Brite Ideas Studio

Last night I headed up to South Mountain again, eager to try out my new remote shutter release and Brinkmann Max Million II. The remote is to help prevent camera shake for sharper images, and the Max is for light, since the flashlight I’d been using just wasn’t very bright. I decided to leave the house early and try to hike to a photographic spot while it’s still light out. One of the things I’d learned from previous shoots is that it’s incredibly difficult to focus in the dark, so maybe by shooting in the evening rather than early morning, I could get better images. Also, I wouldn’t have to get up at 4:00 a.m.

The first part of my plan worked out very well. I arrived at South Mountain with plenty of daylight left, and proceeded to hike the National Trail from Buena Vista Lookout, searching for a good spot to shoot from. After a not-too-long hike I found this spot:

From here I had some foreground elements (the rocks), while still being able to see the trail and even the city far below. Those rocks don’t look very impressive, do they? Notice my Brinkmann circled in pink. These “rocks” are actually boulders, 6 to 10 feet high. With my location chosen, I was about to settle down and wait for the sun to go down when I noticed something unusual; flowers. The recent rains must have helped these to bloom.

These were tiny, not much bigger than the top of a pencil eraser. In a couple of months they will most likely be gone, burned up by the relentless sun. After climbing back to my spot, I took a few shots as the sun started to go down so I could practice with my shutter release. Here is the view as I first arrived “on location,” with the sun just starting to sink behind the mountains to my back.

After just a few minutes, the sun had gone down quite a bit further, giving some nice colors to the sky, and softening the shadows.

And finally, with the sun not quite down, I started shooting with the remote and the Brinkmann. Turns out the 15 foot range of the remote is not as far as I’d like, especially since after triggering it I had just 3 seconds to run to wherever I planned on painting. Running around a mountain in the dark is never a good idea, but I didn’t want to use the Brinkmann constantly, since a fully charged battery only lasts about 20 minutes, and I didn’t know how many shots I would need to take. After about 30 different shots, a lot of running, a couple of bruises, and a promise to myself to get into better shape, I packed everything up and hiked back to the car, drove home, and sat down at the computer to see what I’d ended up with.

Although the Brinkmann throws out a ton of light, I have to find a way to diffuse it, as the shadows it creates can be quite harsh. Overall though I felt like it was a good start. I just need some diffusion, a better white balance setting, and maybe an assistant to trigger the shutter for me so I can get to those far locations without having to run. Those three things and some good locations and I may have some very good images to post!

Until next time, God bless and good shooting!