First stab at light painting.. Opinions welcome

FivepointSlow

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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.
TBP9T8z.jpg





































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.
7NvsHpF.jpg


And the final product
LbZBAE0.jpg


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.
yajCOq0.jpg



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Ferocious

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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?
 
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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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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.


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Ferocious

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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.
 
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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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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


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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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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.


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g36 monkey

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

Ballistic

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85WNL1il.jpg


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..

Yk9PM4J.png

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ttocs

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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.
 
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FivepointSlow

FivepointSlow

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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.


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ttocs

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Ferocious

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$10 tripod? Seems legit.


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

ttocs

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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.
 

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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.
 

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