For this composition, I wanted to create an image representing the flow of information in the mind. Neurology is fascinating. It becomes more so when your own malfunctions and your brain creates phantom pain, sends signals which make muscles spasm and you get weird temperature sensations.
How to make the image? This was my second creation using the Antsonamelon's RGB Critter. The world's first colour changing torch. I'd watched this torch's development on Kickstarter for two years waiting for it to be released, then been tipped off on the day it launched on their website (thank you Stephen Knight!). One import from the USA later and several weeks waiting for delivery, and I could experiment. I added their DIY attachment to the purchase so I could attach my home made fibre optic brushes to their torch.
The RGB critter has 36 colours to choose from, you can programme it using three buttons to also set how long each colour lasts, how the colours cycle, their brightness and whether the colour strobes. Learning how to do this using just three buttons takes some time to learn!
The colour palette I chose for the composition cycles from white to blues and yellow to orange to green. The blues for the data paths, the others for information flow through those neural networks.
A mannequin head would be the mould I'd use for the fibre optic brush. Contrast then dropped so the head disappears from the picture, and only the lights remain.
Colour palette set, I drew the brush over the contours of the face keeping tips pressed to the head. I wanted the lines sharp. Camera settings were a 30 second exposure. F5.6. ISO 125.
From there it was a matter of mirroring the image using software.
