How do you do this?

themartin08 · Jul 13, 2007

Hey I wast wondering how to get a picture like this......

I have a lot like it but not the same.....

http://flickr.com/photos/poolphoto/421726456/in/set-72157594280078172/

WingedPower · Jul 13, 2007

That look can be achieved in one of several ways.

But, first, let's decompose the scene:

1) Guitarist and his gear striking a pose.
2) blue light glow trails from guitar
3) orange light glow circular trails to the right
4) highly saturated scene/off colors

So, how would one create this?

Method #1: Flash+shutter drag

What you do is shoot the scene in a very dark room with maybe some light from a window, reflecting off of the metal on the guitar, and someone off to the side twirling a glowstick/etc.

Your camera is set to something like 1/4 of a second shutter with a short burst flash firing at the beginning of the shutter, but the rest of the scene is exposed in the dark, save the reflected light from the guitarist swinging his guitar and from the glowstick twirling to the side.

What this will do is the initial short burst flash will expose and freeze the guitarist and most of the scene(eq/etc), but anything else after that will be exposed with reflected or low levels of light. So, they create light trails on the film or sensor.

You can simulate this by yourself in a room. What you do is put your camera on a tripod. Set it to fire the flash, then have a shutter of 1-2 seconds. (yes, whole seconds). Position yourself in front of the camera with a 10 second timer. In your hand, hold one of those glowsticks or keyring mini flashlights, or use a laser pointer. Once the camera flashes, you can "light scribble" on the walls/air/etc. When the camera finally closes the shutter, you will have captured an image with some interesting light effects.

It might take you a few tries to get it right. Different ISO/aperture/shutter settings. Btw, you'll probably have to do this in manual or shutter priority mode.

Now, part of the reason why the color might be wonky is because you might need to "whitebalance" or "light balance" the image in photoshop after the fact, as the image might turn out a bit dark or bright. When you do this, there is an oversaturation and color shift that might occur.

Another reason for the color saturation might also be the use of film or other after-shot filtering. But the above describes how you might achieve the light effect, as shown in the photograph you indicated.

Hope it helps. ^_-

Hertz van Rental · Jul 14, 2007

Some cameras have '1st curtain' and '2nd curtain' (or slow 1/slow 2) settings in the flash menu. These will work fine.
The flash either goes off when the shutter opens (1st) or just before the shutter closes (2nd).
The flash will illuminate and 'freeze' the scene and the shutter staying open then allows you to move the camera and get the trail effect from any lights or highlights.
You shouldn't need to do it in a darkened room. In fact having the room lit will help the effect.
You do need to play around with the technique though as it is a little hit and miss - and you might need to use EV compensation to avoid over-exposure.