Painting with light - Photo Project

Martin SH

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Whilst reading the Surefire Catalogue I was intrigued with a report on a National Geographic project. One of their photographers photographed Stonehenge with 15 M6 Guardian flashlights. As a photographer I have a similar project at the moment, but no where near that sort of budget! I have been using multiple flashes (What Americans call strobes).

There is a write up here on th National Geographic project: http://ngm.typepad.com/digital_photography/2008/05/shooting-stoneh.html

In the article the photographer also talks about painting with light. Using a single flashlight to literally paint the stones. Could anyone recommend a flashlight that would be suitable for this?

It would need lots of power, relatively long throw and as its only a one off job not cost the earth! I can't afford 15 SF M6's :sigh: I was wondering about a maglite with a Malkoff drop-in. Are there any suggestions? I am based in the UK so some kit is not available over here.....

Thanks

Martin
 
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You can use any source of light really. The camera and exposure are more important than equipment. I paint with light using maglites and regular $5 dollar flashlights sometimes.

The length of the exposure is important, as well as how good you are at steadily painting the scene (takes practice). Here's a couple of shots with a $10 incandescent maglite. You can use colored gels as well and get really creative, but this is just an idea of amateur light painting using cheap lights.

This tunnel area was pitch black (the outside light did not illuminate the area well), so I used a mini maglite to illuminate the tunnel way more on a 30 second exposure.

bridge001.jpg


Here's another one, taken in an underground facility that was completely pitch black. I used a maglite and an LED that had a blueish tint. It's not as glorious as the stonehenge paintings, but it worked out okay... Keep in mind, that's all using flashlights and painting it around the room on a long 90 second exposure.

laxt004.jpg
 
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One more piece of advice, with light painting, I think that lower power lights work much better than flooding the crap out of the scene. Long exposure times with low light are really the key, in my opinion.

This is a fantastic link from the guy at Lost America. He uses super long exposures with small apetures and uses lights with colored gels over the flashlights. It's low budget and simple.

What's expensive is not the flashlights to use, but the cameras...

http://www.lostamerica.com/

One of his photos (much better than mine).

29p24.6.jpg
 

bretti_kivi

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off-cam flash, gels, fill-in.

Strobist has lots about this; you might want to check out his stuff on the "car is the star".

edit: this is the kind of thing you can do - how it was done should be obvious from the reflections. 30s exposure, sunset. f/11, ISO 100.

3728237_3606e7dc1142e1033fb67fb606594144_large.jpg


Bret
 
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Gunner12

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I don't know about the technique but I can probably suggest a few lights.

What price range are you looking at?
What size?
Runtime shouldn't be a problem right?
What light source?
Smooth but throwy beam I presume.
 

Martin SH

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I don't know about the technique but I can probably suggest a few lights.

What price range are you looking at?
What size?
Runtime shouldn't be a problem right?
What light source?
Smooth but throwy beam I presume.

According to Dave Black in a link above, he uses a 2 Million Candle Vector Sport Spotlight.

But in Answer to your question:
What price range are you looking at? Up to £100 (£$150 ish)
What size? Not too much of an issue but compact ish if possible.
Runtime shouldn't be a problem right? No but up to an hour would be good so I can do a few exposures.
What light source? Flexible..
Smooth but throwy beam I presume. YES X 2

Also available in the UK if possible:whistle:

Thanks

Martin
 

Gunner12

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The first light I think off is a Dereelight DBS, Tiablo A10, A9, or similar with either an orange peel reflector or a self cut mild diffuser(I'm much more to the LED side). Both should give a smooth beam, though the diffuser might be more even. Since both lights are meant for throw, they should both have a pretty throwy beam even after the OP or diffuser.

The problem is their emitting spectrum, it has all the colors but the percentage of each is off. A neutral white LED should be better but it's still a LED.

One of those big spotlights should be good too if you use a good diffuser. They are kinda big and don't usually run for long though.

Maybe a lower power Maglite hotwire might work, but the parts might be hard to come by and maglites are pretty expensive new.

What lights do you have now?
 

vtunderground

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I've found that 100 lumens is about perfect for light painting, unless you really need to light up something a long ways away. The smoother the beam, the better. Get a diffuser for your 6P and it should do nicely.

Here's a Surefire L4 and a Princeton Tec Tec-40. The batteries were almost dead on both lights, I just compensated by using a longer exposure:

norman7.jpg


I have a lot of other examples, but they're all underground and almost certainly at a shorter range that you're working with. I would be interested to hear what you're photographing, if that's OK.
 
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Gunner12

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The most powerful that I have is a SF 6P with a Malkoff M60 drop in. The next is a Fenix LD20. Would the Dereelight DBS, Tiablo A10, A9, be much more powerful than these?

Thanks

Martin
They should have around the same output as the M60 but with more throw because of the larger reflector.

Did you try it with the M60? If that doesn't work, then look at the Seoul P7 or Cree MC-E lights if you want LED. Or higher power incans. HIDs might work too but I'm not sure if there is anything in that price range that includes shipping to the UK.
 

Martin SH

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Did you try it with the M60? If that doesn't work, then look at the Seoul P7 or Cree MC-E lights if you want LED.

Thank you for your help with this. I only got the M60 last week and over the weekend we had a fair bit of snow! As soon as the conditions allow I will give it a go. The Dereelight looks interesting:whistle:

I will report back...........

Martin
 

Martin SH

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I'd strongly recommend working in RAW for this as it's easier to compensate for under exposure / whitebalance.

Thanks I always do. I am a professional photographer, who has recently discovered the delights of quality flashlights. I have taken night shots in the past but always used portable flashes (strobes). The idea of using a torch is interesting as I can build up layers of light in specific places.

There is an example of one of my night shots here: http://www.strike84.co.uk/lbia/ Image 8 on the right. This is the site of a former colliery. The furthest wheel was about 75mts away. I was using radio triggers on my flash guns. I am currently working on a project looking at industrial archaeology one of my goals is to produce images in the style of Joseph Wright of Derby. Here is an example http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/03/hm3_3_1_6b.html
I particularly want to be able to reproduce 'pools' of light. I will post examples as I experiment.

Thanks

Martin
 

n4zov

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Martin, thanks for asking your question! The answers have been very interesting and it is a new use (to me) for flashlights.
 

bretti_kivi

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ok, now i understand a bit more. Some of my experiences:

This shot highlights for me the main issues with lighting in this manner: http://www.23hq.com/bretti_kivi/photo/3468999
- it's visible how it was done
- it shows shadows from the inconsistent application of light
but it works reasonably well. Considering set up to shot was less than 3 minutes....;)

As for the light source, personal preference would be for a small flood that's usable from 1-2-3 meters - so focusable - also because of the issues of getting behind stuff and removing shadow.

I haven't really tried whitebalancing LEDs out yet, but my gut feeling is it would be difficult because of their colour being spiked in two regions, and therefore I'd err towards an incan[descent] here.

I think I'm going to have to try this myself now with a torch...:whistle:

Bret
 

greenlight

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This can be done effectively in a lightbox with macro shots, too.

Moving the light around makes the shadows more diffuse.

These images require a 2-4 second exposure to show the glow intensity, and a little bit of light painting to define the rest of the light.
magglow001.jpg


inovas21.jpg


Otherwise, this is what you get:
x1red.jpg



Sometimes the highlights you get from moving your flashlight around give the subject some extra character.
IMG%5D
 
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