FlashLight Power

I read an interesting article about a photographer that used flashlights instead of on flashes to lighten up subjects.  The basic concept was that he would put his camera on a tripod, turn the shutter speed very low and then move the flashlight around to lighten up those areas that he wanted to expose.

I took my camera, tripod a a huge flashlight (25mm candle power) to Scripps Pier in La Jolla (after sunset) and begin to try out the idea.  In about 30 minutes I had some pretty good shots that I was really happy with.  I basically set my shutter speed to around 20 seconds, ISO to 200 and then did long exposures right down the pier into the water.  There was a double benefit to the slow shutter speed.  Not only was I able to smooth out the water (so it looks really calm), but I was able to light up pretty much the whole pier so that it appeared to be glowing gold.