My light trails explained (kind of)

derek897 · 2018-04-01T01:25:16+0100

As you have probably noticed, a lot of my recent posts have been around light trails, I have been asked numerous times to explain how I do it and my processing. They only thing holding me back from doing it is my ability or lack of it to explain. However, I shall try to explain with 1 image as the techniques are more or less the same. Some explanations, Simple pendulum = Single piece of sting, any length, with a light attached to the end, with the other end tied to a horizontal pole Complex pendulum ( this is tricky as there are any number of variations, I will give the one I used for this shot) (step 1) = 1 piece of string, 760mm long, tie both ends to a horizontal bar 80mm apart, the string should droop down to about 380mm in the center, (step 2) = 1 piece of string 700mm long with a light attached to the end, tie the other end to the center of the drooping string from step 1. This is your complex pendulum, it gives the pendulum unrestricted movement perpendicular to the direction of the bar, but restricts movement in the direction of the bar. The ratio of the length of the droop and the length of the attached string with the light matters, as this is what governs what type of pattern you will get. (experiment) So, using the above complex pendulum ratio, and with my camera setup directly underneath, set on bulb mode, 2 sec delay, f14, iso 100, and exp of 119 secs. in a dark room. In order to prevent the complex aspect taking over too quickly, I gave the pendulum a fairly decent elliptical swing. You can clearly see where the complex aspect took over and the pattern changed,it continued to change roughly every 20 secs or so - 2 each time it changed, resulting in the wave forms, had I let it continue, the waves would continue to get shorter. This is the resulting unedited image by , on Flickr A fairly decent example of what you can get, Next step was to open in ACR, adjust contrast, exp, highlights, shadows, sharpness, then save. Resulting in this by , on Flickr Reopen in ACR, adjust colour temp and saturation, tweak levels again, save again. Resulting in this by , on Flickr Reopen in photoshop, I rotated the the image cc till it was kind of pointing to either corner, at this point I selected a portion of the top left corner to the edge of the last wave, and duplicated it 8 times, played around with levels and colour till I liked the look of it. Which resulted in this by , on Flickr Or this by , on Flickr Some links that probably explain it better than I can. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=uPbzhxYTioM This Guy has really made an art form out of it, https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=n13Ij4NSNI8 I hope this explains it, some what.

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derek897 derek897

2322 posts
13 years
Wicklow Ireland

Posted 10/04/2018 - 11:53 Link

Hi Neill, no worries man, there is a couple of pics further up the page.
It's a battery powered light. I used a biģ torch battery, the ones with the 2 springs on top.
The hole in the coffee tin was punched with a Philips screwdriver so is around 6 or 7 mm

I know what i like, If not always why.