Do you like details? If you just answered ‘yes’ to that question, you’re in the right place. This type of painting is about the time that is registered in detail with lights and everything that can’t be seen by the naked eye.
What You Need for Your Shot
A totally dark place is necessary for you to use your creativity feeling no fear of being happy. You can be in the middle of a forest at night, in a dark room, or even under the bed. I must clarify, though, that I’m not focusing on exterior details. I’m just choosing the best place, where it’s completely dark, so that the lights are seen and the lights’ details are focused.
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I like using flashlights of different colors, candles, matches, steel wool or even a dynamite (I’m just kidding, don’t do that at home). You can use anything that emits light since only bright colored objects will have their lights visible. It’s totally up to you. Once you have them in hand, you need to set your camera to execute your art;
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Or even BULB Mode, using a tripod and a camera remote to minimize the movements so the photograph won’t be blurred – that will give you enough time to draw or write in the air with light. Everything that has been done is going to be revealed later hanging in the air.
Exploring Bulb Mode
You might this video about Exploring Bulb Mode very helpful. In this video, Ben Long explained how to use and what you need to know about Bulb Mode.
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Imagination, Research, Background
Imagination and research are those that make your photos attractive. You should portray all teachings that you’ve acquired throughout life. I always study one day before taking the pictures I want; I buy many materials that can offer me diversity – and light! I think and study about it. It is a moment when you need to think sensibly and differently about everything that has happened and will still happen in the near future. For example, I once scrutinized the history of Phoenix, and I was so delighted about it! I wanted to create something that would remind me of the strength that we have to have to face life, so I showed every single detail that was on my mind.
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I was studying about the Mount Vesuvius volcano, and then I became all emotional about the lives that have been destroyed by that force of nature, so I wanted to show how it would be if I were in a countdown about to be devoured by lava. My camera was resting on the floor while I was making all these sparks fly off from a steel wool by spinning it. I wanted something that was as fleeting as time.
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I threw bug spray into a fire.
Your Perspective
I’m used to saying that photography is kind of an explicit visual poetry. When you shoot what you see, you show to the world all the things that your eyes see by themselves; you show to the world the poetry that only you see. Photography is everything that you think it is; it’s all that you see and believe in. And if you know the rules, you can break them and expand your perspective, which is the most important and creative part of your life. You can disagree that the lights are not as important as they are to me, and I cannot dare to say that you’re wrong because you have your own reasons and beliefs, and I have mine as well. All the instability of life and life itself make art more complete and unmatched. Your unstable art and life are only yours.
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Patience and Practice
There’s no point in taking pictures if you are not a patient person and do not like to practice. The best results come from the numerous attempts. If the picture came out too much underexposure/overexposure, do it again, don’t be afraid, because it only gets better in time. Don’t keep yourself tiptoeing. Surrender to yourself, to your life, to your own art.
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Have Some Fun
Yes, you read that right. Have some fun! Dance to the sound of a great song as you’re doing it. Put the camera at the position you prefer, and just let things happen naturally. If you want to discover everything about long-exposure photography, you can’t. You just need to know that it’s never the same thing.
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Carolina “Cass” Ferreira
My name is Carolina Ferreira (or you can call me Cass), and I’m from Brazil. I’m a writer (I write Modernist Poems in Portuguese and Haikus) and a photographer. I’m here to share my perspective with the world because photography is what defines me and completes me.