Light Painting

Hi,

Has anyone here ever tried "light painting" with a relatively cheap
flashlight?

http://www.sportsshooter.com/special.../lightpainting

If so, any tips? Any examples of how it came out?

I think I might give it a try.

J


--
Justin F. Knotzke

http://www.shampoo.ca

"Justin F. Knotzke" wrote:
Has anyone here ever tried "light painting" with a relatively cheap
flashlight?
http://www.sportsshooter.com/special.../lightpainting
If so, any tips? Any examples of how it came out?
I think I might give it a try.


An interesting technique, well worth a look, although the 15.6MB file
took a long time to load, even with broadband. Maybe the connection
at the server is slow?

I have often used a well established technique using a hand held auto
flashgun (set on auto) and fired repeatedly by hand to "paint" a
subject with light. Having a long background in the construction
industry I do a lot of progress photography on construction sites, and
this technique is highly suited to interior shots of tunnels,
basements and other unlit enclosed spaces.

The golden rule is to avoid being caught in silhouette between the
camera and the part of the subject you are painting with flash. A
shot may involve 20, 30, or 40 flashes and it is difficult to avoid
being caught in so many. With film, you only know you got it wrong
when it is too late to do much about it; at least with digital you
could re-shoot while still on site.

I wonder if there could be scope with specially adapted digital gear
to watch the picture actually taking shape in real time? Now that
would be something!

"Justin F. Knotzke" wrote in message
...
Hi,

Has anyone here ever tried "light painting" with a relatively cheap
flashlight?

http://www.sportsshooter.com/special.../lightpainting

If so, any tips? Any examples of how it came out?

I think I might give it a try.

J


Very cool...inspiring, even. Thanks for the link.

Now all I need is a hot chick in a bikini...
;-)

--
Regards,
Matt Clara
www.mattclara.com

quote who= Matt Clara /:

Very cool...inspiring, even. Thanks for the link.

No worries. I am going to give it a try. I don't have a model but I am
going to try with a bike and a bike stand (very symbolic since any gals who
would ever had considered modeling for me have since split due to the amount
of training and racing I do on that bike). I will shoot it in B&W and test
different exposures. I soup my own film so I can fire off quite a few rolls
and develop them myselves and see what it gives me.

If it works out, I'll find a human.

If anyone else gives it a try I would LOVE to see what the results look
like and how you did it.

Now all I need is a hot chick in a bikini...

Don't forget the flashlight. ;-)

J

--
Justin F. Knotzke

http://www.shampoo.ca

Justin F. Knotzke wrote:

Hi,

Has anyone here ever tried "light painting" with a relatively cheap
flashlight?

http://www.sportsshooter.com/special.../lightpainting

If so, any tips? Any examples of how it came out?

I think I might give it a try.

That's in the "yeah, one day I'll try it" bin.

I've seen presentations done where the photog used different
colored gels for different parts of the scene. Results can be
eerie to wonderful.

Cheers,
Alan


--
--e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

"Justin F. Knotzke" wrote in message ...
Hi,

Has anyone here ever tried "light painting" with a relatively cheap
flashlight?

http://www.sportsshooter.com/special.../lightpainting

If so, any tips? Any examples of how it came out?

I think I might give it a try.

1. Is no try, do or do not do. (Either Mr. Miyagi or Yoda depending
on who you ask.) Life is short, film is cheap, (Digital is cheaper),
get out there.

2. The flashlight will be very red on film. This creates a nice
effect on foreground rocks and cliff faces but is not so good on
people. Tape/hold a blue 80A filter over the flashlight. It will
still be reddish but colors will be more natural.

3. Use color negative for the exposure leeway. If you haven't tried
Portra 160NC, now might be a good time.

4. Set up for shots right after sunset. Some preliminary indoor
flashlight metering helps here. If you are stopped down for a 60
second exposure to bring in the dim sky, meter the flashlight on a
typical dark or backlit foreground object. If the exposure is 2
seconds at the given aperture you know you should paint each beam
sized object about 2 seconds during the full exposure. A nice
combination here would be a sculpture garden east of a metropolitan
area: Red/blue sky in the background, city lights in the middle,
painted sculptures in the foreground. Change filters as you paint.

5. In full darkness you have a wider range of aperture options. If
it takes one second to sweep the beam width past a point, then you
have a 1 second exposure there. Try to create some recognizable,
compositionally balanced points of interest so the viewer can
recognize what she is looking at.

6. If you are going for that solid white line/curve effect just
increase flashlight exposure by 3 stops or so. If you want to aim the
flashlight back at the camera position for a narrow line, a white
translucent cover over the light will give you a meterable surface
without the hot beam that will cause flare and ghosting when it hits
your lens. You will need to find a lab that will manually set the
print exposure or just use slide film. Otherwise your "black" field
will end up medium gray.

7. If you are lighting up rocks in water, the rocks will be red and
the water will stay dark because it reflects the beam away. This can
be pretty spectacular with some kind of background illumination.

"Matt Clara" wrote ...

Now all I need is a hot chick in a bikini...
;-)

Don't we all !!

Though I suspect some regular posters here need one more than most.
That way they might just cease their incessant bitching, moaning, whining
and flaming of other regular posters they dislike

Alternatively, maybe they could just go find a wall to see who can ****
against the highest

Really it's as simple as AB & . . . . . .

--
"I'm your Huckleberry !!"
- Doc Holliday
"Tombstone"

"Tony Parkinson" wrote in message
...
"Matt Clara" wrote ...

Now all I need is a hot chick in a bikini...
;-)

Don't we all !!


Well some people are just *so* easy to please. :0)

www.backfire.co.uk/yaritza

H.

"Tony Parkinson" wrote in message
...
"Matt Clara" wrote ...

Now all I need is a hot chick in a bikini...
;-)

Don't we all !!

As long as I have the internet, I shall not be found wanting.

--
Martin Francis http://www.sixbysix.co.uk
"Go not to Usenet for counsel, for it will say both no, and yes, and
no, and yes...."

quote who= Bob Kirkpatrick /:

4. Set up for shots right after sunset. Some preliminary indoor
flashlight metering helps here. If you are stopped down for a 60
second exposure to bring in the dim sky, meter the flashlight on a
typical dark or backlit foreground object. If the exposure is 2
seconds at the given aperture you know you should paint each beam
sized object about 2 seconds during the full exposure. A nice
combination here would be a sculpture garden east of a metropolitan
area: Red/blue sky in the background, city lights in the middle,
painted sculptures in the foreground. Change filters as you paint.

This was one the major question I had: how to meter. Thanks for answering
it and thanks for the other points as well.

I am going to try this. I go on vacation starting tomorrow and I plan on
giving it try.

Thanks again,

J

--
Justin F. Knotzke

http://www.shampoo.ca