Light graffiti (also often known as light painting or light drawing) is a fantastic and creative way to express your artistic side, ‘draw’ silly shapes, or doing something you can enjoy with your mates. It needs to be dark when you do this, but essentially it can be done anywhere; at home, in the garden, or out in the wilds. The principles of light graffiti are not that far removed from waving a sparkler around on bonfire night to make swirling shapes; the only difference is that you are capturing the pattern or light trail on camera. You have complete control of the light source (try and think of torches like brushes with an endless supply of paint coming from them.)

There are some basic things you need to get you started:

• A camera (ideally a digital SLR) capable of taking long exposures
• A tripod
• At least one standard torch
• A dark space to create your masterpiece

Mount the camera on a tripod, then using the control dial, switch it to manual mode. Shutter speed can be set to 15-30 seconds, or if you have a remote cable release, switch the camera to Bulb mode which will allow you to take exposures lasting a lot longer. For the aperture setting, anything between f8-f11 is a good start. Choose ISO between 100-200.

Next step is to ensure your images are not blurry. One way to do this is to take the lens off auto setting and manually turn the focus ring, taking a few test shots as you go, or ask someone to hold a light source in frame and auto focus off the bright spot.

When you’re ready, hit the shutter button or cable release, step into frame, turn on the torch and start creating! If you do not have a cable release or you’re doing this on your own, you may wish to use the camera’s timer control, allowing you that extra few seconds to step into frame before you hear the ‘click’ as the camera starts exposing.

When you’ve finished painting with your torch, turn it off, return to the camera and finish the exposure.

Here are some basic examples to get you in the mood:

Once you’ve got the hang of it, take things a lot further by using different torches and try your hand at more elaborate shapes, There are no limits, so push your imagination. Most of all have fun!

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Over the course of the years, our photographic adventures have brought us into contact with many wonderful, delightful and some downright-spankin’-fabulous people. We’ve shot some; shot with others; and even more again we’ve shot for. Hell, some of these people we’d take a bullet for, or very possibly go Polar Bear wrestling™ (again). It’s nice to think that, in return, we’ve also managed to touch the lives of some of these people, be that with our words, or our images, or possibly by introducing them to the magical wonder that is the game of Buffalo™. It stands to reason that when your kids grow up and find responsibility, you can’t help but feel a bloom of photo-paternal pride as they spread their wings.

So step forward Mandy and “Meandering” Paul Charlton. Friends, colleagues, teammates, informants, drinking buddies and partners in crime, the pair of them! Tomorrow afternoon, Mandy & Paul celebrate ten blissfully happy years of marriage together by renewing their vows in front of family and friends. In recognition of the fact and also in recognition of our friendship, Mandy & Paul have asked the 4 Togs to step up to the plate and bat the photographic events of the day right out of the park. We pondered such a request long and hard… “But Mandy”, we said, “We’re not sure the universe is capable of containing the sheer levels of awesome sauce that the four of us, firing in unison, might produce.”. Thereupon, Mandy turned to us with large, liquid-filling eyes and pleaded with us on her very knees to make sure that even if our awesomeness was to cause the end of the world; she wanted it to be at her very own vow renewal.

Faced with such a dilemma, between the devil and the deep blue sea; between a rock and a hard place; between the Real Mark Scholey™ and his favourite tilt-shift lens – what could we do? There are none more loyal than we to our friends and rising as one we told the Charltons that we would accept the task, even if it proved to be the undoing of the very fabric of the universe.

Alas, almost immediately, tragedy struck and Ade was struck down with a case of the Scholeys. Being unable to fulfil his pre-ordained role, we searched for someone magnificent enough to return our number to the nearly-magic foursome. Rising from the flames, like a veritable phoenix of photographic philanthropy, arose none other than Jamie Emerson – a talent so deadly that even Chuck Norris fears him.

Tomorrow, dear friends, the (nearly) 4 Togs fight, photograph and drink, as one. What will occur? Can the world survive such a monsterous outpouring of talent? Will anybody ever know?

There’s only one place to find out. Right here, when the 4 Togs come to town on bizz-nizz. Mandy & Paul: We who are about to shoot, salute YOU!

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We at the 4 Togs Blog are sympathetic to your feelings. We don’t want you to feel lost and alone, cold and unhappy. First of all, we’d like to remind you that there is a cause to celebrate in January – My birthday falls fairly squarely in the middle of the month and I’d like to invite your participation in celebrating with me, no matter where you are! However, with a view to the fact that a birthday is but one day, Matt has devised a plan to keep you occupied and happy the whole month through: The return of the 31-day Photo Challenge.

The premise is simple: Pick a camera, pick a lens. Take a photo each day for all of the 31 days of January and upload them, daily, to our Facebook group. Beyond that, there are no rules other than the ones that you choose to impose upon yourself. Some people like to try and maintain a theme through their images… Others are just happy to maintain the goal of taking one picture a day.

So, think of it as an early gift for you all. Please take a look at the Facebook page and sign up – we’d love to have your participation!

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I’ve been in that situation a few times, the images are technically good, but I just feel they are empty and lacking any passion. One of the things that I’ve discussed with the Real Mark Scholey several times is ways to rediscover that passion and drive; and our conversations always come back to shooting a project. Sounds easy doesn’t it, that’s what I thought.

Setting out with the idea of a project, you can’t just think of a subject and shoot it. It actually takes quite a bit of planning, especially if your goal is to produce a body of work at the end of it for a book or a small gallery exhibition. It takes time, and lots of thinking, planning, re-planning, adapting the project as you progress it. But one thing it does for me, is hand me the passion for creating art again.

And project planning is just what I’m starting now after a period of feeling a little flat and jaded with my own photography. The results of which shall be shared on these very pages!

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There are some incredibly inspiring shots on there, not to mention winners from previous years to browse through if you have the time.

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Take the above picture of Ade, you might recognise it as the full version of the one that I’ve used as his avatar photo at the very top of the page… It actually came about as a discussion on an online photography forum. A bunch of people were discussing the influence of films on photographs, at which point someone else chimed in wondering how to get a “Sin City” effect on their photo’s.

A long discussion followed, most of which dealing with the processing after the the image had actually been taken. Hardly anybody, other than myself, made any mention of the lighting involved. In order to give myself a bit of a challenge (and also, I admit, to make a point) I set about taking a photo to see if I could replicate the style. I used this poster from the film as my starting point.

By dissecting the lighting used, we can see that Hartigan (played by Bruce Willis) is lit from behind and from either side, creating two strips of light down either cheek and backlighting the hair, but leaving the majority of the front of the face in shadow. I replicated this by using two speedlights 45 degrees to Ade’s back and above him. Another speedlight on-camera provided some fill to keep detail in the face and give catchlights in the eyes.

The resulting image was then processed to black & white, with a slight red tone added to maintain the feel of the film production.

So there’s today’s challenge: Find yourself a film poster or another image that you like (or find inspirational). As part of your ongoing photographic education, attempt to determine the lighting used and then go off and attempt to replicate it in a shot of your own. If you have the time, leave us a comment with a link to the original, and a link to your take on it.

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Studio thoughts

(I’m going to share my experience of a small studio. Obviously, if you plan on a ‘get-em-in, get-em-out’ studio – your choices and needs will be different. And I can’t help you there.) A Studio is just a room. Its just a room where we make pictures. Any room is a studio.  Bear with me here… If you walk into a studio (which is after-all only a room) and the background is set up at one end, where must the camera go? where must the lights go? and where do your subjects go?

Forgive me for raising my voice here but: WHERE is the Creativity?

I simply have a room. I can move chairs, couches and tables – the walls are ragged/painted. If I need a light, I set one up.

Think of it this way… how many of us love shooting location work? Why? I would suggest it’s because we photograph in depth. My studio does that precisely because I have no fixtures that dictate to me what I must do.

Find a building or room that faces north. Use daylight. Frontally, or side or whatever.
Use One Studio light with a dirty great big softbox or preferably a Larson starfish or equivalent. One light. Use silver (not gold, not white) reflectors. Did I mention use one light? (there is only one in the sky). Do NOT bolt anything to your ceiling or walls – do NOT use scissor lifts etc. Especially if you want to aim for, or maintain a casual style of work.

What I’m challenging on is the concept that you MUST have this type of setup, or that you must have multiple lights to make great portraits. When I started in photography, I was told I should have at least three studio lights. Daunting, expensive and not quite correct. Fortunately, my father educated me that the work I most liked used one light (David Bailey, Snowdon, Irving Penn et al).

(Pretty much everything you ever see of mine is one light… FWIW)

My reception area IS my studio. Why would I take people from lovely light and nice furniture to another environment when its all right there to start with?

Think of it this way, why do we love environmental portraiture? Depth is one reason, a natural feel to the background is another. Personally, I appreciate really good environmental portraiture more that work against a background.

I did a series of ‘mentor’ lectures throughout Asia and India for Kodak a while ago…it was a very interesting experience. Every wanna-be photographer goes to a studio to learn.
Every Studio has five lights.
Very few Studios know how to use those five lights.
They use black backgrounds.
The lighting pattern as taught, is hairlight too bright, sidelight too bright and the rest totally flat.
I was photographed in a ’studio’ that was less than 8ft square with five lights.

During one of the seminars I shot a model, low angle, in a hotel at the bottom of some steps, with a single light and a car sunblock screen for a reflector. I dragged the shutter to incorporate the towering garden foyer and ’splashed’ colour up the stairs with a little flash wrapped in unexposed but processed film.

The resulting ‘kodak-roid’ (fuji disguised) when pealed apart caused absolute consternation, admiration and wonder. “Be-yoo-tifool Mr.Williams” “So ravishing M.Williams” “The quality is incrediable Mr. Williams”……..

The final comment from the guy most vocal in his admiration floored me: “But Mr. Williams, this isn’t professional photography – it hasn’t got five lights!”

My final comment on this subject is this:
A studio is simply a place where you make a controlled image. It’s an area out of the rain, nothing more. You don’t have to listen to music only in a music room. You don’t need a special shed to do carpentry. It should therefore be as versatile and as simple as possible. Make your decisions based on what is a natural extension of your wedding work. If you do beautifully controlled posed wedding work in the best tradition, your studio will need to reflect that. If you’re casual and PJ…..?

And yes, in Australia (southern Hemisphere) we look for south light.

A writer interviewing Snowdon was enjoying the comfortable ambience in the room were they were talking. He then said to Snowdon, “Perhaps we could look at your studio now?”

Snowdon replied “You’re sitting in it”

You can make wonderful clip together light diffusers. I haunt ‘Schmattah’ (sorry if that’s spelt wrong) that is, fabric shops. A simple curtain will probably cost less, and be less invasive of your area.

“Good portraiture has nothing to do with how many lights you have, how strong they are, and what brand they are….it has everything to do with the QUALITY of the light you have – and how you modify it, no matter how small.”

His name gets overly used in relation to portraiture, but what lighting system did Rembrandt use? What about Reynolds, Lely, Rubens, Van Dyck? …imagine:

“Mr. Rijn, (I so admire your work, and I’m just starting out in painting) what hair light did you use on that portrait of a man in a hat?”

It isn’t about multiple lights, it isn’t about expensive props, it’s about the subject, the light, the ideas and the expression.

Just further to my quotation about the quality of light, let me explain further, and the hotel light bulb point is part of it… A candle has a certain style of light, early morning light is a different quality to late afternoon (and a different colour) direct sun was something I avoided until I was exposed (sorry no pun intended) to the work of the Western Australian photographers…

We know that all of these light sources have widely diverse characteristics and intensities. Knowing how and when to use these, and how to replicate them in the studio environment is more important.

My point is that it makes sense to explore what you have to work with first, before you go accumulating gear which may or may not suit your requirements, environment usage, intent or throughput.

Throughout my involvement with photography, I always felt a new camera, lens,or a new light would improve my photography. It’s taken almost 30 years for me to fully understand my Dad’s maxim about simplicity.

A female photographer told me she has just acquired a great reception area filled with natural light.  I would really like to see what she comes up with… especially with her eye. Maybe she could show us what she does with a single diffuse studio light in the same position as the window?

Don’t get me too wrong – I love the studio, but I agree we can take it too far… there’s a little thought:

Why do Americans love making films in Australia & New Zealand? One of the reasons is that in the ‘States you have a team of brilliant lighting technicians that can direct 10 gigawatts of totally pristine light replacing and controlling the light existing on the scene’… ‘In Australia, we’re used to the last actor on the set leaving the door open’ (it’s a joke by the way…)

Not all existing light is wonderful, nor is all studio light. It’s down to the individual. At some time there will be a return to the Studio. How we respond to that will ensure our future. The biggest mistake we could make is to return to what has been done, rather than learn from other sources.

We found our portrait market decaying due to over-promotion 10 years ago. Many studios were producing work which simply didn’t compete with the in-store photographer (not different enough). I personally think that there will always be a demand for Studio photography, but I look to the beautiful editorial portraiture from ‘Vanity Fair’ and the like for direction.

For me, (and this is just my opinion) I don’t think the future lies with the standard lighting set-up, standard backgrounds, and standard poses. (BUT to know all of this is vital).

Many Aussie studios who experimented with glamour photography used exactly the same lighting they would for families – no study of Hollywoods Hurrell, Bull or Hesse, no study of Horst or Parkinson, no study of Schrebnezki, Bailey, Lategan or Scauvello. If they’d studied (particularly the latter) they would have realised that the lighting is the simplest you can find, and is not reliant on gobs of make-up and cheesy gauze to make a woman look superb.

I believe there will be a demand for the elegance of Norman Parkinson pictures from the 50’s – it’s already appearing in editorial portraiture… Are we ready?

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Mark has already mentioned one great blog post from Chase Jarvis: Shake Your Tree. It’s something that I’ve referred to a couple of times myself… Whilst my video-making antics in Cornwall might have seemed like I was solely looking to ridicule Mark (as if I would!), another part of it was curiosity to see if I could adapt to a different medium other than stills photography. Another good project that I’ve only just remembered is Learning to Love You More, which features a wider range of 70 different assignments for you to attempt.

It’s said that familiarity breeds contempt. My own personal opinion is that the best way to avoid the contempt is to move away from your familiar comfort zone. You love landscape photography? Then book a model and try some portraiture. Find yourself fixated by your histogram? Then tape over your LCD display and shoot fully-manual for effect (Hell, you could even shoot some film!)…

Ultimately, photography is a creative art and unless you actively challenge the boundaries of that creativity, then you’ll become stuck doing the same-old every time. Push yourself harder, reap the rewards…

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That’s right! 4TogsBlog, in association with Bearded Productions (Scholey Division) Ltd, are soon to release a new epic: “The Many Faces of Scholey“, in cinemas this summer. It’s going to be an action-packed thriller full of low-speed chases, big waves, hot sun and cold cyder. It’ll be the most fun that you’ve never had.

To whet your appetite, it gives me enormous pleasure to bring you a sneak preview of this awesome cinematic experience. Please sit back in your seats, pump up your volume and take a hold of your bladder!

(Please also note, that due to the size of the movie, and the crap-ness of our server, this may take a while to load!)

The Many Faces of Scholey (Trailer) from James Burns on Vimeo.

Edited to add: I’ve just noticed the poor audio quality during the first half of the trailer… I’ll fix that tonight… Sorry!

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So what seminar did I go for? It was the three day workshop with David A Williams and his ‘Almost Alone’ sessions. Why this course you may ask, well I knew I needed to work on posing groups and couples for portrait sessions and it would be relevant to wedding photography. It also gave me the chance to meet one of the most wonderful and respected photographers. All I can say is that I was not disappointed with my investment in any way, being a hands on course, with posing sessions as well as talks about several areas of posing groups, couples and individuals, it went further and demonstrated  lighting (both available and flash), telling the story of wedding days and even into album design. All this was offered up by the most energetic and caring person I have had the pleasure to meet, David Williams, he also has a wicked sense of humour. One of the highlights was the one on one critique session, it was a great experience and not one negative in there, all the feedback was positively re-inforced to encourage learning and self improvement.

So have I improved following on from the course? I know I have, but I’ve not stopped yet… every day is a new chance to learn and improve, one of the key things that I took away with me, was that now matter what skill level you are at, you can always learn something new and improve yourself. All this without buying any new kit!

So go on, treat yourself to a workshop, course or seminar.

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