Long Exposure Lighting Tutorial: Headless Horseman at Sleepy Hollow Cemetery
For a few years now, I have been very fortunate to be invited by Lance Keimig to teach flash lighting to his students at the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery workshops he holds every year. It's an honor and a pleasure to bring what I know about the craft of combining flash with ambient during long exposures to fresh minds, and I am grateful that Lance chooses to being me on to share!
Below are some of the setups we did last night, plus a little bit about how we accomplished the two setups. For best results, I recommend attending one of Lance's workshops (wink!). But this should get you pointed in the right direction.
© Matt Hill
A lucky/unlucky pass from a plane almost made his head or pumpkin into a light saber!
© Matt Hill
I prefer black and white... but provided both for your education.
Lighting diagram for above photos and next couple.
Click for larger view.
Note: It was over 90 degrees Fahrenheit last night, so exposure times had to be short to reduce the possibility of digital noise, plus the horse has a limited attention span :-)
© Matt Hill
© Matt Hill
© Matt Hill
Color version for your education. Note the less-orange sky - a result of setting white balance to "Tungsten." This was possible because the light modifier was made of paper that "warmed" up the light - making it more yellow than daylight balance used in previous photos. The other two flashed were daylight balance, looking more blue than the main light.
© Matt Hill
Black and white version
Lighting diagram for above. Click for larger view.
© Matt Hill
Hand-made paper light modifier I call The SOft Wide Grin
© Matt Hill
A rare glimpse under the cape of the Headless Horseman, Hugh., who cajoled Bea into making a dramatic action pose for us
Big thanks again to Lance for making me a part of his workshop. Check out his website for more workshops, a FANTASTIC book on Night Photography called FINDING YOUR WAY IN THE DARK and this amazing video:
And if you are local or curious, Sleepy Hollow Cemetery has lots of photo workshops, day and night. Gabe and I are teaching there this Halloween!
And finally, if you want to photography more living subjects at night, you might want to consider joining Gabe and I in July at Coney Island for a Night Portrait Workshop!
