Another "How was this shot"

Derek Zoolander · Sep 8, 2009

Is this something I can do with my 580ex ii?

Paddy Graham, Portrait on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

thenikonguy · Sep 8, 2009

you'd get better results using a small light that fits in your hand.. something like a keychain LED..

Jaszek · Sep 8, 2009

you can do it with your flash too. It's just a long exposure, walking around flashing the light and at the end get a lot of light on yourself, or take one with the light and other with just you and combine.

ANDS! · Sep 8, 2009

He tells you how he does it on the page. It's a 13 second exposure with flash. The flash is only visible for a brief moment enough to light up the scene, and the rest of the time is spent with another person running about like a maniac with a light.

Derrel · Sep 8, 2009

Notice the flash is a bare-bulb type (A Quantum Q-flash with the reflector removed),and an assistant is running around the scene making flash pop after flash pop....how many pops were there? 150 or more? Note that the flash-holder's hands do not show. He was probably wearing all black,including gloves.

Dean Collins did a talk about this technique 25 years ago. He would have his black-clad assistants, aka "ninjas" moving through difficult to light interiors and adding light with flash units while he did long exposures on large format film using daylight-balanced film. They would hide the light in front of their bellies, hunching up their shoulders, to prevent the flash from showing them in silhouette. This shot is a bit different though.

You have to make sure that your "Ninja" does not accidentally illuminate him or her self while making said 150-200 flash pops, hence the need for black clothes and being on the move. It's a neat picture! Thanks for showing it to us.

musicaleCA · Sep 8, 2009

I've used a single flash to illuminate a scene myself. A little more subtle with it in this case, but still, you can get a lot out of a single flash unit if you just have a tripod and do a long exposure. I just used my flash to light-up the left side of the tower; the right was being illuminated by a bonfire.