As I said in another post ... I just had to try this
http://www.pcphotomag.com/how-to/digita ... light.html

WOW, is this cool or what

I didn't go out looking for a good subject, just wanted to see how it worked. 'Course, my squirrels think their feeder is the best subject around.

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I don't have any colored gel filters as discussed in the article, but changing white balance yields different moods. The left is tungsten - which is correct.

One more...

Flashlight2.jpg (125.2 KiB) Viewed 963 times

Some of you have posted great pictures of old barns and sheds. Wouldn't it be fun to try a flashlight on one of those?

Rusty

That is cool, Rusty. Did you just use a flashlight? The article didn't say what setting to use. What did you use. Rusty!!!

If you do as much of this as Tom Bol does, you probably know what you are doing. Me, I was just blundering around.

I used Bulb shutter setting. On a Nikon you get that only with "Manual"; when you press the shutter the first time it opens and remains open until you press it again (and it then closes). I used my flashlight to light the feeder so the camera could focus; then I switched to manual focus so it wouldn't sit there confused in the dark with nothing to focus on. I set it on f/11 to help compensate for any focus error.

I used a big Mag-Light (3 D-cells) with a button that flashes the light on and off. I walked around painting the tree with flashes of light. The shortest exposure was about 30 seconds, the longest a bit over a minute. The exposure time doesn't mean much, the key is how much light you hit it with. I don't think there is any way to really plan or time what you are doing unless, as I say, you do a lot of this and know what to expect.

Rusty

Thanks Rusty, did you use a cable release or remote??

used the little electronic clicker. Probably doesn't matter that much as it's dark when you open the shutter so any camera movement can't be "seen" by the sensor. But, I like the remote because it avoids fumbling around in the dark feeling for the button. I'm such a klutz, I would probably knock the tripod over.

Rusty

if you want to have some fun try using the flashlight like a paintbrush on various parts of the subject. The results are unprdictable but sometimes you get something unusually beautiful.

what a fantastic idea.

Great stuff, Rusty! Will have to give it a go!