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After Dark – Light trails
3 
For the DDN compo themed ‘After Dark’ I had the idea to draw light trails in the dark with a torch. Being close to Bonfire Night a fireworks scene was the most obvious. I tried a few other ideas like painting a fire and trying to paint ambient light on the ground as if created by the fire, but it was far too complex. I also tried things like Space Invaders and Tetris, but it’s really tough to get the lines spot on.
I shot tethered to my laptop so that I could get instant feedback on what I’d created. I used two Maglites to paint, a big one which I covered the end with electrical tape with a small hole in the middle to get a small defined light, and a mini maglite to paint thicker lines.
I cut up drinking straws to stick onto the torches and colour the light. I could’ve just coloured it post production, but my idea was to have the background exposed a little too, and obviously I wanted that a normal colour. In the end though I kept the background pretty dark.
The Canon software doesn’t let me shoot bulb, so I had to dial in the maximum 30 seconds exposure @ f/16. That left me tight on time to draw everything I wanted, so I ultimately draw smaller pieces with the view of bringing them together in photoshop.
This image is a comp of just two photos.
Very nice Rob!
Cheers Tek.
Very good rob.You have real talent,it is clear to see that.