The Story Behind the Image: Night Photography Trimming

This photo from the August 2nd [free] Night Photowalk became a topic of inquiry on Facebook, so I thought it might be a good idea to describe how it was made.

Every month, we host a free night photowalk. We’ve been hosting these events since the launch of Illuminate Workshops, in 2008. One of the things we look forward to during the photowalks is taking a photo of the group. It thus falls on our organizers to create a group photo that represents the theme or location of the event. For the August Night Photowalk, we the focus was on light painting. We thought that the group photo should incorporate light painting.  Here’s what happened next.

[free] Night Photowalk – Night Crawlers Group Photo

Location

We needed a spot that represented the area of our night photowalk. This was easy enough, since it was held in a park, the playground seemed like an obvious choice.

Coordination

Because everyone was excited about starting the earlier fire portion of the evening, we postponed the group photo until the end. Because we waited, we wound up losing some of our group to early bedtimes and work/family responsibilities. The remaining Night Crawlers had to coordinate to make this image possible.

We needed the following components:

• Camera operators
• Trimmers and
• Ensemble Characters

The Ensemble Characters would have to pose in such a way that their outline would have shape; the more unusual the better. The Trimmers would then trace the Ensemble Characters as close to their shape as possible. The camera operators had to… operate the multiple cameras.

Exposure and Trimming

Generally, you can take an exposure up to 30-secs without having to manually time the exposure with a stopwatch. The camera can count down from thirty. However, the Trimmers needed enough time to trace up to 4-Ensemble Characters each. This meant that a 30-second exposure time would not be enough time. We needed an exposure that was over 60-seconds in order to get everyone traced.

We calculated the exposure to be around 1-minute at f/5.6 at ISO-100. We then let the Trimmers and Ensemble Characters do their stuff.

In all, it took about three attempts to get the image you see here. For the first image, the Trimmers were given a change to practice and get their technique down. For the second exposure, the main camera didn’t stay open for the full 60-secs. By the third image, all the bugs were worked out and we captured this final image.

Trimmers: Match G, Scott S, Michael M.,

Camera Operators: Sara H, Efrain Cruz

Ensemble Characters: Dillon S, Amee S, Daniel H, David S, Lisa D, Cynthia D., Ashley S., Jane,  Vic B, Brad M., Jerry S., Mary B.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this months’ [free] Night Photowalk. Thanks for your great energy and enthusiasm.