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08-26-2012, 05:39 PM   #1
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Photographing Lighthouses at night question

I was at St. Simons Island this weekend and when sitting at the base of the lighthouse at night noted that in addition to the rotating beam of light there are beams at the 4 cardinal points that are constant. I guess I knew this at some time in the past but it struck me that I could see the four beams when sitting at the base of the tower but the camera, with bulb mode and up to 2 minute exposures, was unable to see any of the beams despite their being both constant and visible to my eyes.

My question is, how would you go about capturing those four beams radiating from the lighthouse? I had tripod, remote, K-5, and several lenses with me and tried combinations of lenses, aperture settings, and shutter speeds.

Thanks.


Last edited by Docrwm; 08-26-2012 at 06:10 PM.
08-26-2012, 06:45 PM   #2
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My idea would be to do multiple exposures and blend them in Photoshop. Essentially, you want to combine a well exposed shot of the lighthouse with a shot of the beams that has all the beams radiating out.

Take one or a few shots of the lighthouse that are well exposed. Don't worry about the beams. Next, take another shot where the beams are clear. More than likely the rest of your image is going to be way underexposed but don't worry about it. Just worry about the beams of light.

After you have your shots, using layer masking in Photoshop to combine the well exposed lighthouse with the light beams.
08-27-2012, 07:41 AM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by Sol Invictus Quote
My idea would be to do multiple exposures and blend them in Photoshop. Essentially, you want to combine a well exposed shot of the lighthouse with a shot of the beams that has all the beams radiating out.
Take one or a few shots of the lighthouse that are well exposed. Don't worry about the beams. Next, take another shot where the beams are clear. More than likely the rest of your image is going to be way underexposed but don't worry about it. Just worry about the beams of light.
After you have your shots, using layer masking in Photoshop to combine the well exposed lighthouse with the light beams.
I appreciate the idea on how to combine shots, my problem is with capturing the static beams in the first place.

The photos I have seen with radiating beams from lighthouses are mostly done with star filters that artificially break the light into radiating points.

What I saw the other night was four light trails that were constant. I thought it would be a nice shot to have the 4 light beams emanating from the light and the rotating one as well. In thinking this through, something I obviously did not do at the time it occurs to me that having the sensor see those 4 beams may not be possible. The problem is that the rotating beam may eliminate the 4 static beams because its stronger and with a bulb exposure of 60+ seconds the moving beam will have made at least one complete revolution. During its transit around the 360 degrees it may, by virtue of being the stronger light source, make what is visible to the naked (the 4 static light beams) eye completely obscured to the camera’s sensor.
08-27-2012, 01:46 PM   #4
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not sure without a photo exactly what you are talking about, but the vast majority of night photos have a little twilight in it. I found out that if you use a high ISO for shorter shutter speed, the light isn't as "smudgy" looking for lack of a better word when I did some fireworks last year

not much but hope this helps

randy

08-27-2012, 01:58 PM   #5
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QuoteOriginally posted by slip Quote
not sure without a photo exactly what you are talking about, but the vast majority of night photos have a little twilight in it. I found out that if you use a high ISO for shorter shutter speed, the light isn't as "smudgy" looking for lack of a better word when I did some fireworks last year

not much but hope this helps

randy
Randy,
Thanks. All I had time to do last night when we got home was transfer the files to the redundant back-up hard drives. Once I process them I will try to post and ask more specific questions. I appreciate your trying to help without my giving you a photo to look at.
Thanks.
-Robert
08-27-2012, 02:44 PM   #6
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Seems that the beams would be visible if there is a bit of haze or fog in the air. Check these images on Flickr, you can view the exif data by clicking on the camera name if it is allowed.
lighthouse beam - Flickr: Search

The shots where the beams are made using star filters look fake IMO.
08-27-2012, 05:01 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by crewl1 Quote
Seems that the beams would be visible if there is a bit of haze or fog in the air. Check these images on Flickr, you can view the exif data by clicking on the camera name if it is allowed.
lighthouse beam - Flickr: Search

The shots where the beams are made using star filters look fake IMO.
First, Thank you. Second, I agree about the star filters. I just thought it was pretty cool to have 4 stable beams of coherent white light coming out at the Cardinal points. I'm off to the Flickr link

08-27-2012, 08:57 PM   #8
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You won't get beams from long exposure shots as most lighthouses either rotate their lights or flash them. Your best bet is exposure blending. The beams of light should be strong enough to catch with a short exposure. Then take another longer exposure to get the lighthouse. Using Photoshop or another editing program that offers layers combine the sky and beams from the short exposure and the lighthouse and foreground from the longer one.

This doesn't catch lighthouse beams but does combine a sunrise (short exposure) with the lighthouse (long exposure).

08-28-2012, 09:38 PM   #9
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With the rotation of the primary beam, the key may be to shoot a series of short photos and try to stack them... Kind of like the stacking used in astrophotography, only the beams are your dim stars.

Otherwise the rotating beam may be too difficult to overcome.

I shot a lighthouse years ago in California that had the beams, but they purposely stopped rotation for 15 minutes to allow photography. In that case, I only needed a few seconds to get some well defined beams. No filters but it was an old bridge camera; not that it matters
08-29-2012, 05:56 PM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by emalvick Quote
With the rotation of the primary beam, the key may be to shoot a series of short photos and try to stack them... Kind of like the stacking used in astrophotography, only the beams are your dim stars.

Otherwise the rotating beam may be too difficult to overcome.

I shot a lighthouse years ago in California that had the beams, but they purposely stopped rotation for 15 minutes to allow photography. In that case, I only needed a few seconds to get some well defined beams. No filters but it was an old bridge camera; not that it matters

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using Tapatalk 2
Thanks. I have several that have a star effect from the light even though I did not use a filter. Two of the bulb exposures captured background stars and were long enough to show star trails. It's an interesting exercise trying to think about how to capture it natively. I'm not very adept at the LR and PS software so it sort of forces me to think about how to go about getting images the way I want them through the sensor and camera settings. It may, as I think several have intimated, ultimately prove to be impossible to capture it how I want it to look without using layered images. Still, I would like to try.
08-29-2012, 06:38 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by Docrwm Quote
I was at St. Simons Island this weekend and when sitting at the base of the lighthouse at night noted that in addition to the rotating beam of light there are beams at the 4 cardinal points that are constant. I guess I knew this at some time in the past but it struck me that I could see the four beams when sitting at the base of the tower but the camera, with bulb mode and up to 2 minute exposures, was unable to see any of the beams despite their being both constant and visible to my eyes.

My question is, how would you go about capturing those four beams radiating from the lighthouse? I had tripod, remote, K-5, and several lenses with me and tried combinations of lenses, aperture settings, and shutter speeds.

Thanks.
Did you consider waiting for a misty/raining/drizzle night so you get the reflections off the water in the air?
08-29-2012, 06:45 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Gareth.Ig Quote
Did you consider waiting for a misty/raining/drizzle night so you get the reflections off the water in the air?
That would be nice but we had good weather for the time we were there, perhaps next time we visit.
08-30-2012, 06:08 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by Gareth.Ig Quote
Did you consider waiting for a misty/raining/drizzle night so you get the reflections off the water in the air?
fog would work well, as well

randy
09-01-2012, 09:14 AM - 1 Like   #14
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Is this the type of photography you are referring to? - Pigeon Point Lighthouse... He also includes a writeup on what / how he captured the image.
09-01-2012, 09:31 AM   #15
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Thanks. I had seen some of the linked material but not all of it.
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