After many days of watching how-to videos, I set up a shoot to do spirograph light painting. The videos made it look easy but it wasn’t. I hated math in school and was never very good at it, but I applied what I knew. Calculate the distance from the light source to the lens so I could focus properly. Calculate the arc of the swinging of the light to make sure I got all of it. Calculate how long I needed to let it swing in order to make the spirograph. Calculate an estimate of time I could leave the shutter open without overexposing the image. What was the lowest ISO i could use so it would be as sharp as possible? Which F stop would give me the most in focus arcs? Yeah, they told you how to do it, but left out all the technical stuff you needed to know. Now, I’m the “hand me the calculator to balance my check book” kind of person, so this was the hard part. In the end, I just guessed and hoped for the best. Life is like that. You plan, you prepare and then you hope for the best. You can control some things, but not everything so you do the best you can. It was like that with the light. The first few images were disappointing. As I learned from my mistakes, the images got better. As I have learned from my mistakes in life, I have found that if you don’t give up on your dreams they do come true. If you don’t let anyone discourage you and stay the course, you can do anything. It may take some trial and error. It may take more time than you want. Just keep swimming. You will get there. I took a total of twenty seven images. There were two that I liked. Small steps. I bet the images will be even better the next time around. Thanks for visiting.
Photography and other art forms