsonville Auto Salvage Yard, Mojave Desert, California. I used a handheld LED flashlight to illuminate the interior/exterior of the truck. We had these amazing clouds most of the evening, creating fantastic shapes with or without long exposures.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. Everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, an almost full moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I also illuminated the junkyard car with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight while the camera shutter was open. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image.

 

[KenElevenShadows]

The Night Cloud Salute (4793)

Pearsonville Auto Salvage Yard, Mojave Desert, California. I used a handheld LED flashlight to illuminate the trucks. We had these amazing clouds most of the evening, creating fantastic shapes with or without long exposures.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. Everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, an almost full moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I also illuminated the junkyard cars with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image. Thank you for reading this and looking at the image. -Ken

 

Nikon D610/14-24mm f/2.8, 159s total @ f/8 ISO 200. Oct 2016. I photographed this with Tim Little, Steve McIntyre, and Troy Paiva near a full moon. Troy is an enormous pioneer in light painting night photography.

 

[KenElevenShadows]

 

So Please, Oh PLease, We Beg, We Pray, Go Throw Your TV Set Away (5116)

Night photo of an abandoned mining house in the Mojave Desert. Illuminated by a handheld flashlight and a full moon during an evening long exposure. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. This evening, everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, an almost full moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I also illuminated the the interior with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight and the inside of the TV with a red light while the camera shutter was open, keeping the photo good and dark for a sense of mystery. For the processing, I left it basically alone except that I subdued the colors a bit, desaturating it. I think it looks better that way. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image, and fascinated with the stories and history that these locations hold. Thank you for reading this and looking at the image. -Ken

 

 

[MurMan]

This shot has a very different look than most of your other long-exposure shots, Ken. Excellent choice to subdue the colors and keep the interior dark. It's interesting to see how the graffiti on the wall interacts with the exposed rafters on the roof. That part of the wall looks transparent. The red light inside the TV makes it downright demonic. The overall look is more like a painting than a photo. Well done.

[xKnuckles]

I am loving your rusty car & cloud photos, Ken. The clouds are such a perfect contrast & balance to the cars. I especially like the Night cloud Salute, which is both amusing and beautiful.

[xKnuckles]

 

I had a go at the supermoon last night. It wasn't promising: thick cloud....but then it suddenly parted and let me in....

 

Supermoon 2016 by Anne Burton, on Flickr

[RABid]

Wood duck by Bill Wilcox, on Flickr

 

Really like this.

[KenElevenShadows]

This shot has a very different look than most of your other long-exposure shots, Ken. Excellent choice to subdue the colors and keep the interior dark. It's interesting to see how the graffiti on the wall interacts with the exposed rafters on the roof. That part of the wall looks transparent. The red light inside the TV makes it downright demonic. The overall look is more like a painting than a photo. Well done.

 

Thanks. Much of it is that I usually don't get to do interior long exposure shots, so when I had this opportunity, I seized it!

 

The graffiti is really black, and then there are these amazing shadows from the rafters, and I really loved the way the whole thing came together. Right when I walked in to the room, I knew what my first shot was going to be, and I knew I was going to illuminate the interior of the TV red. I took another photo that was closer to the television console also. But yes, that part of the wall looks transparent because of that color.

 

I desaturated the colors for this one as well as the "Night Cloud Salute" photo, which also struck me as looking better than with super vibrant colors. I am lucky, as I am getting these beautiful amazing colors in my photography without saturating anything (it is rare that I saturate my colors, although I do sometimes use a color contrast setting with Nik Color Efex plugins, which isn't quite the same thing, as it tends to separate colors from one another a bit more rather than saturating).

 

But sometimes, I don't want that much color, and am happy with something that is much more subdued, giving it sometimes a more eerie or timeless feel.

 

This is one of my favorite semi-desaturated photos:

 

 

And here is another one that I don't post very often, but it seems to work as a semi-desaturated photo:

 

 

Anyway, thank you very much!!

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

I am loving your rusty car & cloud photos, Ken. The clouds are such a perfect contrast & balance to the cars. I especially like the Night cloud Salute, which is both amusing and beautiful.

 

Haha, thanks! The rusty car photos are sooo much fun to do. I love doing those, especially when they are cars with so much character.

[KenElevenShadows]

The duck photo is soooo colorful. Nice. And I like how the clouds part for the moon. To me, that's more interesting than just a clear shot of the moon with black sky.

[KenElevenShadows]

Mojave Jet Stream (4821)

Pearsonville Auto Salvage Yard, Mojave Desert, California. We had these amazing clouds most of the evening, creating fantastic shapes with or without long exposures.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. Everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, an almost full moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I used a handheld LED flashlight to illuminate the automobile, and then used it with a homemade snoot to hit the front headlights to make them glow a bit more while the camera shutter was open for a long time. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image. Thank you for reading this and looking at the image. -Ken

 

Nikon D610/14-24mm f/2.8, 174s total @ f/8 ISO 200. Oct 2016. I photographed this with Tim Little, Steve McIntyre, and Troy Paiva near a full moon. Troy is an enormous pioneer in light painting night photography.

 

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

One Tree Flats (5092)

Night photo of a wind-damaged movie set in Antelope Valley in the Mojave Desert. Illuminated by a handheld flashlight near a full moon during an evening long exposure. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. This evening, everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I also illuminated the scene with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight and the inside of the old truck with a red light while the camera shutter was open, keeping the photo good and dark for a sense of mystery. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image, and fascinated with the stories and history that these locations hold. Thank you for reading this and looking at the image. -Ken

 

 

[Lindaru]

How much I had missed!

 

All of you, fabulous work!

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

Thanks!

 

 

Double Double Star Trails (4847)

Pearsonville Auto Salvage Yard, Mojave Desert, California. We had these amazing clouds most of the evening, creating fantastic shapes with or without long exposures.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. Everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, an almost full moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I used a handheld LED flashlight to illuminate the automobile, and then used it with a homemade snoot to hit the front headlights to make them glow a bit more while the camera shutter was open for a long time. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image. In this case, I took a succession of photos with the intent of blending them together so they would show the movement of stars over almost 20 minutes. The movement of stars is created by the rotation of the earth. This photo is facing north, so the stars are circling around the North Star. Thank you for reading this and looking at the image. -Ken

 

Nikon D610/14-24mm f/2.8, 19 and a half minutes total. I "stacked" 39 images with StarStax; each image was 30 seconds @ f/8 ISO 200. Oct 2016. I photographed this with Tim Little, Steve McIntyre, and Troy Paiva near a full moon. Troy is an enormous pioneer in light painting night photography.

 

[KenElevenShadows]

 

Mr. Boy And The Shoes That Reach For The Moon (4741)

Abandoned RV with graffiti, Barstow, CA. lluminated very colorfully by a ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight and a full moon. Nikon D610/14-24mm f/2.8, 127s @ f/8 ISO 200 Oct 2016.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. This evening, everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, an almost full moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I also illuminated the interior in a very colorful manner with an LED flashlight while the camera shutter was open and grazed a warm white light off the exterior. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image. Thank you for reading this and looking at the image. -Ken

[Lindaru]

Such magic you create, Ken.

 

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

Thank you, greatly appreciated.

 

Here's some more:

 

Still Life (4832)

 

Pearsonville Auto Salvage Yard, Mojave Desert, California. I used a handheld LED flashlight to illuminate the car, and then used it with a homemade snoot to hit thehead lights with a yellow light to make them glow a bit more. We had these amazing clouds most of the evening, creating fantastic shapes with or without long exposures.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. Everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, an almost full moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I also illuminated the junkyard car with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight while the camera shutter was open. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image. Thank you for reading this and looking at the image. -Ken

 

Nikon D610/14-24mm f/2.8, 128 seconds @ f/8 ISO 200. Oct 2016. I photographed this with Tim Little, Steve McIntyre, and Troy Paiva near a full moon. Troy is an enormous pioneer in light painting night photography.

 

[KenElevenShadows]

 

 

Is any holiday centered more around eating? Here is our abandoned roadside restaurant, imploring you to eat, eat, eat. No, that's not a turkey on the wall, so you'll just have to deal. Happy Holidays to everyone who celebrates it.

 

Eat Eat Eat Bird Bird Bird (4747)

Night photo of an abandoned roadside diner with chicken and face graffiti, Halloran Springs, CA. Illuminated by a handheld flashlight and a full moon during an evening long exposure. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. This evening, everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, an almost full moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I also illuminated the the building's interior and exterior with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight while the camera shutter was open. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image, and fascinated with the stories and history that these locations hold. Thank you for reading this and looking at the image. -Ken

 

Ken Lee Photography

Nikon D610/14-24mm f/2.8, 147s f/8 ISO 200 Oct 2016

 

[KenElevenShadows]

 

Night photo, Pioneertown, CA.

[Lindaru]

I just love the almost other worldly feel these all have.

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

Thank you very much!!!

[Steve Nathan]

Love these Ken. Made me think of Jack Spencer. Do you know his work?

 

http://www.jackspencer.com/

 

 

 

 

[KenElevenShadows]

No, but he does really good work. I like his aesthetic.

 

Also, his photo of Niagara Falls is beautiful. Shooting an iconic place like that, but still managing to say something new? Great. It's ethereal, but still manages to capture the power and drama of the falls.

 

http://www.jackspencer.com/New-Work-2016/11/caption

[KenElevenShadows]

 

Salton Soledad.

 

The desolate abandoned spa, Salton Sea, CA. Night photo. Illumination with a nearly full moon (I didn't illuminate this scene this time).

 

[KenElevenShadows]

 

Four Eyes Lift Off (4833)

 

Pearsonville Auto Salvage Yard, Mojave Desert, California. I used a handheld LED flashlight to illuminate the car, and then used it with a homemade snoot to hit thehead lights with a yellow light to make them glow a bit more. We had these amazing clouds most of the evening, creating fantastic shapes with or without long exposures.

 

This is a real photo taken at night. Everything was illuminated by a big bright moon, an almost full moon, almost bright enough to read a book. And setting my tripod-mounted camera to a long exposure made the camera much more sensitive to light than our eyes on this already bright evening. This is why this photo seems brighter than what we might see at night. It is not due to post-processing. The moon, which reflects light from the sun, also makes the sky bluer, and when the photo is a long exposure photo, the sky will appear brighter, making the blue more apparent. I also illuminated the junkyard car with a handheld ProtoMachines LED2 flashlight while the camera shutter was open. This is not a post-processing creation. No pixels were harmed during the creation of this photo.

 

I am fascinated with how a single long exposure photo can show movements and the cumulative effects of light in a single image. Thank you for reading this and looking at the image. -Ken

 

Nikon D610/14-24mm f/2.8, 188 seconds @ f/8 ISO 200. Oct 2016. I photographed this with Tim Little, Steve McIntyre, and Troy Paiva near a full moon. Troy is an enormous pioneer in light painting night photography.

[Doerfler]

very, very, cool, Ken. Wish I had a more knowledgeable way of describing it. Also, thanks for sharing your knowledge of the creation process.

Cheers

[KenElevenShadows]

Thanks. Glad you are enjoying the photos. Night photography with light painting is a somewhat unusual form of long exposure photography, and I'm finding that if I just simply say "long exposure" and "light painting", a lot of people still don't know the process behind it. There's even a lot of unknown about simply taking a night photo, as many people still believe there's not enough light to take a photo at night.

 

Also, because of rampant digital manipulation, many view this and think I somehow created this in Photoshop. I wouldn't even know how to do this at all. But regardless, they think that because of this increasing mistrust in images. So I like to describe the general process.

[KenElevenShadows]

 

Singing Beneath The Stars (4504)

"I caught the happy virus last night

When I was out singing beneath the stars.

It is remarkably contagious -

So kiss me."

~ Hafiz

 

The summer Milky Way in Joshua Tree National Park, CA USA.