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Watching over the Canyon in sort of a protective manner. I can relate to just how overwhelming looking out over this canyon can be! What an IMMENSELY awesome thing to see! :-)
The Trip to the Grand Canyon from Vegas seemed like it took FOREVER! I had left Vegas after midnight after a very long day! I had started off the day in the northern area of Death Valley after spending the night in a tent at a campsite that Darren and I had grabbed the day before. During the night I just knew that the Mountain Lions were ganging up and circling the tents and planning their strategy for some tasty meals! Okay... so it could have been just a few Kangaroo Mice instead! Or maybe just the wind! :-D Anyway, I had passed out on Darren the previous night at Racetrack Playa basically from being so totally exhausted that I just couldn't go anymore. So I could have just been dreaming! ;-)
After a restless night, Darren and I got up and made our way south and stopped along the way to see some of the other sites in Death Valley. It was getting very HOT in the middle of the day but we did make it to the Devil's Golf course and a few other places as well. I needed to start heading back towards Dallas and at about 2 or so in the afternoon, I bid farewell to Darren and started heading east.
That evening I stopped in Vegas to meet up with Marisa and one other photographer that lives there in Vegas as well. We spent a little time at the Red Rock Park just on the Northeast side of Las Vegas. After dropping off Marisa at her car and thanking her for the time she spent with us, I started making my way towards the Grand Canyon. At least my plan was to drive for as long as I could and then pull over to get some sleep somewhere. I was not in Arizona too long before I had to stop and found a parking area with a scenic overlook area and laid back the seat to get some rest.
I woke up the next morning as the sun was rising and got back on the road shortly thereafter. Still didn't get much sleep but I was ready to hit the Grand Canyon and see if I could find a secluded area to get some Light Painting Shots in that evening.
I arrived at the Grand Canyon at about noon after a few pit stops for food and fuel and there were people EVERYWHERE! As I walked around the Grand Canyon Village area taking pics here and there, I was also watching the people that were obviously here from all over the world to see this awesome spectacle of nature! So many different languages being spoken that I could not even start to guess what most of them were. It was pretty cool to be standing in the middle of this big melting pot of people from every corner of the planet.
With all of the people around this main area, I decided it was best to venture to the east a bit and see if I could find a nice overlook area not only to catch a nice sunset with the canyon in view, but a spot that would be a good place for some light painting a little later when the moon came up. It was now Monday, May 7th and the full moon occurred two days prior to this. So it would rise roughly two hours after sunset... Plenty of time to get settled! :-)
I drove down East Rim Drive towards Cameron, Arizona. (Cameron loved the fact that "the town was named after him!" when we made a trip to the Grand Canyon in 2001!) Ha! I was so busy looking at the forest and the occasional views over the canyon that I didn't pay much attention to the signs along road as I went. This would come back to bite me a little later! ;-) I stopped at several overlook areas along the way and finally made my way to Navajo Point which is about 20 miles away from the main visitor center. The view from this point was awesome! The canyon made a bend here and the sun would set over the canyon to my west, and you could see the Colorado River at the bottom of the canyon in spots towards the west and in a large area heading to the north east from here. I took a few photos and looked around a bit and found a spot where I could do some Light Painting without fear of falling off into the dark canyon below. At least not TOO much fear! ;-)
So after a little more exploring of the area, I settled down in a good spot to get some shots of the sun setting and just kicked back for a while enjoying the view. Off to the east, I noticed some clouds and it looked like they might have some rain mixed in with them as well. Rain is sort of an unusual thing and you really don't see clouds that often here either so I didn't think much about them other than the fact that I thought it would be cool if some clouds would make an appearance in some of my shots. Well, be careful what you wish for! As the sun was getting closer to the horizon, an overcast moved in and caught up with the sun as well and it was starting to look like there wasn't going to be any sunset shots at this point. It was also looking pretty bad for the Light Painting shoot that I had planned for later as well since this would block the moon from making the landscape visible during the session! 8-O Wow!
Well, just as the sun was getting close to the horizon, it broke back out of the cloud bank and did end up putting on a bit a a show for us. I say "US" because at this point, there were probably 50 other people gathered at the same area hoping to get a shot of the sunset also! ;-)
Anyway… After getting some shots of the sunset and letting it get a bit dark, I headed back towards Grand Canyon Village to see if I could find a place to get some food and do some waiting to see if the clouds would break up at all. On my way back though, I spotted some of the signs that I had missed on the way in! There was one that REALLY stood out and was on the road near the point I had chosen for my Light Painting session that night! It was like the familiar Deer Crossing warning signs that most everyone has seen before, but this was different! Instead of the silhouette of a deer on the sign, it was the silhouette of a Mountain Lion!!! 8-O A Cougar! A Puma! A BIG Cat!! One that HAS been known to attack and kill humans!! I distinctly remember reading that these cats are normally shy and solitary animals, BUT, they DO occasionally attack people, usually children or solitary adults, and that there are about four attacks per year with one fatality each year!!! Great!!! Here I am, in an area where they thought it NECESSARY to put up a sign warning drivers about them and I was going to be a SOLITARY ADULT out in the middle of the night in the middle of NOWHERE!!
I have said it before and I will say it again! One my biggest fears is being eaten alive! Particularly by one of these cats!! It is not the first time I have been in an area where they are known to be, and I am sure it wont be the last! But usually I am with someone else! This time, it was just me! So.. as I dwelled on that thought all the way back to civilization and on through dinner while waiting for the moon to pop out of the clouds, I wondered if I should try to find a different area in the dark or go through with my plans. Things were really not looking too good anyway with the cloud cover so I was starting to think that I would not get any Light Painting shots at the Grand Canyon this go around anyway. :-\
As it starting getting close to midnight, I was getting ready to give up on the moon when I noticed it lighten up a bit outside! Sure enough! The clouds were breaking! Cool! I was at least going to see if I could get a few shots in before hitting the road again to get back to Dallas! So... I made my way back out to Navajo Point and was reminded of the Mountain Lion threat several times along the way! I had convinced myself that I would just try to play it as safe as possible and keep aware of my surroundings as much as possible, but if it was my time to go at the claws of a big cat, then I guess it was time! :-)
When I reached Navajo Point, I got all my gear together and made the short hike over to the rim of the canyon and got things set up. I kept a very bright flashlight turned on and searched the area for glowing eyes at every chance as I got everything ready to shoot. The moon was still at an angle that was causing some unwanted shadows but I just had to deal with the situation I had at the moment and started shooting. Each shot was a little over a 10 minute exposure and it was difficult to NOT turn on the spotlight to look for eyes during the exposures but I refrained. The wind was blowing fairly strong as well, so it was hard to hear anything but the wind blowing through the trees. As soon as I would end an exposure, I would turn on the spotlight to scan for glowing eyes and keep it on the entire time that I was checking the shot. I would scan the trees again before taking the next shot and this went on like this for the next two hours.
After I had created several shots, and at about 2:30 in the morning, my nerves were shot and I was exhausted once again! So I packed things up and high tailed it away from any further threat of being eaten alive that night! I still felt good about the fact that I was FINALLY able to Light Paint the Grand Canyon! :-)
Light Painting - Single Exposure
In the style of Denis Smith (biskitboy)
My daddy passed away 21 years ago today.
I am sorry that I keep posting light orbs like this, but I can't get enough. :-)
✰ This photo was featured on The Epic Global Showcase here: bit.ly/1rh0GmC
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Second contestant from Canada is @photoexcursion! Get the votes in! #lightorb #lightphotography #lightpainting #lazyshutters #slowshutters #slowshutterspeed #longexposure #longexposnipers #balloflight #windycityspinners #pegcityspinners #naptownspinners #weownthenight_ig #ig_nightphotography #nocturnal_visionaries #orbup #steelwooldaily_uk
by @spun_ups on Instagram.
I wanted a photo of that big, beautiful dogwood tree down the road at my neighbor's house for a long time. I think it is so pretty at night.
I've been wanting to try this for a long time and on a 30sec exposure this is how it came out. I'm so pleased with it. It could be perfected but I'm happy with this for now.
✰ This photo was featured on The Epic Global Showcase here: ift.tt/1YwYUsl
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》Featuring The Amazing: @kfootphotography ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
🌐💀🌐 Final Round…. Fight lol 😎🔦🌐 You know I’m throwin down everything I know into this last photo… Head to @spun_ups and give your boy Footy a vote for the Final Round in the Tournament.. Big ups to my dad for coming to help 🌐💀🌐 #orb #orbs #lightorb #balloflight #sphere #lpwalliance #lightpainting #deftonysrealm #photogodsrise #noitenoinstagram #lightpaintingbrushes #ig_dynamic #murderdotcom #agameoftones #fatalframes #streetmobs #thereup #the_best_shotz #theimaged #apgrams #capturedconcepts #creativevagrants #spledid_shotz #splendid_exposure #fuzed_people #moodygrams #streetmobs #shotzdelight #spunups #lightjunkies
✰Follow @kfootphotography on Instagram for more awesomeness like this!
✰ This photo was featured on The Epic Global Showcase here: ift.tt/1YwYUZh
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》Featuring The Amazing: @kfootphotography ┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄┄
I might actually be half good after all these practice orbs and new ones 😉😆🌐🔦🌐Always sloppy learning new Orbs.. But only one way to learn and that’s spinnnnin em’ 😆😨🌐🔦🌐 #orb #orbs #lightorb #balloflight #sphere #lpwalliance #lightpainting #deftonysrealm #photogodsrise #noitenoinstagram #lightpaintingbrushes #ig_dynamic #murderdotcom #agameoftones #fatalframes #streetmobs #thereup #the_best_shotz #theimaged #apgrams #capturedconcepts #creativevagrants #spledid_shotz #splendid_exposure #fuzed_people #moodygrams #streetmobs #shotzdelight #way2ill #gearednomad
✰Follow @kfootphotography on Instagram for more awesomeness like this!
Programmable RGB LED Orb Tool!
Here it is! Ugly and simple but it gets the job done! ;-)
This device works on exactly the same principle as the Digital Light Wand and uses addressable RGB LEDs. This one specifically uses an RGB LED chain that has the WS2801 chip built into it. This chip is what makes it addressable and is what gives it the ability to have so many colors! The great thing about this is, the LightWand Code Generator software that Phil Wright created to easily import an image and generate the programming code for the Digital Light Wand can be used to generate code to drive THIS as well!
I will start this off by saying this. Don't be afraid of the technology you see here! Look at it this way, your computer is made of a bunch of electronics on the inside but you still are able to use it without knowing the specifics of how it works. The software running on your computer is what makes it easy for you to use. This is no different. That little electronics board is nothing but a little computer and there is software to make it do it's thing. You don't need to know anything about electronics or be a programmer to make this work. Anyone can do this! ;-) And if you have any questions or run into any problems at all, there are plenty of folks out there that can give you answers, including me! :-)
Here are the basics but I will try to find some time to make a video tutorial to make one of these to show the details. Please use the preceding photos in the photostream to see some of the details of the construction.
Parts:
■ Arduino Mega (about $50 but you can use a cheaper model or even an Arduino "clone" such at the Boarduino, MHVBoard, Diavolino, RBBB (Really Bare Bones Board), and a host of others I am sure. You can even buy kits to solder your own together if you want to be really adventurous and save a bit more money. See note below also.)
■ Addressable RGB LED chain (about $45) (I only used 12 LEDs from the chain)
■ These will work just fine as well!
■ Header Pins (Not totally necessary but they do make it easier to plug into the Arudio boards. The 90 degree angled header pins are the easiest to deal with, to me anyway. You can also just solder the end of the wires and press them into the header holes on the Arduino board as well and skip the use of the header pins)
■ Plastic food storage container
(Round, about 4 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter) ( I guess you could use a square one too, but it won't be as aerodynamic! Ha! ;-) )
■ Wire Coat Hanger
■ String or Nylon cord
■ About 7 feet of Speaker Wire (about 18 Gauge)
■ 9 volt battery case with switch and 5.5mm/2.1mm barrel power plug
■ Electrical Tape
Once you have the items you need, you will need to pay close attention specifically to the how the RGB LED Chain that you have is wired. There have been differences with how this is done on different chains produced in the past so this is very important. You can read about and see specifics of what to look for on this web page. There is an INPUT and OUTPUT side of each of the LED Modules and you will need to make sure you connect the INPUT side of the chain to the Arduino board. You also need to pay attention to which wire is the Data wire and which wire is the Clock wire so that you connect them to the right pins on the Arduino board.
Instructions...
1) Prepare the LED chain by cutting the wire so that you have 12 LED modules in the chain and stripping about 1/8th of an inch of the insulation off the end of the wire to expose the inner conductor. Make sure this is on the INPUT side of the module as explained above!
2) Then solder two, two-piece headers to the wires (One for the power connection to +5v and GRND on the Arduino board, and one for the Data and Clock. The Data wire needs to be connected to Pin 51 on the Arduino and the Clock wire needs to be connected to Pin 52 on the Arduino board.
3) Prepare the plastic food container by drilling holes to accept the 12 (or however many you choose to use) LED modules and place them into the holes. I used a smaller drill bit first and then went to a larger one. Be careful doing this because the drill will want to grab the plastic and spin it violently! Yes, experience is speaking here! :-)
4) Make sure the LED modules are in place and snug and place the Arduino board in the assembly with the Power and USB connectors at the top so that you can get to them later. You can use some hot glue to hold them in place if you need to but if the holes are the right size, they will fit right.
5) You can use the lid that came with the food container to help hold the assembly in place if you wish, but this is not necessary. I cut a hold in the lid with a knife to allow the Arduino board to stick through.
6) You will need to cut the wires coming from the 9 volt battery holder and insert a length of speaker wire so that you will be able to hold the battery and switch in one hand while swinging the orb tool with your other hand. Make sure the length of wire you use is long enough for you to do this. Use solder and electrical tape to secure the connections and make sure they are insulated from one another. Also play close attention to the polarity here. (Positive (+) and Negative (-) connections need to remain the same as they were before you cut the wire)
7) Cut the wire coat hanger into pieces so that you can bend three pieces into a holder for the food container as shown in the pics. This will help keep it centered and will be used to relieve the strain of the swinging force from the power wire.
8) Use string or nylon cord to run along the power wire and allow the wire to have some slack so that you will not pull the connection out of the Arduino board while swinging. The string should be tied around the hanger wire pieces and the string will need to take the full force of tension while swinging the tool to make an orb.
Note: Other Arduinos can be used as well but the pin numbers will be different. Memory is not really that much of an issue since the programs to drive one of these are very small. So I would almost be willing to bet that ALL of the Arduinos could be used including the tiny Arduino LilyPad! But I would stick with the ones that have a USB interface built in so you won't have to jump through hoops to get it programmed. I would also stick with the boards that have a 5v regulated Power supply as well unless you want to deal with powering the LED Lights from a separate source.
Here are some that I would recommend:
Arduino Uno - Connect to pins 11(MOSI (data)) and 13(SCK (Clock))
Arduino Duemilanove - Connect to pins 11(MOSI (data)) and 13(SCK (Clock))
Arduino Mega - Connect to pins 51(MOSI (data)) and 52(SCK (Clock))
Arduino Nano - Connect to pins 11(MOSI (data)) and 13(SCK (Clock))
Now... this is a very basic orb tool other than the electronic brain that is added to it. So it has the same problem other basic orb tools have in that after spinning it for a little while, the wires inside the speaker wire will be constantly bent and ultimately break. Which will stop those precious little electrons from flowing to the board and leave it without power. So you may have to periodically cut a section of wire out where it breaks and put in a new section to keep it going. :-) Usually this will happen right in the middle of spinning your best orb of the night, but don't blame me... it's Murphy's fault! ;-) If you would like instructions on spinning a basic orb, then click here.
Please let me know if you have any questions. This is just a brief tutorial so I might have missed something in the process of writing it all up. :-)
You will need the Arduino Software and will also need the Lightwand Code Generator software mentioned above to program this tool. You can follow the link for the Digital Light Wand above and there is further information on that blog entry about the software. You do not need to be a programmer at all to use this, the Lightwand Code Generator does all of that for you! :-)
Enjoy! :-)
Oh, and as a side note, you can use this setup mounted to some wood trim or anything really and it becomes a Digital Light Wand! Lot of possibilities here. :-)
If you are interested in learning more about Light Painting Photography, I have written an eBook on the subject. You can find out more about the book here. :-)
Second attempt at making light orbs using my prototype light painting tool last night. Many obstacles throughout the evening... first one being the cold temps; then trying to find a decent location without any bright lights (hard to find in Missoula); finally found a location then had issues with my intervalometer (mainly me trying to figure things out in the dark). Also had some issues with the LED controller (blue LED's very dim).
Obviously I have a few issues to address before making another attempt. Looking forward to going back to this undisclosed location for another try.
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Canon 5D MK III
Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Missoula, MT
Tried widening the radius of the spin to make the off-centredness seem less by comparison, but it made the spin a bit messy.
Sending you greetings from Neu-Ulm, Germany, to wherever you are!
I wish you all the very best. May 2013 be a good year for all of us!
Update: Pseudo / fake HDR version
Following on from my recent theme of light painting I set about constructing an L.E.D Orb spinning tool using battery powered xmas tree lights that were bunched together at the end and taped in place. I then extended the length of the wire by cutting and adding an extra metre of speaker wire. This was probably only my second orb ever and probably looks more like an apple!! I used the method where you spin around your hand which is the pivot point and ensure the spinning end passes over an object on the ground.
Quite atmospheric in woodland under moonlight all the trees were creaking in the wind :-)
In the blue hour... I hung around in the pine woods after I had finished shooting the beach huts at Wells-next-the-sea. I set up my flash to give a bit of interest to foreground too.
STROBIST
SB-700 camera left full power 24mm. Fired via Nikon CLS at the start of the exposure.
An orb hovering over the beach at Rincon Point, California. The orb is not an artifact of Photoshop. It is the product of a mysterious public art performance captured entirely with a long exposure photograph--click to see an enlarged view and the star trails from the long exposure.
Taken at Bärenbrunnerhof, Palatina. Atop the Sternfels-Rock in the middle you can see 2 spectators.
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Mond, Sternfels und Lightorb. Auf dem Gipfel des Sternfels in Bildmitte kann man 2 Zuschauer erkennen.
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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Please darken your room, lay back and enjoy this picture in the LIGHTBOX . . . . . . . . . . . . looks muuuch better. PROMISE !
In a few short days, I will be hitting the road in what I have started calling "The LP Express"! My little SUV with a small trailer in hot pursuit filled with all of the light Painting Tools I have created and collected over the years! (Pics coming soon!) This will be one awesome trip!
My first stop will be be to meet up with jah~ and we will be off to Utah for a night in Arches National Park! Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon, and Zion National Park are also on the list to hit as we make our way to Vegas!
Once in Vegas, we will be branching out to some awesome areas, including Hoover Dam, Death Valley, and some Ghost towns are on the list as well!
And THEN! The following weekend I am hoping to meet up with a few more light painters back in Death Valley for some more awesome LP scenery! ;-)
Things have been keeping me crazy busy getting ready for this trip and keeping up with a slow but steady stream of business as well. But there are some cool things on the horizon! :-)
This were created during some testing of the orb tools offered on www.LightPaintingTools.com
Light Painting - Single Exposure
not exactly the perfect light orb but I still have my young apprentice (my son) in training! Still think it came out quite interesting though
Got a call from a friend, that his son had a school project to hand in shortly and that he had to do something visual for the final part and was wondering if I could help out.
As I was working out a tutorial session for a workshop anyway I used this as a test walk through as I would be showing his son how to go about creating this.
I used a bottle blade and some cheap pound shop Christmas LED string lights for the orb. The standing wood frame was lit with some sweet wrappers over my lenser.
For this weeks theme I decided to do a night landscape with light orb added for the extra effect.
My friend Kaman went with me to make sure that my camera didn`t get wash away while I was in the Irish Sea swinging fairy lights and to control trigger. I was soaked and even though I was wearing wellies and waterproof trousers my shoes filled up with water and I got extra bit of workout climbing back up the hill to the car :-)
After shooting an hour long star trail shot on the eastern shore of Lake McDonald I thought I'd play around with some light orb shots and since there was no traffic after midnight I tried one in the middle of the "Going to the Sun road. Very clear night, no wind, and millions of stars out.
Canon 5D MK III
Canon EF 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye
Glacier National Park, Montana
Orbtastic the Ball of Colour meets up with a Ball of Fire in a secluded location under the M6 somewhere in Warwickshire