Photography
Related: About this forumLight painting in the California Desert.
I recently had the opportunity to join several other photographers for an evening of "light painting" in the California Desert. Light painting is a technique where one can create a long exposure of the pitch black night sky, often including the Milky Way, while briefly lighting the foreground for a second or two with a hand held light. It takes a little practice, but the results can be dramatic. It helps if the photographer is working in an official "dark sky" area.
In this case the location was the Galleta Meadows Sculpture Gardens near the town of Borrego Springs in California's Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The park is east of Palm Springs not far from the Salton Sea. Daytime temperatures hit 106F, and the rattlesnakes and scorpions are abundant. (We saw several scorpions, and had to carefully check our camera bags for them when we were finished).
Dennis Avery, heir to the Avery Label fortune, was a resident of Borrego Springs. He purchased the land and commissioned the sculptor, Ricardo Breceda, to create one hundred and thirty metal sculptures, which are placed in the surrounding desert. It's a kick to drive around looking for them in the middle of nowhere. We were honored when Mr. Breceda joined us and hung out for about forty five minutes.
Some of the shots were lit with a small LED RGB light, some were lit with a laser pointer, and some were lit by an overhead drone. All of these exposure were twenty seconds long, and the light painting lasted about two seconds during that long exposure. A few of the softs are soft because due to the difficulty of focusing in pitch black circumstances.
Enjoy!
Diamond_Dog
(32,091 posts)What an interesting experience. Ill bet it was a blast!
Grumpy Old Guy
(3,172 posts)I'm already planning my next trip there.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,719 posts)The different combinations of color and light are astonishing to my eyes.
The stars show up quite well in a lot of these.
Lucky you..........and lucky us, getting to see your work.
Thank you!
Grumpy Old Guy
(3,172 posts)2naSalit
(86,802 posts)A friend tried that once when we were camping along the Green River, the pictures came out really well. We used the head lights on the motorcycle.
I spent a whole summer in that desert a long time ago, I like the artistic additions!
Grumpy Old Guy
(3,172 posts)I bet the motorcycle lights worked great. I won my first contest here with a photo of a cliff that was illuminated by the taillights of a nearby RV. The whole cliff was red.
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)I will wait for a proper screen.
Chin music
(23,002 posts)MLAA
(17,334 posts)Grumpy Old Guy
(3,172 posts)MLAA
(17,334 posts)AndyS
(14,559 posts)Grumpy Old Guy
(3,172 posts)Ziggysmom
(3,414 posts)come alive in those night sky photos ❤️
Grumpy Old Guy
(3,172 posts)He told he has some at a mall in Cabezon, some in Twenty Nine Palms, and a stagecoach in Norco.