Lightpainting

[LongLensPhotography]

A test shoot with my car. I know the location is beyond awful, I'll do a better one next time

I am mainly concerned with lighting and any other issues you may see.



Methodology: 3 exposure composite. 1st - ambient only, 2 and 3 were lightpainted with LED works light on the top half and then bottom half, respectively.

I found the LED thingy a bit weak so next time I plan to use bike's LED torch (powerful one) in Flashbender XL pro strip box.

 

[Bassit]

Hi, the lighting looks ok, it needs to be more balanced, the front end is lit more than the rear and the lighting also looks very blue (i assume the cars silver), this was the problem i found when trying to use an led torch for light painting, but i am no expert, i have tried this myself a couple of times and thought it worth mentioning in case you hadn't noticed it yourself.

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Hi, the lighting looks ok, it needs to be more balanced, the front end is lit more than the rear and the lighting also looks very blue (i assume the cars silver), this was the problem i found when trying to use an led torch for light painting, but i am no expert, i have tried this myself a couple of times and thought it worth mentioning in case you hadn't noticed it yourself.

Thanks for critique. I think the colour is white balance issue - LED is daylight balanced and the night's sky is anything but. There is the problem.

I had another go last night in another dreadful location. I tried working with my speedlite in Flashbender and I found it much easier and much "cleaner". If I had a paying customer this would be a no-brainer now. I will try to source some gels. Orange gel should take care of the blue tint.

P.S. I charged up the LED and it is now pretty much too bright pushing exposures to ISO100 f10-13... There is always flashbender to reduce the intensity, but realistically I need Ice Light knock offs if I pursue this route of lighting. I think I'll stick with flash for now.

P.P.S. What locations would you go for in the Scottish highlands looking for a high impact scenic backdrop and compatible parking place?

 

[pjm1]

Just a thought (as someone with not very much experience of this at all)... if you change the blending mode of your light painted layer(s) to Lighten, wouldn't you remove the white balance problem of the lights?

It might not be the effect you're after, but it's a thought...

As for location, it's almost a case of having to think quite hard about where NOT to go!

 

[LongLensPhotography]

Just a thought (as someone with not very much experience of this at all)... if you change the blending mode of your light painted layer(s) to Lighten, wouldn't you remove the white balance problem of the lights?

Sure it could be done in Ps. In fact I could just select the car and move it to some magic mountain scene... Cars don't have hair so should be dead easy.

The worst affected part is obviously the rear as it received less light so looks lots more blue... highlights seem neutral and shadows are pretty blue. In the city with light pollution it is far far worse as you have orange and blue casts to deal with.