Light painting is a bit like taking the long road to your destination. Like going from New York to Chicago by way of Argentina. There are sometimes easier ways to get an image, but the occasional light painting (L.P.) makes it more interesting.
The first assignment I had was in September to shoot an old cemetery that has some haunted lore attached to it. Needed an image to go with a story about Halloween and ghost stories. I had been out to the cemetery once before several years ago and got a fairly crappy image. Its in an isolated part of the country, surrounded by trees, no lights, typically can't see the moon.
Last time I did a long exposure, might have used a flash off camera; don't really remember to be honest. I remember I didn't like the results, but I really didn't know anything about L.P. at that time.
I had done some small scale L.P. at home back in January, my first time really experimenting with it. Took some items from around my apartment and played some. Had some success with some of my antique cameras.
A Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera from the mid-20th century.Image copyright Erik Markov 2008
Some examples of L.P. are easy to spot, like this Brownie. Other examples are a little more difficult. This photo I imagine you could light in a traditional way using strobes but I think it's infinitely more difficult. Trying to restrict the light to just those portions you want to see on something so small to begin with can be hard.
Jerome CemeteryImage copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008
I spent about an hour at the cemetery playing around taking long exposures. For the Brownie shot I used a small Maglite flashlight. I've got 3 different handheld flashlights I use, depending on how bright I need the light etc. The Maglites work well for replicating soft sunlight, and in that image it has a little bit of an antique look to it. I've also got a LED flashlight that has more of a blue cast to it.
Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-16 folding camera
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008
This folding Kodak camera I used the LED on. The color cast can be changed in PS of course but sometimes it just easier to use what will give you the look to begin with.
Painting something small like the cameras seems to be a different technique than painting something large like the cemetery. The cameras were done in one shot. I would practice with the light on the different portions I wanted to be seen, and once I had the amount of time and angle of light down that each spot needed to look good, I would meld all the spots into one final shot. Even once I had those times and angles it still took many tries before I got something I was happy with.
The cemetery was a different image tho. I played around some to find what angles worked the best. I used a 1 million candlepower light for this photo, and for some of the smaller items I used a 4 D-cell small spotlight. The big light works great for lighting the tree and the Miller headstone, some of the other headstones worked better with the smaller light.
One of the things to remember about L.P. is to get out from behind the camera. Light hitting the subject from a similar angle as the direction of the camera will look like crap. Particularly an object. Most people don't have shiny skin so it isn't going to reflect the light back to the camera as much. Many objects tho, even those that look dull or have a matte finish, do reflect some of the light back towards the camera if the light is coming from anywhere near the camera. Lighting from the side, top or bottom of an object is all it takes to keep an object from reflecting.
I didn't do hundreds of shots for the cemetery, only about 20, when I realized it was going to be difficult to get the image in one shot. I looked at the images I had and realized that each one had a different object that had the right light. I decided to cut the pieces apart and put it together like a puzzle in PS. Seeing as how the whole scene isn't lit, all I had to do was hide the seams in the dark spots. Maybe cheating, but this is an illustration to begin with so it doesn't really matter. It's not as if anyone would seriously believe the cemetery always looks like this. Ha!
A crude representation of the various slices of the images
brought together to make a whole.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008
At the beginning of October I had an assignment to shoot a cover for our Howard County Living magazine holiday gift guide. I don't have a Christmas tree, being in apartment it doesn't make sense. An editor does have one tho, so she set up her tree and I used it as a background for some of my photos.
Using the tree as a background was a bit difficult because the exposure time to L.P. the gift was 20-30 seconds. If I left the lights on the tree that long the picture would have looked horrible. What I ended up doing was lighting the gift with the flashlight for various lengths of time, then going over to the plug for the lights and lighting the tree up for 1-2 seconds. Not a very long time, but it's enough to give it some color in the background.
One of several layouts I tried.
Also used a holiday wreath as a background for some.
The photo that ended up being used
for the cover.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008
As I said, I played around with several shots and the one I didn't think would be used for the cover is the one they like best. I put some lights into a box and propped the lid open. As i did with the tree, I lit the box in the darkened room with the flashlight first, then turned the lights on in the box for a couple seconds. Did this many times before I found the one I liked the best.
And there is a very obvious spelling mistake on the cover. Of all 10,000 magazines that were printed. Not my responsibility, not my embarrassment, I don't do headlines. ;)
At the end of October I had a portrait of a legally blind high school cross country runner to do for sports. I didn't have my flashlights with me and I didn't think to L.P. until I had arrived at the school. No matter. For this one I decided to use one of my strobes to do the L.P. I was able to get into a trainers room where I was able to control the overhead light, making the room completely dark. The door had one of those long windows in that are reinforced with wire mesh in the glass. Fortunately I always have a black nylon sheet in my light kit, I put that over the top of the door, covering the window and blocking the light coming in from the hallway. Using my strobe fitted with one of my snoots made with corrugated plastic board, I was able take a long exposure, and walking around the athlete, I hit him with the strobe in the places I wanted to be lit.
I like the look of it. It's not a Pulitzer, but it does the job of showing what he looks like. And being lit, but having some shading around his eyes, emphasizes the idea that he has limited sight.
I think the thing I like best about L.P. is that it isn't hard. It looks like it would be really difficult, but it all comes down to experimenting with a photo until I find something I like. It does take time to do, which does limit it's usefulness some, particularly when using it with people. Most people don't want to take the time to stand still long enough for one to shoot their photo this way. But every once in awhile you find someone who gets it and is willing to allow you the time.
Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-16 folding cameraImage copyright Erik Markov 2008
This folding Kodak camera I used the LED on. The color cast can be changed in PS of course but sometimes it just easier to use what will give you the look to begin with.
Painting something small like the cameras seems to be a different technique than painting something large like the cemetery. The cameras were done in one shot. I would practice with the light on the different portions I wanted to be seen, and once I had the amount of time and angle of light down that each spot needed to look good, I would meld all the spots into one final shot. Even once I had those times and angles it still took many tries before I got something I was happy with.
The cemetery was a different image tho. I played around some to find what angles worked the best. I used a 1 million candlepower light for this photo, and for some of the smaller items I used a 4 D-cell small spotlight. The big light works great for lighting the tree and the Miller headstone, some of the other headstones worked better with the smaller light.
One of the things to remember about L.P. is to get out from behind the camera. Light hitting the subject from a similar angle as the direction of the camera will look like crap. Particularly an object. Most people don't have shiny skin so it isn't going to reflect the light back to the camera as much. Many objects tho, even those that look dull or have a matte finish, do reflect some of the light back towards the camera if the light is coming from anywhere near the camera. Lighting from the side, top or bottom of an object is all it takes to keep an object from reflecting.
I didn't do hundreds of shots for the cemetery, only about 20, when I realized it was going to be difficult to get the image in one shot. I looked at the images I had and realized that each one had a different object that had the right light. I decided to cut the pieces apart and put it together like a puzzle in PS. Seeing as how the whole scene isn't lit, all I had to do was hide the seams in the dark spots. Maybe cheating, but this is an illustration to begin with so it doesn't really matter. It's not as if anyone would seriously believe the cemetery always looks like this. Ha!
A crude representation of the various slices of the imagesbrought together to make a whole.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008
At the beginning of October I had an assignment to shoot a cover for our Howard County Living magazine holiday gift guide. I don't have a Christmas tree, being in apartment it doesn't make sense. An editor does have one tho, so she set up her tree and I used it as a background for some of my photos.
Using the tree as a background was a bit difficult because the exposure time to L.P. the gift was 20-30 seconds. If I left the lights on the tree that long the picture would have looked horrible. What I ended up doing was lighting the gift with the flashlight for various lengths of time, then going over to the plug for the lights and lighting the tree up for 1-2 seconds. Not a very long time, but it's enough to give it some color in the background.
One of several layouts I tried.Also used a holiday wreath as a background for some.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008
The photo that ended up being usedfor the cover.
Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008
As I said, I played around with several shots and the one I didn't think would be used for the cover is the one they like best. I put some lights into a box and propped the lid open. As i did with the tree, I lit the box in the darkened room with the flashlight first, then turned the lights on in the box for a couple seconds. Did this many times before I found the one I liked the best.
And there is a very obvious spelling mistake on the cover. Of all 10,000 magazines that were printed. Not my responsibility, not my embarrassment, I don't do headlines. ;)
At the end of October I had a portrait of a legally blind high school cross country runner to do for sports. I didn't have my flashlights with me and I didn't think to L.P. until I had arrived at the school. No matter. For this one I decided to use one of my strobes to do the L.P. I was able to get into a trainers room where I was able to control the overhead light, making the room completely dark. The door had one of those long windows in that are reinforced with wire mesh in the glass. Fortunately I always have a black nylon sheet in my light kit, I put that over the top of the door, covering the window and blocking the light coming in from the hallway. Using my strobe fitted with one of my snoots made with corrugated plastic board, I was able take a long exposure, and walking around the athlete, I hit him with the strobe in the places I wanted to be lit.
I like the look of it. It's not a Pulitzer, but it does the job of showing what he looks like. And being lit, but having some shading around his eyes, emphasizes the idea that he has limited sight.
I think the thing I like best about L.P. is that it isn't hard. It looks like it would be really difficult, but it all comes down to experimenting with a photo until I find something I like. It does take time to do, which does limit it's usefulness some, particularly when using it with people. Most people don't want to take the time to stand still long enough for one to shoot their photo this way. But every once in awhile you find someone who gets it and is willing to allow you the time.
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