First Try at Light Painting

[Gdad]

Looking for something fun and creative to do with the kids last night we decided to try our hand at LIGHT PAINTING. The basic setup was the camera on a tripod set in bulb mode- we shot between f4 and f8 depending on the light source. For lights we used sparklers, glow sticks, and a couple LED flashlights that can do different colors. Some of the Disney Light Toys we have also got some use- I have a strangely impressive collection of these. We also used a speedlight hand held just to freeze the action at times.

Anyway- we took turns at the camera and at the lights. I should have found a better background than the house across the street- oh well- first try. The whole set along with EXIF is HERE.

 

[saturndb]

that is really cool!

Dave

 

[Groucho]

Wow! Great results. Someone's got steady hands and a good sense of drawing on air.

I tried it once last year but I only got as far as writing my son's name onto a wall inside the house one night.

 

[annnewjerz]

Show off

Really nice, first try or fiftieth!

The butterfly wings and girls with their names came out great and I really like the one towards the end that looks like a tunnel. Can't wait to try this out tomorrow if I have any willing participants.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Love it! I might try it tonight at the bonfires, but not sure the weather's going to hold out.

 

[My2Girls66]

Really cool!!

 

[YEKCIM]

Raising the bar yet again! Very creative stuff, Jeff. Thanks for sharing your creativity with us!

~Ed

 

[annnewjerz]

Okay so I just realized I forgot to ask my question.

It seems like you have very little of the trails of light between each letter in the names you spelled out, whereas a lot of attempts I have seen have the letters all looking connected. How do you make the light disappear in between letters?

I would think, draw the letters more slowly and then when you move to the next letter, do it really quickly----or maybe it's the opposite?

Please, do tell (and I really hope the answer isn't cloning out the trails in Photoshop, because who really wants to spend the time doing that )

 

[Gdad]

Thanks all-

No Ann- I am way too lazy to clone anything out- as you can see from the red trail scribbling around under Laurens name- that is the little red indicator on the speedlignt. I just turned the flashlight off between letters- to do the halo's- etc.

 

[annnewjerz]

Thanks all-

No Ann- I am way too lazy to clone anything out- as you can see from the red trail scribbling around under Laurens name- that is the little red indicator on the speedlignt. I just turned the flashlight off between letters- to do the halo's- etc.

Oooooh, that sounds a lot easier than what I thought you'd say. I guess another solution would be to just (if using a flashlight) turn off the flashlight between letters---no light, no trails.

Thanks, Jeff!

Edited to add: I'm an idiot---that's what you just said above.

 

[wenrob]

Very cool! We are going to try with sparklers tonight. Do you mind giving a little play by play on the ones with the girls names? Like did you have them do the posing first then do the name or visa versa? About how long did you have them pose in each spot? My DD will love these and they'll make her more cooperative as well, so thanks for that too!

 

[Gdad]

Very cool! We are going to try with sparklers tonight. Do you mind giving a little play by play on the ones with the girls names? Like did you have them do the posing first then do the name or visa versa? About how long did you have them pose in each spot? My DD will love these and they'll make her more cooperative as well, so thanks for that too!

Sure- It was pretty dark out so time was not an issue. I had them pose at each spot and snapped them with the flash. Then they got out of the frame and I went and wrote their names with the flashlight. I started with a 50mm lens but got out of frame a few times- so I moved to a 20mm and just cropped.

I hope some of you guys share your results with this here if you give it a try.

 

[Gdad]

How long they pose in each spot does not really matter- the flash strobe will freeze them even jumping in mid air.

 

[wenrob]

Thanks Jeff. Your exif says no flash? I take it, it was off camera?
I haven't learned that yet, still working on using it on board.

 

[GoofyontheHiSeas]

Amazing shots Jeff
I too was puzzled about your girls shots and then reading the EXIF that no flash was used. I kind of thought that you may have used a second camera with a flash or manually discharged an external flash to take 4 shots while the D700 was taking the long exposure.

 

[NostalgicDad]

Those are really great shots, Jeff.

 

[YesDear]

So from looking at the images with people in them it appears you wrote first then took their picture with an off camera flash? Was the flash set at full power or some other setting?

Cool stuff by the way!

 

[Merrywheather]

These are really neat! Thanks for sharing! I, too, am wondering about the flash. I would love to try this with my kids!

 

[Gdad]

Right- the flash was off the camera and not being controlled by the camera. Just set to full power and strobed by hand.

 

[handicap18]

WOW Jeff! AWESOME!! Excellent work! I'm not sure if I'll be able to get some of these. The kids are in bed early, though may keep the oldest one up late to head to a baseball game. If so, I'll try to remember to get a flashlight out.