Light Painting
I think at this point after seeing my light painting pictures, you guys must be curious about what exactly light painting is. We’ve had an awesome response from our recent posts with pictures that used light painting techniques. Light painting is a brand new skill and art that I have been learning. It is incredibly unique and cool. There is no special software to make these pictures, no photoshop, no crazy editing, and no AI. It is all done using lights and a camera. It is so expressive and really makes me feel like an artist when I go into a shoot where I will be light painting. The pictures are all one of a kind. They are also incredibly human; there is so much room for error and creativity. In light painting there are so many different variables to control, but learning how to control those variables is really the essence of light painting.
To explain how light painting works I need to explain how a camera works first. A camera quite simply put is a device that captures reflections of light off of objects that it is pointed at. It uses a sensor, and a shutter. The sensor captures the light, and the shutter opens and closes allowing light to get to the sensor. The shutter can be set to different speeds, so in an area with lots of light shutter speed could be set at a much higher speed then in a low light situation. This controls the amount of light that gets to the sensor. The sensor being exposed to light longer also allows the light to move during this time. This is why some images look blurry or have after images. An example of this would be if you were taking a picture at a baseball game and someone was swinging a bat. At a high shutter speed that bat would be nice and crisp and appear motionless, but at a slower shutter speed if the bat is moving while the shutter is open it will appear as a blur. With light painting we take this concept to the highest degree possible.
Light painting takes place in a dark room, where it is easy to control what gets exposed to light and what does not. In this dark room the camera gets put on a tripod so it remains completely still, and the shutter gets set to stay open, exposing the sensor for seconds to minutes at a time. The interesting part is that in this dark room with no light it allows me to control what gets lit up with different tools, flashlights, light bars, monofilament lights, etc. What this means is that the camera can only see what I choose to shine light on, and when there is no light shined the sensor is not able to register anything. Basically if I dont shine a light on it it does not show up in the picture. This is how we are able to make the shadow/ghost images in the pictures I’ve taken. Without light the subject is free to move and then be exposed to light in different positions. The step by step process goes something like this:
Afterimages:
Subject is in a dark room and gets scanned in, Think like a scanner in an office the light passes over them allowing there image to be registered by the camera. The light turns off, with no light in the room the subject is free to move to a second position and be scanned in a second time, this process repeats until the desired effect is accomplished.
Light waves:
Subject is in a dark room and gets scanned in, once the scanning is complete the light gets shut off, and then the fun stuff happens. The light is moved and manipulated to make the various designs. Colors change and the light appears fluid as it moves about. The subject is often rescanned through ambience created. This can also be really cool and make the subject appear to have two profiles, or multiple images of them. In some of the photos I also appear as a ghost afterimage from the ambient light.
When doing light painting I dress in all black. By dressing in all black any light that gets shined on me is absorbed by my clothing rather than reflected back to the sensor of the camera. Despite this, sometimes I still appear in the pictures. I think it gives them a unique accidental perfect imperfection. In light painting it is hard to predict exactly how the finished product is going to turn out and accidental effects being created is part of the fun and an interesting part of the whole process.
To take these pictures I used my Sony A7IV, Tamron 28-75mm lens, set to a 15-30 second shutter speed and a 20 F stop, along with two Amaran Pixel Tube Lights. These tubes are super cool, and the latest addition to the collection of gear we have been acquiring at EAOS. One of the things that makes these lights so cool is that I can control everything from brightness, to color from my phone. They also have various effects that I can control and manipulate. In a few of the pictures you can see the light from me turning the lights on and off and changing colors using my phone, but I feel like the effect from my phone is also part of what makes the images look cool and unique.
Light painting can be a time consuming process with multiple attempts to get the desired end result. I recommend at least an hour to do any sort of light painting. This feature can be added to any photography package for an extra $200. I am so excited to bring this art to my clients and create some really special, and unique photographs. If you have any questions about light painting please leave me a comment below!
~Tony See
