Monday, February 8, 2010

Night Light

So I finally got out and took the light painting pictures I wanted to do two weekends ago. After work today I headed up to the Valley of Fire and fumbled around a bit in the dark. This is my first try at this type of picture and I like the results. I will definitely be taking more of these pictures in the future.

I used a light from four different locations (next to the camera, to the right of the buildings and inside both buildings). Running around in the dark made this a bit on the difficult side but I got it done. (I was moving in the dark because the shutter was open and any light would register.)

The biggest thing this shoot told me is that I really need to get some flashes and a remote triggering system.

D60, ISO 200, 50mm, f1.4, 66.7 seconds

Overall I think I like this first image the best. I really like the dark, brooding character and the uneven blue wash.

D60, ISO 200, 50mm, f1.4, 68.3 seconds

The lighting on the front wall is the best in this picture. The blue from the front and green from the side really brought out the texture. The green on the ground in front of the building is a bit hot and that detracts from the picture. With a little bit of effort I may be able to tone that down in Photoshop.

I also like the small wedge of white light in the foreground. (This was a light leak between my gel and the flashlight.)

D60, ISO 200, 50mm, f1.4, 84.7 seconds

This last image has a nice green fill, not nearly as intense as the second image. The red in the doorway is a little hot this time but I do like the blue edging on the stones inside the door.

3 comments:

  1. I tried printing the first picture. The printer sure didn't like it. The reds came out dull and muddy.

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  2. These are great - this is something I want to try. So you put different colored gels on a flashlight and "painted" the various parts?

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  3. That's pretty much it. Being a lighting designer in a previous life I always have some Rosco gels hanging around. I then found a 5 watt LED flashlight at Walmart that works great for this. At first I thought it might be too bright.

    The two color shots have three light sources and the three color shots have four sources. The blue wash is from the camera position. The green is to the right of the building. Then the two windows are in separate rooms so I had to do two red washes inside the building itself.

    There was no Moon out and it was really dark there so even at f1.4 the flashlight was overpowering any ambient light. The downside is that the ground was really uneven and I had to be careful running around without any light.

    What would have been nice is to have two remote flash units inside the building with red gels. That would have cut down on some of the running around. Even with the flash you can get an uneven wash if you are creative.

    If you want to see some outstanding light painting checkout http://lostamerica.com/

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