Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Council of Dave

Six blue, ghostly faces lined up above short pillars, staring into the distance.
At night, the Council of Dave gathers on Quincy Hill

Lo, the Daves are Legion, and on cloudless nights they appear on Quincy Hill and pass judgment upon those who have sinned against our land. Yea, fear the council of Dave, all ye who throwest thine old washers and dryers down in the Quincy ravine! Beware, spray-painters of ugly graffiti (especially ye who cannot spell very well)!

So yes, I had fun with my new LED flashlight. It took me several nights to get this just right, but boy was it fun! This photo is taken from the scenic turnoff on US-41 near the top of Quincy Hill -- that's Houghton you can see in the background. I probably frightened more than a few drivers, when I was kneeling behind these posts, shining a bright bluish light on my face, in the middle of the night. If you're interested in the secrets of this photo, ping me in the comments -- I'll keep quiet for now so as not to spoil the surprise.

Edit: Having been up for a few years, I suppose that it's only fair to share the secrets. I wrote a detailed account of the taking of this photo on Digital Photography School: The Council of Dave: fun with light painting. Enjoy!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is a wild photograph! Will be interested to hear how you did it! JC

Jain said...

Whoa! Way cool! And aptly directed toward sinners of the land (and bad spellers), for sure!

Tricia said...

"Yea, fear the council of Dave, all ye who throwest thine old washers and dryers down in the Quincy ravine! "

LMAO....

Go get 'em Council of Dave!!!

Awesome shot :)

Anonymous said...

LOL the council of Dave just made my night. Awesome photograph!

Summer said...

I guess all should be thankful cloudless nights are so few and far in between. Creepy. Cool:D

Adam M said...

Hey Dave, I was just reading your thread at dPs regarding this photo.
You mention the problem of blurred faces... how about using a brighter light source for a shorter time? Perhaps a flash, possibly with a snoot?

DC said...

Thank you all!

@Tricia: yeah, you guys know what I'm talking about! It's just not a hike until you find a major kitchen appliance.

@Ranger Duke: Good question. My flashlight is very powerful -- I'm not sure if a flash would actually work any better at these light levels. But it might -- now all I have to do is go get one. :P Thanks!

Adam M said...

I'm not sure how light levels would affect the flash, but the small aperture might do it.
If you don't own a flash, a cheap way to get one is to get an old disposable camera (I hear asking nicely at the places where they get developed works) that has a flash, open it (don't get zapped) and move the trigger somewhere you can press from outside. I did it myself a while back and took some photos with similar effect to yours (much less thought out though).
I could offer more detailed descriptions if you were interested...

My Blog said...

Wicked Kewl

Sir Richard said...

I want my legion too! LOL! How did you do this?

ricardolumpas

DC said...

For those interested in the details, read my thread on Fun With Light Painting over at Digital Photography School.

Anil said...

Just read this blog now with that outstanding photograph. Yeah! I have figured out how you did it and I must say it is so ingenious and creative.

I just can't imagine sitting down and coming up with such creativity. Well done!

DC said...

@Anil: Thanks! But, I did not sit down and figure this one out -- it just sort of evolved while I was out there. After playing around with the lights for a while, I got the idea for putting together a bunch of faces, and this eventually came out. Sometimes it's better to just go out and see what happens! :)

mike said...

Fantastic ,would love to know how you done it

DC said...

@mike (and all): I've just updated the post with a link to some information about how I took this photo. Enjoy!