October 2008

Photo by Scott Stulberg.

Even if you are not familiar with the term light painting, you’ve probably already experimented with it. Have you ever swirled your camera around the twinkling lights on your Christmas tree to create spirals, shapes, or the initials of your name? Have you ever captured the twisting, turning trail of sweet glow sticks or a Poi spinner at some crazy full moon party in Thailand? Then you, my friend, are a light painter!

Light painting is a photographic technique where you physically ‘paint’ light into your camera frame during a long exposure, either by manipulating a light source like a flashlight, flash or by moving the camera around a light source.

During our star shoot at the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop, Scott Stulberg pointed out a beautiful Mormon barn and suggested that we light paint it.

Light paint a barn? Oh yes! The idea seemed crazy to rest of the group because many of us had little to no experience with light painting, but Scott was determined, so onward we went!

We set up in front of the barn and starting testing different settings. Because it was impossible to grab focus, I ran up close to the house and shone the headlamp on a window. Once Scotty got his focus set, we used these settings with his Canon 5D with the 16-35mm f/2.8 lens: 25s exposure, f/3.2, ISO 1250. We tried for a while but weren’t getting the light composition we wanted. It was too dark and the shot was a little flat:

Martin was with us and suggested that we light up the barn using a short blast from a car’s headlights. So we moved a car about 200m away from the barn, angling the lights at the barn and the adjacent trees. Timing was a bit tricky, as the headlights could only be on for less than a second or they would blow out the shot like the photo below.

I took this view from the car on top of the hood. You can see the group setting up for the shot.

I was the gal in charge of turning the lights off and on so I didn’t get a chance to grab this shot. But here’s Scotty’s shot. He had a little extra light from a passing car. That is why the foreground is lit. Pretty cool effect, don’t you think?

Photo by Scott Stulberg. Settings with 14mm: 20s Exposure, f/2.8, ISO 800.

NOTE: Cross-posted at This Week in Photography

Even professional photographers don’t get the perfect shot straight out of the gate. The difference between amateurs and professionals is that pros don’t give up until they’ve got that perfect shot.

I found it very insightful to watch Scott Stulberg fail his first two attempts of taking the panoramic, but by using different zoom and exposure settings and a certain level of patience he was able to get a perfect shot. Here is Scott’s panoramic of Oxbow Bend (taken minutes after the video was taken):

Photo by Scott Stulberg.

A review of Scott’s tips for taking a panoramic:

1. Use a solid & level tripod
2. Check to make sure your entire shot is level and all your subject is in your frame
3. Shoot on Manual so that all your settings stay constant
4. Use a cable release
5. Overlap each shot by 20%
6. Stitch photos in post

Hope this inspires you to go out and take some panoramic shots yourself.

This week the contestants received a big box full of Peachpit Press photography books, including “The Moment it Clicks” by Joe McNally, “Aperture 2″ from the Apple Pro Training Series by Ben Long, Richard Harrington, Orlando Luna and “Photoshop Studio with Bert Monroy: Lessons in Digital Painting” and many others.

What a great treat to continue inspiring the contest winners and giving them an awesome supply of reference materials! Thanks Peachpit Press! Now here’s your chance win great prizes like this and a trip to Yosemite to learn Aperture and how to shoot incredible nature & wildlife shots with Pro photographers! Enter your best nature/wildlife shot HERE!

Some sites are reporting that the new version adds some RAW support. Apple says the Aperture 2.1.2 update improves the printing quality of books ordered through the Aperture printing service. The update is recommended for all customers using Aperture 2. You can read all the details and get the update at Apple.com.

Photo and Article by Lisa Bettany

One of the most memorable moments ANPW in Jackson Hole, Wyoming was a spur of the moment star shoot lead by Astrophotographer extraordinaire, Martin Gisbourne. Martin has a lot of experience shooting astronomy, so it was great to have him guiding us through the sky. On the last day of the workshop, as the sun was setting, some of the group decided to forgo dinner, general warmth, and a comfy sleep, to stay out in the dark night for a few more hours to grab some astronomical shots. The first step was finding the best spot to set-up our tripods. The sun had set and the sky was slowly revealing shooting starts, satellites, planets, & constellations. I have never seen a sky so packed with twinkling lights. Martin quickly found the his spot right in front of the Milky Way and started setting up his tripod and camera before the light was gone.

It’s really important to set up your tripod and camera and find your frame and focus point before it gets dark because when it’s dark, you can’t see a a whole lot through your camera. I learnt my lesson by finding the edge of a huge tree in a lot of my pictures. I think it decided to move in my way just to spite me. Also, if you don’t have a head band light, get one. They are essential for early morning or night shoots. Trust me, mounting a camera on a tripod or changing a CF card in the dark is not a good idea. And dress warm, like Michelin man amount, as it gets a wee bit chilly waiting for those 30s exposures. As soon as the sky was dark, the group started shooting. After some playing around with settings, we found that f/2.8, shutter speed of 25-30s, ISO 3200 and 6400 (for those of us with Nikon D3s), worked best. Also set your focus to manual and on infiinite focus and position the cursor right in the middle of the ∞. Most of us shot with wide-angle lenses as wide as a 14mm fisheye to get in as much sky as possible. After shooting the Milky Way, Scott Stulberg pointed out a beautiful Mormon barn and suggested that we light paint it. Light paint a barn? Oh yes! Stay tuned for story in the next post!

Interview with the ANPW Contest Winners from Scott Bourne on Vimeo.

Converting Color Images to B&W in Aperture 2.1 from Scott Bourne on Vimeo.

NOTE: Cross Posted at ApertureNaturePhotographyWorkshops

Aperture Nature Photography Workshop: Diffusion/Reflection from Scott Bourne on Vimeo.

All photos by Lisa Bettany

If you’d like to see some shots of our crew and the winners at the first ever Aperture Nature Photography Workshops, check out our official blogger Lisa Bettany’s photo stream on Flickr.

We’ll have more pics from the pros and the winners in the coming weeks.