When you shine a light upon an object, it casts a shadow.

These are Glass Shadows.

Techniques album is being culled together : www.flickr.com/photos/194396336@N03/albums/72177720298656152

Moving forward, adding extensive digital editing, using Glass Shadows images as backgrounds, and assets, new and meaningful images are being created. The first major effort using Glass Shadows images for all content is the 'climate change demon series', and some unique singular images that appear during development of the climate change demon series.

www.flickr.com/photos/194396336@N03/51703225304/

Glass Shadows light painting digital art images are created using colored LED holiday string lights, refracted through glass (lens spheres, 'snow globes', lead crystal, generic glass) onto a painting canvas. Then, captured using Focus Stacking and shutter speed HDR techniques, with up to 7 EV step captures at each focal plane. After stacking and HDR computer processing, a finalized image is completed with manual, global editing in a photo editor.

Started fooling around with a snow globe, Christmas tree lights and photo paper last year. Things got rapidly out of hand. First a glass sphere...then another. Next thing I knew, I was crawling through collectible and 2nd hand stores with bloodshot and sharply focused eyes, gamely looking for shapely glass and cut lead crystal pieces. The photo paper was too small, and I knew I needed help upon acquisition of a 36x48 painting canvas. Then, after each new piece of glass, yet again, up all night long feeding my eyes colors and shapes to ride high into the indeterminate and brilliantly shaped and colored images crossing the painting canvas, like wild winds full of life for the night.

It is in the night that I capture Glass Shadows.

It is in the night that Glass Shadows shine brightest.

General guidelines for Glass Shadows:

- No, or very limited, direct light into DSLR sensor : light captured is reflected light from glass and canvas surfaces

- Only glass, exceptions : water spheres and 'sno-globes', and mirrors. Generally. shadows should be created bending light, not blocking it.

- Glass can include sanded images

- Capture is of a single canvas, from any angle.

- Global edits, no selection editing.

Glass Shadows employs focus stacking and HDR photography techniques to create a digital image, as a means of creating a final digital image with the greatest form and color. It is not required, as single stacks, from prior to the HDR processing, are also very beautiful and useful.

Materials (general and current list) :

Red, Blue, Yellow, Green single color 20 ft. LED holiday string lights

2" clear packing tape to bundle LED lights

36"x48" paint canvas, with clamp stand

solid photo-quality glass spheres

water filled spheres (water only 'snow-globes')

24% Lead Crystal glass -- many various pieces : flower bowls/vases, candlestick holders, hurricane lamps, platters, jars, etc.

Crystaline - non-lead crystal glass pieces

Photo Equipment :

Nikon D850

Nikon 20mm

Nikon 50mm

Software :

Helicon Remote is used for image collection

Helicon Focus is used for focus stacking

Photomatix Pro is used for HDR processing

Gimp is used for photo editing