Nikon D700 - Light Painting (Night Photography)

We came across this bunker at Malabar, using Google maps, whilst searching for interesting places to shoot in Sydney.

Malabar Bunker - In Daylight

We checked it out during the day time to make sure that the bunker would be an interesting subject and it didn't disappoint. The structure was covered in graffiti both inside and out. It was definitely suitable for some light painting experiments.

Inside the bunker - Entrance

Inside the bunker - first floor

I am glad we checked it out in the daytime as it made navigating to the bunker much easier at night. Here are some of the shots from our light painting experiment.

Malabar Bunker - (Back view) Painted in Portrait

Malabar Bunker - Painted in Portrait

Malabar Bunker - Painted in Landscape

The top floor was "painted" using a Canon 430EX wrapped in purple cellophane and the second floor was "painted" using a Nikon SB-800 with a green gel over the flash head. The external walls of the bunker was "painted" using another Nikon SB-800. The camera aperture was set to f/11 with an exposure time of 3 minutes.

There were 4 of us split into 2 teams, one team would be taking the shots and "painting" the outside of the bunker whilst the other team was up in the bunker "painting" the two floors. The results were satisfactory for first timers and we learnt alot .

Lessons learnt for next time:

1. Turn head lamp off before walking around and ruining the shots.
2. Make sure that when the flash fires it is not aimed towards the camera lens.
3. Bring some real torches with more lumen so we can focus!
4. Get some proper gels instead of using cellophane for the flashes
5. Probably fire the flash with less power or less frequently when "painting" the external walls
6. Increase the exposure time so we can get extended star trails

It was a lot of fun, everyone thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We have already started making plans for another light painting shoot. All the other guys that weren't that keen to come this time are now chomping at the bit after they saw the results.