Rodney Campbell's Blog

Earlier in the day I’d spotted this abandoned (haunted) farmhouse in this grove of spindly trees. It was just off the side of the road in a field. I knew if the weather was right it would be an ideal location for a little light painting under the starry skies.

The Haunted House

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 30 sec at f/2.8, ISO 6400

The leafless branches of the trees reaching up into the sky like twisted fingers was just perfect and I would have been happy with them alone.

My eldest daughter joined me for the evening trip out (another chance for her to get some nighttime driving hours up). This also allowed me to do the shots in one take. With me doing some coloured torch lighting from within the old structure whilst she did a little lighting in the foreground with my headtorch. I had to give her a quick lesson in being subtle and quick with the lighting so as to not overlight the foreground. It wasn’t perfect but she did an ok job after a few tries.

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Spectral Skies

NIKON D750 + 14.0 mm f/2.8 @ 14 mm, 25 sec at f/2.8, ISO 6400

The skies were nice and clear and the conditions were pretty dark allowing me to shoot at ISO 6400. It’s fortunate we were here around the time of the new moon and there were no clouds in the sky. Pretty much perfect really.