First stab at light painting.. Opinions welcome

FivepointSlow · May 13, 2014

I was very interested in trying out light painting when [MENTION=10867]sleepn_sn95[/MENTION] posted a thread of his car using the light painting technique. After browsing around and reading up on different methods of getting it done... I grabbed the SLR, a tripod, and my iPhones flashlight and got to work.
Took around 100 pictures in the pitch dark. I took a few the following day in the same position just after sun set to get the badass background. And after narrowing my ~110 pictures down to the 20 I used, and about 3 hours of photoshop later, I have this.

Just kidding. That's one picture I cleaned up and deleted the background from just to see how I liked the idea...

This is what I sent my friend half way through.

And the final product

This is a raw picture I took after finishing shooting the above angle... I didn't edit this at all but I love how it came out. I have another one with a car passing by but the reflection from my flashlight is weird so I might edit them together.

Crapatalkin' on the iPhone 5.0

Ferocious · May 13, 2014

Not bad.

A couple pointers; You need to remember to illuminate the car more. You can do so by having a friend stand behind the camera with a powerful light and illuminate the part of the car that you want to show. Then you would go around the car and with your phone (which isn't very bright to begin with) paint the car. Another way to do this is to buy a speedlight or a studio flash light kit.

Around what time did you shoot these?

FivepointSlow · May 13, 2014

Ferocious said:
Around what time did you shoot these?

Uhm I shot them yesterday starting at 7:45 and into 9 PM. A lot of playing with the camera settings so I didn't start really taking pictures til 8:10 or so. Sun set for yesterday according to the weather channel was 7:59PM.
There's a street light about 200 ft down the road in each direction and my neighbors porch light was on about 70 ft from the car. So there was some light but it was minimal.

Crapatalkin' on the iPhone 5.0

Ferocious · May 13, 2014

Yes, minimal would be the word to describe that much lighting.

Remember..... mo lighting, mo better.

Not bad for a first try though. It takes some getting use to.

Gtvert · May 13, 2014

That's pretty cool, specially first time

FivepointSlow · May 13, 2014

Thanks for the tips ferocious. I'll have to get some practice with a friends car, he wants me to try this with his, put him to work holding a light lol.
[MENTION=18752]Gtvert[/MENTION] thanks! I'm amazed how well it came out for my first try. The editing wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I just need to spend more time with the shooting and I need to use my moms camera because she has a remote so I don't have to touch the camera... The tripod moved enough to be a pain in my ass in photoshop... Lol

Crapatalkin' on the iPhone 5.0

Ferocious · May 13, 2014

Your tripod moved?

Hurricane season or what? lol

FivepointSlow · May 13, 2014

Ferocious said:
Your tripod moved?

Hurricane season or what? lol

No everytime I clicked the button it'd move the camera a little bit... Between the first and the last picture I took the angle of the camera change about a foot.

Crapatalkin' on the iPhone 5.0

g36 monkey · May 13, 2014

set a delayed start for the lense to open, then leave the shutter open longer. silly goose

Orange 94 · May 13, 2014

Cool stuff!
Going on da twitter yo.

Ballistic · May 14, 2014

I kind of like this one, its different from most the other light paintings, shows the lines of the car..

You should try getting a Wireless Trigger setup or something, i use my pocket wizards for when i am alone..

(Screwing around with my pocket wizards)

ttocs · May 14, 2014

a cheap tripod/base to put this on will alays be important. learned this on some time lapse shots I was doing the hard way that my tripod was too weak/shaky so I ordered a heavier more solid version. I need to see if the gopro's can do that.

FivepointSlow · May 14, 2014

ttocs said:
a cheap tripod/base to put this on will alays be important. learned this on some time lapse shots I was doing the hard way that my tripod was too weak/shaky so I ordered a heavier more solid version. I need to see if the gopro's can do that.

My tripod is fine. It's actually a really nice one. But everytime I clicked the button I moved the camera a tiny amount and after 100 shots or so the camera moved it's angle a noticeable amount. Plus it was on the grass so I'm sure it sunk in a little everytime I pushed the button which contributed to the changed angle.

Crapatalkin' on the iPhone 5.0

ttocs · May 14, 2014

this was my original and its great for carrying and an quick shots. My only problem was on long shots its light weight enough that it would bob in the wind.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/40-Light-we...11289184255?pt=US_Tripods&hash=item19e95a2fff

For time lapse stuff where it can NOT move at all this is what I upgraded too.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Professiona...81321904508?pt=US_Tripods&hash=item418017997c

Ferocious · May 14, 2014

$10 tripod? Seems legit.

That second one is serious business. Mine has carbon fiber legs because it's JDM.

ttocs · May 14, 2014

yes the 2nd one is much heavier and needless to say you do not want to carry it all day but then again you don't have to worry about the wind shaking it.

kb1982 · May 15, 2014

I have a Mefoto Roadtrip tripod. Its about 4 lbs, but it has a hook to hang weight from it if needed. It goes from 15.4 inches to 61.6. Plus it actually comes apart, and can be made into monopod also. I carry it with me sometimes when im out riding on my motorcycle, along with my Nikon P510. I know, its not a DSLR, but the heck with a bunch of expensive lenses.