Is great light painting mostly trial and error? (long exposure night photos with light painting article)

[KenElevenShadows]

Is great light painting mostly trial and error?

 

https://photofocus.com/photography/lighting-photography/is-great-light-painting-mostly-trial-and-error

 

 

[KuruPrionz]

As with many arts, we grow as we go!

You've learned from both successes and failures, it's the human condition. 

Very nice work, as always. It's obvious that you've done your time in the trenches. 🤩

 

Perfection does not exist, the perfect is the enemy of the good. 

 

I couldn't begin to list the failed experiments that have led to my eventual improvement in engineering a recording. A great long-time friend and fellow songwriter dropped by yesterday and it took very little time to track his new composition. He had planned on having another engineer record the final, this was a scratch track for a potential keyboardist to work with. Upon hearing my final mix that evening, he asked if I could do the rest of the project. 

 

Keep flinging boogers on the wall and eventually some of them will stick. 😇

[KenElevenShadows]

Well, the thing is that while we do become more experienced and consistent, we also keep pushing the experimentation and creativity forward, trying new things. So those attempts fail far more often than the "tried and true". But that's part of growing and creating.

 

Congratulations on getting the rest of that project.

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, KenElevenShadows said:

Well, the thing is that while we do become more experienced and consistent, we also keep pushing the experimentation and creativity forward, trying new things. So those attempts fail far more often than the "tried and true". But that's part of growing and creating.

 

Congratulations on getting the rest of that project.

Absolutely agree, I continue to fail but at a more complex level. And I continue to learn better ways (and different ways) of getting things done. 

Any Art we choose to work in is infinitely deep and the variations are endless. Sometimes, things just come to you without experiments. 

I had a shoot recently with a model and while it's been some time since I've done photography, my images were among the best I've ever taken. 

I think a good part of that was having a great model but my sense of composition and lighting have both improved as well and I wasn't working on either of them recently. 

[KenElevenShadows]

You're probably still learning by reading, checking out YouTube videos, subconsciously or consciously looking at compositional elements of photos you see, and so forth.

[KuruPrionz]

1 hour ago, KenElevenShadows said:

You're probably still learning by reading, checking out YouTube videos, subconsciously or consciously looking at compositional elements of photos you see, and so forth.

Yes, and looking at light out in the real world in a different way. 

I was pretty busy shooting in Fresno CA but the light there is pretty harsh most of the time. Up here in Bellingham we have lots of lovely overcast days and in the summer time the mornings and evenings are glorious twilight lasting for hours. Last shoot I used west facing window light around noon on an overcast day, the light was glorious and complimentary. 

[KenElevenShadows]

Does Fresno get great light during the usual golden hour periods?

[KuruPrionz]

17 minutes ago, KenElevenShadows said:

Does Fresno get great light during the usual golden hour periods?

Yes, and open shade is often available as well. 

Since it is flat as a pancake I used my tripod often. I still use a tripod on flat surfaces but there are fewer of those outdoors here. 

The other aspect is the temperature. I've walked outside into 116 degrees before, not that pretty at all. 

On the other hand, up here there is often rain and that's not a happy place for camera gear either. 

 

Because we are pretty far north in Bellingham (25 miles or so to the Canadian border), our golden hours are longer. Having mountains to the east and islands to the west means softer light in the early morning and later on during sunset. 

 

It's all workable, light is light. We just get different light (and temperatures) up here than down there. I do NOT miss the summers in Fresno, they are glorious here. 

Winters are not much colder here because we are right on the coast. That said, they are MUCH wetter!

[KenElevenShadows]

I would think your weather during the summer is MUCH better up there. And it's beautiful up there anyway.

 

Although "bad" weather is certainly not great for cameras, so many of us often get the best photos during "bad" weather. Big rain clouds, storms, whatever. There's a lot of drama.

[KuruPrionz]

On 2/15/2023 at 9:11 AM, KenElevenShadows said:

I would think your weather during the summer is MUCH better up there. And it's beautiful up there anyway.

 

Although "bad" weather is certainly not great for cameras, so many of us often get the best photos during "bad" weather. Big rain clouds, storms, whatever. There's a lot of drama.

I love the look but not always the wet. It's raining pretty hard here as I post this. Plus it's breezy and a bit on cooler side. 

I would not want to take my camera out in this weather. It's a bit more difficult to predict the weather up here but usually it's not raining in the afternoons. Often it is overcast, I love that light, very flattering to models. Maybe not dramatic enough for landscapes. There are already LOTS of landscape photographers up here and there are "hidden treasures" that you could walk right by and not notice. A friend's father had a "dead car" that started out being in the middle of the backyard but when I saw it (what I could see of it!), the blackberries had more or less eaten it. 

 

Different world up here, no doubt about it. I do love the air, compared to Fresno it's almost like "magic food". Living near the ocean (the largest oxygen engine on the planet) and with heavy forests nearby (the second largest oxygen engine on the planet) makes for amazing air quality. The rain and wind wash or disperse any sort of human created pollution quickly. 

[KenElevenShadows]

That air quality sounds great!!

[KuruPrionz]

7 hours ago, KenElevenShadows said:

That air quality sounds great!!

Shhh... don't tell anybody!!!

I was an early "drought migrant" but there are lots more. 😇

[KenElevenShadows]

Hahaha!