Light Play

Abstract light images are stunning and fun. Thankfully, the technique is a simple one, but can spend all night experimenting with the results. I played around in my car on a trip between Pueblo and Colorado Springs, and ended up with some lovely abstracts. These modern art styled shots can be achieved with a slow shutter (I used a 1 second exposure at f8 with a 28-80mm lens for most of these shots) and a little creativity.








TIP: Shake it! The general rule when shooting is to steady the camera as best you can, but in this case, the more shaky it is, the cooler the shots will look! Find a light source to point at, and fire, then, while the shutter is open, use sweeping movements to create the light trails you see in the images above. Set your camera to manual if possible for that you control the shutter speed. You don't want to expose for the entire scene and you want to keep the image dark. These images were shot at 200 ISO with a Nikon D90

In the line of fire

In an attempt to provide an outlet for my ever-driving creativity, and, at the same time, educate those who are interested in the strong kung fu of photographing anything and everything, I have initiated a blog. Abracadabra! I will be posting images up frequently with brief explanations of how they were made. Hopefully this will be a largely visual dip into good photography and design with no limits. Creativity will run high here, and techniques will range from traditional to "what the heck?"

NOTE: All images will be posted within 48 hours of being taken, just to prove that I am constantly growing and experimenting with my art. I encourage you to read these posts, grab your pic maker, and go do something with it! If it is really cool, I will post it up in here!

Round 1: The traditional trip to the zoo

TIP: When shooting fish in a tank, or anything behind glass, it is a good practice to press your lens flat against the glass to avoid unwanted reflections. Another option is to purchase a rubber lens hood (I got one for under $10 from a local store) which flexes. This allows you to maneuver a bit to get the right angle and still have a black out around your lens.


TIP: Shallow depth of field is nice at zoos to prevent the more unattractive features of technology from ruining a nature shot. This was shot with a 70-300mm zoom lens at f5.6