Light painting is a lot of fun. I used to do quite a bit of it with a shooting buddy. We would always bring a variety of light sources of different colors and lumens, but if I had to choose one, it would be one of the bright "CREE" flashlights with the adjustable bezel that could make the beam wide or narrow. This is one of my favorite light painting images.

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Thanks! Love the topic, by the way. Photography and food! Sign me up!

Filet Sous Vide, Shrimp grilled, Baby Spinach sauteed

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I think your setup depends on what you want to get; stop action of the thing coming undone, or the splash of light and light trails from the explosion, or something in between. Low tech stop action might be shooting in bursts and hope to get lucky. Light trails would be the easiest, find the right exposure and go bulb mode.

There have been a lot of suggestions to do this outside. One thing to consider along these lines is the amount of smoke and gas that are produced. If you are doing multiple tries, it could get pretty stinky in the studio.

Sounds like a fun experiment to me. I hope you try it and share the results here in the forum.

Really beautiful images, Sergey!

Portal

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Awesome! I will add to my background folder. Thanks!

I think this is sharp in the right areas, with great color. So, like Rongnongno said, great job.

I might try to throw some light in the background to show some overall depth of the scene, and also bring my angle up a bit to show depth in the vase itself, by revealing some of the top opening. In other words not straight on. I think that's where the "flatness" feel is coming from. I would also shoot from the left, looking into the forest opening right at the little house. Looks like fun! I would love to take a crack at it.

That price is within the current market value for a used D4 in very good condition. Maybe a couple of hundred $ on the high side of that. I see retail outlet prices ranging from $1043 - $1699. Actuation count is well within the lifespan of a D4. Personally, if I were choosing between an 850 and a D4, I would take the 850. It has the upgraded (EXPEED5) processor, and sensor is obviously higher resolution and newer tech. I think the only D4 specs that outpace the 850 are fps and battery life. ISO range is higher but those older sensors aren't really useful in those extreme ISO ranges (IMO).

Thank you Photogirl. No, unfortunately I was not able to board her. There is actually a little story around that.

I was there with my shooting buddy and, we walked through an unlocked gate to get a better view and to ask permission to take a couple of shots. The curator appeared almost immediately and, before I could utter a word, issued a tongue lashing and brief lecture about gates that are "obviously closed," etc. Rather than trying to explain, we silently accepted our verbal beating and went next door to the restaurant to shoot from the third floor of the deck. Ergo the high angle shot of the stern.

No hard feelings to the curator. We were wrong to enter, but temptation got the best of me (it was my idea). I hope to go back someday during business hours and get some shots from onboard.

Another angle of the 'Elissa' from the Port of Galveston.

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Lighting is perfect for conveying symmetry.

I really like this one. Very creative.