It is all about color. Light has a color temperature. Light exerts physical pressure on objects in its path. Light travels in the form of a wave. Different wavelengths = different colors in the spectrum.Light is either absorbed, reflected, or transmitted. If light hits something solid and is absorbed the object is black. If it is reflected it is white. Light going through something is transmitted such as a piece of glass. If the glass is tinted green the light coming out is tinted green. Some light is cool and some light is hot! There is a shade of gray that is a “neutral” gray ( 18% gray) and will reflect all colors equally. Very over simplified but it works for me and this is my blog ha ha.
Light has a color temperature
It is kind of neat how well todays cameras will automatically figure this out for you – up to a point. Then if you use the automatic settings you might turn the little dial (or select it on a menu) and choose sunny, raining, cloudy, or night hoping to compensate for the lighting situation. This works fairly well, most of the time but, yep there is the but, when there is a mixture of ligh sources it usually fails. Sometimes the temperature (kelvin blues are 5,000 kelvin and up while reds are 3,000 and lower) of a light source can add to the photo’s creativeness and at other times it can ruin it.
Nothing sucks worse than shooting a family group photo in front of the all the presents and having everything tinted orange or capturing a great skiing shot only to have the scene tinted blue. Shooting in RAW format makes this a non problem because you can adjust the white balance with the software. To get the color right the camera needs to register white as white . What all the little sunny and cloudy settings do is tell the camera to adjust the color temperature over one way or the other (shift) to get the whites white. Incandescent lights turn everything an orangish red light temperature. In film days filters were used to shift the light coming in the lens. In digital you just tell the camera hey I am shooting in incandescent light and it shifts it over for you. Cool no?
Here is a photo where my friend Tim took a LED flash light into the train and waved it around (light painting) while I took a long exposure shot. I held a standard flash light on the side of the train to paint the lettering. It took us several tries for me to get close to what we wanted. The errie looking light in the train, the red letters showing red, and the rest of the train and background dark. And no Tim in the pic.
One of these days Tim and I need to go back and improve upon what we started.
When I am not lazy and really want the white balance set right I use the gray card and maually set the camera to the right kelvin setting. Sometimes I guess at the kelvin setting and after entering it adjust. Real lazy days I use the software and adjust the RAW file.
My mind is now wondering why my D80 only has a max flash sync speed of 1/200 but my older D70 has 1/500 sec.
Ok nothing to do with light but all about perspective – since I was on a train of thought:
This evening we stopped on the way home from Vacaville at the Vic Fazio Wildlife Refuge. By the time KRP had worked the wagon through all the mud it was almost dark. This is known as a last ditch shot LOL.
Shot at
- f/5
- 1/1600 sec
- IS) 1600
- @180mm
Limited light sometimes bring interesting results. That are only visiable after pushing the expore to get a look.
Night Flight
photos © kmilyun
If any info is wrong above please let me know cause I have forgotten more than I know LOL LOL
Most of your post went flying over my head, like those birds, whose picture is magnificent!
Well I did tag it rambling . …
I love your work! The clarity and depth is amazing…. I owned a photog business for many years and truly miss it. The money just isn’t there for me anymore so I gave up the professional career… and then sadness… all my equipment was stolen!! Sad, dark day for me.
I love the perspective shot….
Now that is plain not nice nitching someones gear!
Would love to see some of your work.
Money – what is that I am forgetting what it looks like ha ha . …
Huh? I just point and shoot…LOL
Great night flying birds!
Yah that is what we all do! Sometimes it works out for us.
The night bird shot was fun. i had to view the RAW NEF file to see it.
Amazing what lurks in the bits and bytes of digital images.
Love the train photo and the story of its creation. I had a partner who was a Physics geek and worked on the colors of plane instruments. I never knew there were so many aspects to the color red. Who knew?
red is fun. I am thinking of setting up something that would be like a big spirography using lights.
Red could be the last added into a long exposure.
I still have my little red pen light and the laser light on my level emmm ummm
Lots of Christmas light strings around – bet after the Holidays the battery operated one will be cheap.
Must think – bicycle wheel, axel, lights, a big round pipe maybe?
Are you left-handed by chance?
Ambidextrous
Seriously? Well, that explains the fusion of artistic with analytical in your creations.
Am off to do some brain-gym exercises to boost my creativity 😉
Yep. Depends on what it is. Roller ball mice – right handed.
Writing either, tools either, left eye dominant, . …
If I was shown how to do something by someone left handed I tend to do it left handed and vic versa.
Anyone figure out what the first photo upper left is – no cheating now.
It’s the edge of a chalice with magical powers to heal those with horrid neurological illnesses. Heck, why stop there. I think it probably could be used to heal all health ailments and possibly bring about world peace.
Of course, being so powerful it exerts a magnetic force field that knocks mere mortals on their arses and demolishes any technical equipment contrived to come into contact with it. And, the brilliant spectrum of colors exuded from it permanently blinds those who come within a twelve meters of it.
So, harnessing this power and obtaining the magical chalice can only be obtained by strategic planning from a neurotic feline creature possessing great intellectual prowess. However, the capture of the chalice can only be carried out by two courageous canine half-animal, half-spirit creatures that can morph their energy evading the destructive powers of the chalice which are as powerful as the healing powers.
…another way of saying, dunno, do tell.
The canines drank from the magical chalice after obtaining out from under the paws of a feline creature using physic powers and a bit a levetation known only to their species.
Alas they waited and waited but no magical healing powers were sensed and the world is still not at peace.
The canines cry fowl blaming it on the chalice’s feline provenance and decide their food bowls offer more promising reward.
. … another way of saying, an Andy Williams CD
ROFL!
Both about the Andy Williams CD and the “chalice’s feline provenance” being allegedly problematic so that the canines could head off to their bowls! Nicely done.