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I tried to take a picture of a completely dark room, lighting it up with just a pocket flashlight. The technique basically consists of taking several pictures and then adding them up.
I describe the method thoroughly here: www.ilghila.com/articles/2006/lighting_with_flashlight.html
I show an example of application here: www.ilghila.com/articles/2006/lighting_with_flashlight_ex.html
Any comment or suggestion to improve the technique is welcome. Thank you.

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May I be the first to congratulate you on an innovative and creative approach to photographing dark scenes.

For me the major advantage over the second method of just one long "B" exposure on the tripod is the ability to obtain enhancing lighting effects from flashing at different angles and locations.

The trade-off as noted is the extra time and effort required for the sequential exposures and the required integration and editing in the "digital darkroom".

But on balance the creative possibilities opened up by this innovative approach would be well worth exploring.

BTW I think it would be helpful to add some exposure details in your example.

Two thumbs up!

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Hi ilghila,

I always use flashlight or just the backlight of my ipod in doing creative shots. I find this as an alternative since I don't have the whole studio set-up with umbrella light. I basically set my camera into a longer exposure time and use a pen light or my ipod to brighten up the parts that I want my to show in my composition. Below is my example with 5 sec exposure time. during that 5 secs I "brush" my set with my pen light. It's like painting using your pen light.

http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/...7DSC_0091es.jpg

In my opinion the sum of all the shots has a big hot spot which is not good for the eyes of the people looking at it. I'm not sure if this always happens or it's just in your example.

It's a very good and artistic idea!

__________________
-=wynngd=-

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FWIW, wynngd mentioned painting the set with a pen light. There really is a term for lighting a dark set and exposing it gradually with some light source. It's called 'painting with light.' Not very original but it gets the point across and if you are talking with someone who knows photography they will understand what you're talking about.

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