does anyone know ho to shoot "ray of light" effectively?

nina_sayang · Sep 20, 2006

i'm a beginner.. i want to learn how to shoot sun ray of light effectively. i have try for many times, but it's results is too dark or too bright. what i have to do? i want to know how is the camera setting, what is the best angle, the exposure, etc...

and i have another question...how to make a great contrasty and dramatic light like this:

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2053295

thanks before.

Peanuts · Sep 20, 2006

I would be betting that the ray of light was entirely done in photoshop. Hopefully someone can help you out though

LaFoto · Sep 21, 2006

In this particular photo that you chose as your example here, Nina, the ray looks definitely photoshopped. More so since angle of ray and point where it is supposed to light up the tree and child don't tally ... the angle is far too steep for the ray to hit where it does here.

As to photographing rays: wait for hazy days, and go shooting early, quite early, when the sun is still low. You will see the rays with your eyes and ... when you deliberately underexpose your photos just a little (1 stop, 2 at the most), they should come out nicely in your pictures.

Afterwards you can still tweak your photo in Photoshop or any other postprocessing software that comes with the camera or a scanner or so (they all come with CDs!) to increase the contrasts. Let's see what you get soon as you get your first rays, ok

.

Welcome to ThePhotoForum, by the way (before I forget...

)

chris82 · Sep 21, 2006

call yourself a beginer,thats a great shot...but what would i know im a beginer

LaFoto · Sep 21, 2006

That shot was not Nina's, Chris, but one that she aspires to be able to shoot (or create) one day.

rmh159 · Sep 21, 2006

I can't pull up that shot right now for whatever reason but when I've been able to get the "ray of light" it's usually on a cloudy day right as the clouds begin to break. You get one or two areas the sun breaks through and you can capture that. You'd need some type of average metering though (center weighted or matrix) cuz like you said if you expose for the sun it'll be a dark pic... if you expose for the clouds or whatever, it'll be a bright pic.

I don't know how useful that advice is but... it's all I's gots.

I was able to get this shot like that if that's what you're going for (again, I'm at work and can't pull up the pic you refered to).

Innocence · Sep 21, 2006

haha oh whoa that's so pretty

chris82 · Sep 21, 2006

ah...i see,i should have read the post correctly,i work nightshift...makes me very tired

markc · Sep 21, 2006

That effect works best when there is something in the air for the light to reflect off of, because you can't see light itself. A dusty barn works great.

Soocom1 · Sep 21, 2006

Ok.. I know I shouldn’t do this, but here it goes:

For those reading who know this, please forgive the obvious. For those who do not, take notes.

One reason I stress to people to understand how light itself works is because of these kinds of shots.

The ray of light effect is something that unless it is photo shopped as mentioned above, is actually at the whim of God.

First, you have to look for the right conditions.

These include a lot of sunlight and some means of blocking it. (I.e. clouds, trees, etc.)

Second, the rays are not possible to pick up unless there is particulate matter in the air. This includes water vapor, dust, dirt, ash, or some other form of ‘lighter than air particulates’ that allow the refraction of light off of them.

To test this theory, go outside on a dark night (no moon) and turn on a flashlight. You might see some kind of light coming from it, but if you kick up some dust, whoa-la, you have light rays. Same thing with the sun.
Anyone who spends time in the woods knows this, and every photographer at one time or another seeks this effect out.

Yes it can be artificially made, even with simple home made lights.
The trick is not necessarily the settings on the camera, but rather capturing the refracted light of the particles.

This you will have to experiment with, but the general rule of thumb is: look for cloud burst on windy days near sun rise or sun set, humid days, dusty days, days with rain in a distance, etc. In the woods, usually during the hours between 9 am and 5 pm, but if there is a time where the sun bursts through the tress, anytime will work.

For inside effects, soft boxes with slits, or barn doors along with some kind of dust works.

Again, you need the ability to ‘see’ the rays of light when particles are in the air.
Funny thing is that cameras have a tendency to see them more often than human eyes.

The settings on the camera are secondary.

poodlebean · Sep 23, 2006

easy!

taking the steps listed above will help ie; the time of day, the conditions present - rays of light are more apparent when there are more dust particles in the air, when the sun is on a low angle and so on. So very early morning when it's misty, when it's raining, when it's foggy, when there have been dust storms or bushfires and so on will enhance the likeliness of the suns rays being visible.

If shooting macro shots you can enhance the rays by having someone help you spray a fine mist of water, or spreading a bit of dust around in the background and so on (if you can be bothered with all of that)

as for capturing the rays on film- you need a fast shutter speed! Now I'd need adice from others on 'what speed' as most of the instances where I have deliberately sought to capture rays have been underwater and shooting underwater, a fast shutter speed is 1/90th! (that's pretty slow on land!) I'd guess shoot 1/125th at least!

Shooting fast means sacrificing your ambient light though, so you'll want to open up your aperture ring to ensure you still get nice natural lighting OR use fill flash to light the other parts of the photograph which you want to.

forget Photoshop- if you are in the right place at the right time and you have the skills you'll get a shot like the one you saw anyway. A great book for shooting manual stuff is 'The Guide to Underwater Photography' by Andrew Green and Heinz someone-or-other...if you can find a copy, it's the best!

THORHAMMER · Sep 24, 2006

chances are if you see and shoot a ray of light most of the picture will be overexposed and flaring.... PS is the way to go....

Innocence · Nov 16, 2006

Godbeams go!

http://lylongfoto.com/articles/20811181246_9144.jpg

Forgive me bumping an old thread but just had to share this. Almost had me in tears .

Reading all the posts above, does that mean the church was dusty? or is he a photoshop wizard?

LaFoto · Nov 16, 2006

Innocence, from your words I assume you FOUND this photo somewhere and are very, very impressed with it, but you did not TAKE it?
That is why I changed the photo to a mere link.
In the galleries we only post our own work (unless it is the ultrasound picture of our baby on the way, wink-wink, Uberben!), you see?

And I do agree, that photo is VERY impressive, and yes, I guess there was a lot of dust in the air of that church (and maybe a bit of photoshop being applied later to bring out the rays more, but they must have been there in the first place for them to show like this, I say).

bitteraspects · Nov 16, 2006

generally you have to be able to kind of see ht eeffect first, then you can capture it. you want to focus on a dark area of what youre shooting , and move to the ray.

reading that, it makes no sense.
sorry in advance