I wanted to try a technique I had seen used to great effect by the uber talented Las Vegas based wedding photographer John Michael Cooper called light painting. When there isn’t a fabulous bride around to model for me sometimes you just have to improvise. So, the photo below is a self portrait I shot with a little help from my full time Mum and part time assistant. (thanks Mum)
This photo is shot at the front door to my apartment/studio. The camera is set on a tripod to a 30 second exposure and a torch is literally used to paint in the area of the frame you want to highlight. The subject, me, must stay very still for 30 seconds while the shutter is open. To add a little more interest to the scene I set a flash to camera left, which is creating the shadows on the wall.
I set the camera on a timer, went and sat in the corner and got my assistant (Mum) to “paint” me into the frame. I think the final result was pretty good, as it minimised my chubby cheeks, avoided the shiny solar panel that is starting to appear on top of my head, and hid my ever expanding waisteline which seems to be growing an inch every year since I turned 30.
This is just a different crop of the same photo
Below is a set up shot taken while I was experimenting with exposures that better illustrates the technique that was used. You can see where I have used the torch to “paint” the wall white
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