Night-time scenes with a projector
Prepare your graphics
Begin by preparing the images you plan to use for your projections. Pick strong shapes and bold patterns. We made use of free downloadable images from www.pixabay.com. White shapes on a black backdrop work well. If you need to invert whites and blacks, open into Photoshop and press Cmd/ctrl+i. Set up a projector
Attach your projector to a strong tripod, so you can alter the angle at will and ensure its safety. If it doesn’t have a base plate, try lashing it to the tripod with string. If your projector has brightness and contrast settings, turn these up to full for the boldest possible projection.
Bracket your shots
If the projection is cast over objects of varying distance from the projector, then the brightness will vary. As such, it’s worth shooting bracketed frames, so you can merge to an HDR later and balance out the difference. Turn on your camera’s bracketing feature and take three bracketed frames of varying shutter speed. Angle the projection
The best part of this project is choosing an image, then seeing how it interacts with the surface you project it onto. A slight change in the angle or position of the projector, or a tweak in the on-screen image with your laptop, can alter the effect. So experiment with the angles to see which works best.
Arrange the scene
Sometimes the projected shapes can look overly abstract. If so, try adding a figure in. This can help to give the scene a sense of scale and add to the eerie mood. Alternatively, think of other ways to arrange your scene, like adding splashes of colour or painting in extra light with your torch.
Set your exposure
Set the camera up on a tripod and focus on the projection. Use Manual mode. The correct setting will depend on the strength of the projection and the distance between the projector and scene, but a good starting point is 15 secs, f/11 and ISO400. Adjust the shutter speed until the exposure looks right.