Tokihiro Sato

[karuzo]

Hello all,
This photographer is using a long exposure for his shots. Even in day light he exposed for 30-60 minutes. How does he do that without over exposing?
I was interested in maybe exploring his work and try to emulate it.

[wholenewlight]

I didn't see a link for his pics but I did a little searching and found a few good links:

http://www.tonkonow.com/sato.html

http://photoarts.com/gallery/SATO/satoexh.html

http://www.hainesgallery.com/Main_Pages/Artist_Pages/TSAT.work.html

http://www.universes-in-universe.de/car/havanna/centro/e_sato.htm

Here's somewhat of an eplaination of his technique:
"Using an eight-by-ten-inch camera set on a tripod, he makes lengthy exposures in which he enters the frame of the landscape, waving around a flashlight (by night) or pausing periodically with a mirror that reflects sunlight back at the camera (by day). These brighter lights are recorded as traces of his presence, but he himself is rendered invisible by his motion during the course of the hour-long exposure. The contemplative and somewhat otherworldly pictures that result are literally "photo-graphs," a term derived from the Greek words for light and drawing. "

As to your question, "How does he do that without over exposing?", I imagine he is using a very dark neutral density filter. A dark enough "gray" filter and you can have long exposure even in daylight.

[asd]

Interesting photos. My brother and I played around light-painting outdoor scenes at night awhile back (it's very fun), but Sato's stuff is magnitudes better. Nice find.

[Steve Cavigliano]

Wow!! I've seen "painting with light" before, but Sato takes it to new extremes. The distances he covers is amazing :clap


This technique can be easily applied at home :D A PWL artist, whose images I really enjoy, does still life stuff. If interested check it out here (http://www.pbase.com/ziggers/pwl)


Steve

[karuzo]

Thanks all

[rutt]

Here is another artist using very long exposures.

http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2004/Michael_Wesely_11-20-04.html

I've been trying to figure out how this works. If someone owns the catalog, perhaps it says.

It would be easier to do this with digital, I think. Take an new shot from exactly the same perspective every day (hour, minute, second, whatever) and then blend afterwards to get the desired effect.

[ziggy53]

Please don't think of this as extreme criticism, but while I looked at Tokihiro Sato's work, I was thinking how much easier and how much more control you could get doing the same thing digitally with PhotoShop or similar.


I realize that an artist slaves over processes like this and that they prefer to think of the extended process as added value, but I rather think differently. I think that the effect is interesting, but "needs" the extra control to help control the definition of shape, and that might make a better image.

Again, I am not trying to diminish Tokihiro as an artist. I appreciate what he does and I think it very interesting as it is. (I bet a ton of his work never makes it to public viewing because it is so difficult.)

Any thoughts or examples of something similar?

ziggy53