Old Bus-Terlingua, Tx.

We were in Terlingua,Tx. recently, an old mining town that was abandon for many years.  It is an ideal place for photographing old buildings and junk vehicles left behind by the miners.  I decided to try some night photography by using a combination of ambient moon light and light painting with a flashlight.  I spotted this old bus sitting off the road during the day and scouted out the best location to setup the camera in the dark.  The total overall exposure was five minutes with the intermittent use of a flashlight to paint light on areas of the bus including the inside.  The best technique in light painting is to use off camera axis light source.  In the above photo I painted the right side of the bus while walking from the back to the front right next to the bus.  I used my hand to block the direct beam of the light from the camera.  The front grill area was painted from the left side at about 90* angle to the camera.  The ground was lit by holding the flashlight at ground level to give detail and contrast to the surface.  I chose a five minute exposure to give me plenty of time to move around and paint in light on the bus.  After making an exposure be sure to check your histogram to determine if enough light was applied to the scene.  The LED screen on the camera is bright and can fool you into thinking you have made a proper exposure.  This type of photography requires numerous exposures and experimentation to obtain a successful image.