In night photography, our use of supplemental lighting can add a whole new dimension to picture taking than the standard still fill lighting.
With long exposures, stationary lighting can be used to capture changes that unfold during an expanded moment.
Instead of focusing on lighting things, we should think more about lighting the space that surrounds our scene.
Then anticipate how we will catch any movement or change appearing in the light while the shutter remains open.
We can treat our scene like a fixer upper, and extend our use of supplemental lighting for the sole purpose of highlighting otherwise unseen motion.
The idea is to go further than just filling in the blanks. We allow our camera to see changes in time, and capture all of the moments beyond the momentary. In short, we supplement our vision by supplementing our lighting.
By lighting movement, we enhance the scene with something we see only in our mind’s eye, and create a more dynamic or expressive image.
IMAGE : Buddha, Jemez Springs, NM
- Mouse over the image to view the scene without rising steam. If mouse over does not work, go to Supplemental Lighting Revisited on my blog.
Every New Years Eve, the Bodhi Mandala Zen Center lights their grounds with farolitos for a walking meditation. The most photogenic area is the hot springs next to the Jemez River.
I wanted to capture more than just the figure of Buddha and the bags of light. I placed a lantern behind the statue to catch the steam rising from the hot springs, and create the inspirational light I envisioned.
The lantern played a dual role. It provided fill lighting for the background, and illuminated the rising steam in the foreground.
I came up with the lighting idea when I did not have any lighting tools with me. So I had to wait a year to return to the scene to capture the image I imagined.
This image is a 30 second exposure shot at f8 with TMAX 3200 film, chosen from an entire roll of film shot to capture as many variations of the ethereal lighting as possible.
IMAGE TINT : GalleryAshWarm
A warm grayish tint was chosen to boost the intimate appearance of the glowing mist.
This B&W image was tinted in Adobe Photoshop with an ICC Profile I generated from my Mac App SuiteProfiler. The Profile was derived from the “GalleryAshWarm” Color Map created in SuiteProfiler.
Click these buttons to download the ICC Profile and SuiteProfiler Color Map:
EXERCISE : Supplemental Lighting Revisited
Find a nighttime scene with repeating movement. This can be subtle or dramatic. Add fill lighting to guarantee that the motion is caught throughout the exposure.
Bracket your exposures, and compare how the changes were captured at different shutter speeds. Take the time to capture many image variations.
Search your results for the image that best satisfies your expectation of the dynamic scene.
Be sure to review the Safety & Precautions page.
FEEDBACK : Supplemental Lighting Revisited
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NEXT TIME : “Light Painting”
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