Wilderness Light Painting

Rabbit Blanket Lake

Darkness, real horizon-to-horizon nighttime blackout, is rare these days. Even in rural areas, the glowing aura of distant towns and the flashing strobes of passing aircraft compromise the night sky. Experiencing a landscape lit only by the faint glow of the Milky Way is a pleasure reserved for wilderness travel.  When I am on a trip far from man-made lights, I enjoy photographing the pristine darkness of the nighttime sky.


Using an SLR atop a tripod to capture enticing images of the night sky is something most
photographers can pull off with a little knowledge and good technique. When photographing the night sky, I include a portion of landscape like the silhouette of the tree line or a single, leafless tree on a thin slice of foreground. This technique grounds the image and gives the viewer a point of reference. Simply pointing your lens at the sky will render an image of stars, but chances are the viewer will have no idea what they are looking at. I have found that including the reflecting surface of a calm lake in the foreground adds loads of visual interest to the image.

To add a little extra magic to a nighttime scene, I use a portable light to “light paint” trees or other foreground objects.

I first came across the light painting technique in View Camera Magazine a few years ago. The artist had used an impressive array of  batteries, automobile headlamps, and long, multiple exposures to paint the ruins of medieval churches and castles with light. While the resulting photographs were stunning, applying this technique on a wilderness trip is not practical. Instead, I use my powerful Pelican “Heads Up” headlamp to do the painting.

To light paint a scene that includes the starry sky, secure your camera with a wide-angle zoom lens to a tripod. When your eyes have adjusted to the darkness, compose the photograph through the viewfinder (or live-view if you prefer).

Since there is very little ambient light to work with, set the ISO setting to 800 and the aperture to either wide open or stop the lens down one stop. With the focus set at infinity, set the shutter speed to 30 seconds. A shutter speed longer than 30 seconds will render stars as steaks of light instead pf pinpoints. With all lights off, open the shutter using a remote shutter release.
 
While the shutter counts down 30 seconds, run a beam of light over the foreground trees or landscape as if you were painting it. Avoid leaving the light in one spot too long or overexposed “hot spots” will appear in your photograph. Paint only the objects you want to see illuminated in the photograph, leaving everything else in the dark.

Light painting takes a little practice, but if you willing to stay up a little late you should be able to bring home some great images the first night out.


Photo: Rabbit Blanket Lake, Ontario
©RW Domm 2012
Nikon D300  Tamron 17-35mm f2.8
30 sec f3.5  RAW file