One Flashlight

[Toby]

Murph,

I had every intention this week on making the Highland games, but this fell into my lap and had to jump on it.

I had the opportunity to have ramp access each night from Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Stinson to lightpaint B-17G Nine-O-Nine from the Collings Foundation. This image is a composite of 350+ images all lit up with only one handheld flashlight.

I have a B-24, and a Huey that I shot each night, but haven't put them together yet.

This is my first large piece lightpainting, and am pleased with it, although I still have some tweaking and fine tuning.

[Murph]

Take that opportunity hands down!

[pepper52]

What a fantastic work of art!

[Toby]

Thanks guys!

Someone saw this shot and hired me to do a biplane out on the ramp last night out in Castroville Airport. Here is the rough draft of the photo:


For more information on this aircraft, go to my clients site here:

New Standard

[dixonduke]

Really nice work.

I would like to hear more of your shot taking process.

[Toby]

I was contacted by the Collings Foundation to shoot more of the B-17 and B-24 at night. They will be here the first week of April in Kerrville and Fredericksburg.

If anyone is interested in seeing the progress of a shot like this, let me know. It will be during the week and will be over the entire night.

[sn805619]

Wow.

Single flashlight = impressive.

[venchka]

Originally Posted by Toby

I was contacted by the Collings Foundation to shoot more of the B-17 and B-24 at night. They will be here the first week of April in Kerrville and Fredericksburg.

If anyone is interested in seeing the progress of a shot like this, let me know. It will be during the week and will be over the entire night.

You might know. I will just them. Drat! My dad was a B-17 instructor during WWII. I really want to get a photo of a B-17 before I'm gone.

[PhotoByMark]

Cool stuff.
Can you tell us more about the technique?

[Toby]

Boy, where to start?

I have a tool bag filled with different sized light. All can be found at Home Depot.

I set the camera on a tripod powered externally through a 1200 watt inverter that also powers my Macbook pro that is tethered to the camera.

On the camera I have a remote trigger. The key is to make sure that the camera/tripod not move or get bumped.

I usually set the ISO to 200 get a good depth of field f-ratio and a shutter speed of about 15 seconds.

I trigger the remote to trip the shutter and illuminate small sections at a time. I climb all over the subject to get different angles. At the end, I bring it all together in Photoshop in a multitude of layers.

That's the abridged version. I have found that it takes lots of preparation and planning. This time around I will shoot the B-17 again but they have asked for a nice one of the UH-1 Huey, so one night will be focused on that. My skills are more practiced over the year since I've actually found business doing this for other vehicles such as private aircraft, cars, and motorcycles. Hopefully I can get more honed for better shots. It's lots of fun. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

[cfortner]

Great shots Bryan!

[PhotoByMark]

Thanks for the tips Bryan.
Looks like you got the technique down.
I might have to try this for fun.

[Toby]

Headed out to the B-17, B-24, P-51, and Uh-1 to shoot tonight at Fredericksburg tonight for a light painting project. If anyone is interested in coming out, let me know. I plan to be shooting all night.

[Todd Lambert]

Nice stuff, Bryan. These are fantastic.

I wish I could join you, alas, I'm too far to make the trip. Have fun!

[lfmerrell]

Crewed fighters in SAC in the early 50s. My favorite time on the flight line was mid-night 'til dawn.
You captured the essence of those hours.