Three Independent Shoots

Long Exposure Light Drawings

During my work with colour I explored using a long exposure and a torch to create drawings. I did my first shoot in the studio combining elements from Peter Eckert. 

Pete Eckert is a blind photographer who uses long exposure light drawings light drawings to show how he sees with his limited vision.

Pete Eckert's style of drawing over real people really creates this surreal view of people and shows a unique view. 

I attempted to create my own versions of Peter Eckets photos. 

My attempt to create a series of photos that were similar to Peter Eckert did not go as well as I wanted but I did create two photos that were close to his style. 

I took both of these photos and adjusted the blacks in photo shop using levels. I then used curves to adjust each photo.

This photo is meant to be a copy of the Pete Eckert photo and I believe it turned out similar by not quite there with certain aspects. Having the drawer in the shot is not like the original photo but I think its the best aspect of the photo. The actual drawing itself isn't very good or as complex and its quite hard to see what we was attempting to draw. The framing is also quite off but it relates to the original photo. 

This photo is not similar to the style of Pete Eckert but I quite like the photo. The subject being solid and not blurry makes it quite nice and the additional drawings don't distract the viewer but make the subject more prominent. The drawer being visible doesn't take away from the photo but instead add to the back ground and makes the photo more visibly interesting by adding to the simplicity.   

Shoot 2

After focusing my work on an already existing photographer I wanted to shoot in a style of my own but still using and refining the same technique. I also did it out side at night and tried to avoid having the people who are visible in the shot. 

The second shoot had a vastly different set of photos by the end. I worked with lights that were stationary and part of the environment and worked with making a much more simple and complex series of images. 

The whole shoot really came down to the last four images I took. 

Even though they are quite similar I believe they are my strongest images yet. I edited each one in Photoshop adjusting curves and levels to create a darker images with a much higher contrast from torch in the foreground to the night sky in the background.

These finale four images are much more in my own style but still using the same long exposure technique.

Shoot 3

For my third shoot I wanted to expand on long exposure and work on using the projection of light rather than the source. I first worked on the source of light. 

Selected Images

I selected this image because it is slightly more complex and with a crop it will fill the frame. The certain brighter and larger parts of the streaks creates more interest.

This photo has large amounts lens flare which distracts from the subject but still adds and relates to the idea of long exposure.

Edits 

 Applying a black and white layer with Photoshop made the photo much better then increasing the contrast to make the exposure stand out and add a darker and more harsher feel to the image. The image over all works well using the negative space and expanding on the technique.

The editing of this photo improved the photo, using a black and white layer meant that the lens flare joined the long exposure rather than distract from it. Then cropping allowed for some more focus on the light streaks. Also it uses some great negative space and has perfect centre framing.

Over all the development of my technique shows with each shoot, the first shoot was really the discovering the technique and basing it on the style of another artist but the subsequent two shoots focused on using my own style and creating some strong original images.