LIGHT UP THE SCENE

Using a torch, or other lighting, can produce pleasing results, highlighting certain areas of the image

1

TOO DARK! Here, the light from the stars in the sky, and the clouds, almost silhouettes the shape of the cliff. Break out your torch and start shining it at foreground objects in your exposures.

2

FOCUSING THE BEAM It is worth adjusting the focusable beam of light, so that you have complete control over where the light appears. This is too wide, and is spilling too much light.

3

FOCUSED LIGHT A focused point of light from the torch can be moved along the scene during the exposure. It can be tricky to ensure an even light pattern across the whole of the scene, but be patient.

4

START LIGHT PAINTING Once the beam of light is focused, switch it off, start your exposure on a 10sec self-timer, walk away from the camera and, when the shutter opens, switch on the torch and start light painting.

5

KEEP TRYING! Over the course of a 30sec exposure, you have a limited amount of time to light up the shot. In this exposure, there’s too much light on the left hand side of the image.

6

EVEN LIGHTING After a few attempts, the result is a shot with an even lighting across the cliff and details in the rock picked out. The dramatic clouds reveal stars, and the lighting across the image is pleasing.

EVEN LIGHTING ON THE CLIFF Even when shooting RAW, there is only so much detail the files will give up. Unless you’re using very long exposures, resulting in star trails rather than single points of light in the sky, you will need to use additional...