Slow Exposure Spins - Pt.3 (...finally!!)

Hello world! I'm finally back. ...I'm not even going to get into all the reasons (excuses) why this has taken so long to get around to. Instead, I'm just going to get right to it... So, how do you spin an orb?

In my blogging hiatus, I found that there are actually several ways of creating an orb effect when light painting. I'm just going to cover the basics here, to get you started. But, once you understand the basic idea, you can get creative and find other ways to create the effect.

The first thing you are going to need is a light source. There are a lot of different options, but your best bet is some sort of LED light, ball, or stick that you can attach to a rope, string, chain, wire, etc. In the future (hopefully not the distant future) I'll post some D.I.Y. ways to make light brushes and light painting tools. But, for now, I'll keep it real basic. I got everything I used to spin the orb shown above at the 99 cent store...

I just got a cheap little flashing LED stick and tied it to a 3' length of nylon rope. The LED bike light is what I used as my target. if you look at the image of the orb, you will notice that I have the LED bike light sitting under the center of the orb and I did this to help illustrate my point...

As far as camera gear goes... As with all long exposure photography, you'll need a tripod (or something solid and sturdy to position your camera on) to shoot orbs. Your settings will all depend on your environment and the type of light you are spinning with. I'm shooting with an old Canon 40D. So I usually keep my settings at a 15 - 20 second exposure, with my ISO around 600 - 1000 and my aperture around 4 - 8. But it's hard to say what will work best with the environment and LED variables. So my best advice is to just experiment and play with your settings till you get the color and intensity you want out of your LEDs.

The main idea behind spinning an orb is that you need to spin multiple circles while moving around a central axis that all the circles connect at. It's almost like winding a piece of string around a ball. The best way that I have found to do this is by standing on the edge of an imaginary circle on the ground and spinning the LED light over the center of the circle as you walk around the edge of the circle. I drew a not so beautiful illustration of the process, to help clarify what I mean.

What you have in the illustration are 2 views of the path you need to follow in order to create the orb effect with just 4 spins. The view on the left is a head on view and the smaller one on the right is an overhead view. I used different colors to represent the 4 angles that you need to spin the LEDs in. The numbers, with the corresponding colors on them, indicate where around the circles edge you need to stand as you spin. The number sequence is to show the different points along the path that you need to stop at as you move around the circle. 

So, basically, what I do, as I spin, is take a step to the left after every spin until I have moved all the way around my center point and I try to keep the LED spinning in a vertical path. If you let the LED spin in a slightly horizontal path, the circles won't meet at the axis. The crooked paths take away from the orb effect and make orbs look sloppy. You can see in the example I used above that the orb has some crooked lines in the middle that almost look like the letter V, and that the last spin pulled far away from the axis point. Too much of this will turn your obr into a blob. Which is why I came up with the idea of having a target light to help me practice spinning. What you do is spin your LED and try to make sure it crosses directly over your target on every spin, as you step around the circle. 

As soon as I can get my little ninja to help me, I will make some video tutorials on how to spin the different types of orbs that I have learned to create. Then you can see how silly I look in the process. Lol. If your orbs don't look like an orb, when you start trying to spin orbs, don't get discouraged! It takes some practice to get control and a good understanding of how to step while spinning the LEDs, before you'll get a perfect orb. But it really isn't about spinning the perfect orb as much as it is about having fun and being creative. So just have fun and experiment. Who knows... you might even stumble across a new way to spin an orb or a new type of orb all together!

I'll be posting a lot of the light painting that I did over the past year, soon, and will continue to teach what I have learned, here on this blog. So, check back for more Bsombin', and more light painting and long exposure photography. 

Slow Exposure Spins - Pt.2

Thanks for checkin' out my blog. If you've been waiting for this next part of the slow exposure spinning "tutorial", I apologize for the long wait! The work load has been heavy and there hasn't been much time for sleep (let alone blogging). But I didn't want to hold things up any more than I already have. Lol. Before I get into my explanation of how to spin wool, here's my disclaimer...

First, I am not a professional pyrotechnic! I don't even know if you could call me a professional photographer! Lol. I am not claiming to be any type of authority on anything either. I just like taking pictures, have learned a good amount about spinning through research and practice, and want to share what I have learned with anyone else that might be interested in learning how to capture slow exposure images. 

Second, spinning steel wool is dangerous!! When you spin, you take the risk of burning yourself and/or anything/anyone that is around you. Hopefully, no one is thinking about doing this anywhere near flammable gases; liquids; or materials of any kind. If the thought had crossed your mind, DON'T!! The shower of sparks can easily set fire to things or cause serious injuries when it shoots everywhere. So if you are going to try spinning, stand at least 50 ft. away from anything or anyone that you don't want to shower with red hot balls of burning steel wool. ...Maybe 100 ft., just to be safe. The burning wool balls go far and burn red hot. They can go right through fabric and cause some bad burns, if they land on you. I know because I learned the hard way just how fast the red hot steel wool projectiles can burn through clothes and singe skin. So make sure to always spin outdoors and stay away from dry vegetation, brush, fabrics, etc. 

So here's what you'll need...

1. A camera that has a long exposure option, to shoot with. Some compact/point-n-shoot cameras & most SLR cameras have this option available. Or you could try finding a long exposure app to download for your smart phones.

2. A tripod or something that can substitute as one. ...Anything sold that you can set the camera or smart phone on top of to keep it perfectly still during the exposure time.

3. A cooking wisk or something similar that will hold the mass of wool while still allowing the small bits to tear off and spin into a shower of flames.

4. A rope or chain to tie to the wisk. I suggest making it about 3 ft long. The longer it is, the harder it will be to start spinning and to control once in motion. Plus it will increase the range of the spark shower and give you even less control of things. You don't want things getting out of control, when flaming fire balls are involved!! But I wouldn't make it too short either. Then your fiery donuts will look more like sparkling donut holes. Also, be careful how you attache the rope/chain to the wisk, to avoid having the wisk come loose and fly off while you are spinning.

5. Steel wool. There are different counts on wool and not all wool burns the same. Some burns faster and hotter than others. So depending on what you are trying to get out of your spinning shots, you might want to try different kinds.

6. A lighter. Not matches, since you will need to be able to start swinging the wisk as soon as you get the wool lit. You'll need at least one hand free, in order to get things going. So matches are out of the question. You don't want to have another person light the wool either, since you won't be able to wait too long for them to get to a safe distance before you start spinning. If you wait too long, the wool will go out.

7. A partner to click the shutters. ...Unless your camera has a timer or remote control. But spinning is safer and more fun if you have someone to shoot with. 

Below is a picture of the wool, wisk, rope, & lighter that my daughter and I used on our little wool shoot. I actually found everything at the 99 Cent Store and was able to save some time and money verses going to a couple of stores and paying 2-3 times more. 

Now you know what you need. Once you have all your supplies and tools ready, the spinner will start by loosening up a roll of steel wool to make it easier to light. Just place the wool into the center of the wisk, the way I have shown in the picture. Once you get the wool lit and starting to burn, begin to slowly spin the rope at a short length and gradually let the length increase with each spin. Remember that the harder and faster you spin, more wool will burn; the sparks will fly farther; and the wool will burn hotter. This mean it becomes more dangerous and you won't be able to do as much in the shorter burn time.

While the spinner is starting to spin, the shooter will hit the shutter buttons on the camera or cameras. The best settings for a spin will vary, depending on the camera you are using; the amount of environmental light surrounding the spinner; the type of wool being spun; & amount of time you want to spin. I shoot with a few different Canon cameras. I usually keep my exposure time between 10-15 sec, the ISO around 600 for shorter times & around 400 for longer exposures. I like to experiment with the aperture, but I don't stray too far from around f/8.

As you can see in the picture above, it's best to have a lot of wool, when you go to spin. Especially on your first spinning adventure. You will need to get at least a couple of test spins in to figure out your settings. And the wool goes fast, once you start. It wasn't hard for me to go through a whole pack of wool on one shoot. So I suggest taking, at least, a pack or two.

Below is one more spinning shot, from that last father-daughter photo session. I used the supplies I have shown above, had my daughter's Canon XTi on a tripod, and had the settings at 15sec, ISO600, & f/8. I did edited the picture in Photoshop, to add a little saturation. But the edits were minor...

The last post will come a lot sooner than this one did. That's when I'll explain how to make a light orb. But, for now, I need to get back to work. ...Check back soon for more light painting and Bsombin'!

Slow Exposure Spins - Pt.1

What up world?! Thanks for checkin' out my blog! In a previous post I mentioned that I was going to be sharing some pics that my daughter and I shot over her Spring break. Also, I said I would explain how we created the images we captured. So here is the first part of that light painting post I was talkin' about... 

I decided to put the "ends" before the "means", on this post, to show what it is I'm talkin' about, before I start explaining what we did to get the pictures. Below are some of the better shots we got out of the couple dozen attempts we made. It's 2 steel wool spins and 2 light stick orbs. In the next post, I'll show you what we did, for those looking to capture some spins and orbs of your own. Check back soon for the second part of Slow Exposure Spins and for more Bsombin'!