A R Harvey Blog

Disco Damage - Light Graffiti

Artist: Disco Damage (Laura Fares and Kristin Neely)
Styling: Gemma Winter
Makeup: Melissa Victoria Lee

"Light graffiti" exploits long exposures and swept light sources to create luminous, otherworldly shapes. I've wanted to explore the dazzling possibilities for a long time; this shoot for electro duo Disco Damage was the perfect opportunity.

All the special effects were captured in-camera. Digital trickery was limited to skin retouching, background cleanup and overall sweetening. By doing it this way I was forced to embrace mistakes and happy accidents. No two photos are the same. Ghostly half-images, flares and broken trails betray where Laura or Kristin moved. The element of chance added variety and interest.

Each photo is captured in two stages. First is the flash component: Upon triggering the shutter a short, sharp burst of light "freezes" the scene. However, the shutter does not close. Instead it remains open for a further five seconds, enough time to "paint in" the light trails.

Most people use bicycle lights and other common battery powered sources. I wanted something a little more unique though, so I decided to build my own lights from scratch using LEDs, strip-board and numerous electronic components. I was soldering until 3am, the same morning of the shoot...

Regents Canal Tunnel

The above photo was a happy accident.

A few weeks back I was scouting canal locations for a fashion shoot. Towards the end of the day I found myself following the slow twists and turns of the Regents Canal, heading west towards Maida Vale. As soon as I entered this particular tunnel I spotted the mysterious figures up ahead. Only a few seconds remained before they reached open air. I sensed an opportunity... Quickly I lifted my camera and fired off a shot, still moving as I did so. Amazingly, the darkness of the tunnel balanced the brightness of the water's reflection, and my camera's autoexposure algorithms landed square in the middle to deliver a perfect exposure.

A second later, the moment had passed.

Joey Bevan for Ideal Home Show

Model: Sophie Howard
Stylist/Hair: Joey Bevan
Makeup: Michelle Court

The outfit featured in these photos was created by Joey Bevan for the Ideal Home Show. The materials are actually household furnishings; a plastic shower curtain has been repurposed as a see-through top, and foam door-pads have been turned into decorations.

Stylised lighting effects such as lens flares require a lot of care to get right. Their character varies immensely depending on the position of the light source and the aperture. Lens construction also plays a huge role: Complicated assemblies such as zoom lenses tend to produce more intricate patterns. The best lens flares are those that exhibit an almost organic quality, rife with flaws, happy accidents and serendipity.

Nina Boldt

Most of my work is very "pop-y" - high contrast, deep colours, huge post-production... This time I wanted to do something very different.

Nina Boldt is a singer from Germany, now living in London town. One Sunday afternoon we got together and took over a friend's bedroom. For this particular shoot, I wanted to evoke a light, hazy atmosphere - like a scene from a French art-house film. Naturalism was important, but at the same time I still wanted to push the edges of reality a little. A combination of natural and artificial light would be in order.

After pushing a lot of junk to one side I gelled the windows with diffusion. On sunny days windows tend to blow out; this time though the weather was likely to be grey. I really did not want to risk seeing the street beyond - it would just be one more hassle in Photoshop. By gelling the windows I could guarantee a nice, solid block of white in the background and soften the sunlight at the same time.

Bedrooms can be tricky places to make interesting. The environment needs to be carefully arranged so that any objects that appear in the background do not detract from the overall composition. A good starting point is to clear out everything that can be easily moved. Certain items can then be reintroduced if necessary. In the above photo we added a guitar. That was it.

The last ingredient was the smoke machine. Before the shoot, I was very wary of the raw images looking too "digital" or "real". Bedrooms are very familiar places after all, and modern photographic equipment does nothing to obscure reality. In addition to opening up the lens - thereby knocking out the background - I accentuated the depth effect by hazing the room. Distant details were thereby washed out and artfully smoothed over. Nina on the other hand remained sharp and fully formed.