A “selfie” inspired by Gjon Mili’s photograph of Pablo Picasso drawing a Minotaur with a light pen.

Framed image using my shoulder height to establish vertical center, marked outer edges and also marked where I would stand. Used a wolf profile, as I thought it would provide a recognizable, “simple” one line drawing. Used a sparkler (Morning Glory) instead of a Light Pen.

Exposure and Focus were determined and set manually. Mirror Up Mode gave me 30 sec to get in position and light the sparkler before the shutter tripped automatically. I then had 30 sec to complete the drawing before the on camera flash went off. On camera flash was set to Manual Full Power, Rear Curtain Sync. Timing was critical, I managed 11 exposures before it started to drizzle rain. Used PS Liquefy Filter’s Warp Tool to modify the ear and brow area which were drawn too flat.

The Chinese characters were drawn in a separate document using the brush tool, careful masking, and scaling. Each segment had its' own layer. The flattened file was then layered into the original image, scaled and moved into position. A copyright notice was added as a text layer and positioned to minimize an overly hot, hotspot.

Nikon D300, NikkorDX 35mm f1.8G, f11, 30 sec, iso200. Nikon MC-30 Cable Release, Manfrotto 3021BPro Tripod w/Manfrotto 410 Jr. Gearhead