AN AFTER DARK FANTASY ON ST HELENA | Darrin Henry
Capturing pictures of St Helena that are a little bit different is not always easy, but with strobist landscape photography I think we might have something new. For WTSDN, anyway.
Of course, St Helena landscape pictures during the daylight we’ve done many times, but we’re constantly trying to come up with something new.
Once again Sharon and I have our Project 365 daily picture challenge, to thank. Creativity often needs a little kick, and that’s what Project 365 repeatedly does for us.
Photography strobes are basically external (as opposed to on-board) flash units, also known as speedlights, or flash guns. They fit or communicate via a camera hot shoe. Modern camera flash units though are pretty high-tech, with built in electronics giving photographers almost limitless creative lighting control.
Ten years ago I stumbled across strobist photography techniques. Strobist photography is basically using one or more off-camera strobes to light a photograph. I’ve dabbled over the years but can’t believe I’ve never really invested serious time exploring the potential.
Until now.
Strobist Landscape Photography – Napoleon’s last home, Longwood House, St Helena.
Strobist Landscape Photography – Master and Slave
How to shoot strobist landscape photography? Well, you’re are going to need some good flashes.
As a Canon photographer I naturally use Canon speedlights. My kit bag includes the Canon 600EX-RT, Canon 420EX and the Canon 580EX-II.
I
For extra strobe options I also have much cheaper, Yongnuo speedlights, the YN560-II and YN560-III. These are Chinese made clones, unsurprisingly lacking some of the connectivity features of the Canons. Even so, Yongnuo speedlights are very affordable, functional and make great slave units working off the Canon masters.
I find the best deals for speedlights on Amazon. For their current deals, click these linked images:
Strobist landscape photography is a big chunk of a challenge to take on. Working outdoors, lighting up big spaces with strobes can be a little intimidating. But, with some careful planning the results can be quite cool.
Here’s a selection of five after dark images, a sample of what we’ve been shooting after dark on St Helena, so far this year.
Strobist Landscape Photography – High Knoll Fort, St Helena.
Strobist Landscape Photography – Castle Gardens in Jamestown, St Helena.
Strobist Landscape Photography – Cannon at Saddle Battery, St Helena.
Strobist Landscape Photography – Tomb Road, St Helena.
Fantastic, really beautiful
Thanks 🙂
great photos!!
Thanks Stan 🙂
Amazing thanks for sharing and keep up the good work
Cheers Lawson 🙂
absolutely stunning. thanks for sharing
You’re welcome Arthur, thanks for the comment.
We’re working on more!
Wow! Need lights on the roads at night. Solar, perhaps?
Good idea, it could transform some areas into something quite beautiful.
Thanks for the comment, Walter.
Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, like what I see and look forward to the next blog.
Absolutely Brian, it’s been interesting to see how ordinary places/scenes would look with some lighting at night.
Thanks for the feedback. Always good to hear from you.
Cheers
Amazing pictures, makes me miss home even more😊
Imagine Tomb Road being lit up like that when you come home!! Now that would be something 🙂
Thanks for the comment Charmaine.
Cheers
What fantastic photo,s – looking forward to seeing some more in the future.
Also really interesting to read how this is done. Keep it going!!
Thanks for the comment Derek.
Yes, we plan to post more of these in future.
And a ‘How To’ post as well at some point.
Cheers 🙂
Beautiful pictures! I can only imagine the visual effect as you press the button and the whole scene lights up like magic out of the darkness. Thanks for the reminder that the best ‘night’ scenes are actually taken at dusk with the last of the daylight colouring the sky. Now where did I put my 21 speedlights?
Yes, the photographers’ secret, pulling the last of the daylight into a night shot.
It has been a surprise how this type of photography has been right under our nose the whole time. It’s a great way to plan street lighting or monument lighting (I’m guessing).
Thanks for the feedback Chris, good luck with your pictures 🙂
Absolutely brilliant pictures. The message for me is, Please Don’t Try this At Home.
Well done guy’s, very interesting.
Haha, you need an RTD to do this 😀
Thanks for the comment. And the cheese straws for the High Knoll shoot 🙂
Cheers
Wow, very incredible pics.
All I can say is wow, you guys did a really great job. Looking forward to more blogs.
Hey Sasha, always great to have your feedback, thank you so much.
More blogs will be on the way, stay tuned 🙂
(just waiting on this scruffy August weather to finish)
Awesome photos guys 😊
Totally ama-zing
If we can impress you then that’s a good day 🙂
Thanks Leroy.
Hope you’re making the most of that summer sun over that way.
Amazing pictures pictures, great work keep this up.
Yes, already scheming other locations to light up. So if you see two shady characters lurking about in the dark around the roadsides, don’t panic 🙂
Thanks for the comment, Lawson.
Cheers
Saint Talent and Ingenuity at its best……Brilliant!
Thanks for the comment Joanna 🙂
Wow. Incredible photos. We keep being amazed by WTSDN, but this post has really set the bar high. Not sure what else to say. BRAVO!
Thanks guys, much appreciated.
Hopefully this weather shapes up soon and we can put some more of these together.
Cheers 🙂