after a long absence I recently picked up my cam again (actually the cam of a friend). We started to do some Light Painting. Now for those who have never seen it, a quick explanation. The pics are made with no Photoshop tricks. It's pure long time exposure and then "painting" with flashlights while the shot is taken. Of course I didn't invent that, I just followed the inspiration I got when I saw some pics from a friend of mine.
The best thing about it is not the result though. It's SO much fun to do it. Walking around the city at night and filling it with "live" is VERY funny. Especially when other people see you jump around and waving your flashlight in the night...
However, here's my best shot from today (my first try btw). Maybe other have posted similar things, but so far I couldn't find them. And maybe one of you will try it as well?
Very cool! Nice execution. I love the idea of a "flash" body reading the paper.
How did you line up your second pass for the paper (it looks like a different flash was used)? I'm assuming you did the "drawing" from in front of the bench. How do you prevent your body from blocking the light?
Thanks all for the nice replies. It was a bit late for me when I posted this (Swiss Time), so I can give you a bit more details.
First, the shot above was made with two people. My colleague was standing in front of the bench, painting the figure. I started the cam (we didn't have the remote with us), ran to the back and painted the newspaper. To align it we placed a coin on the bench so we had a reference. Actually this was the second shot with the bench and I blame it on pure luck that it came out that good. Here's the first:
In here you can still see my colleague "painting". That's often the case if you have to stand too long in the same spot. Also we learned here that cloths are important. The arms and face reflect much more light and therefore are better visible than the rest. Next time we will dress better (and probably get arrested as we will look like terrorists).
The "problem" for me here is that first the fountain is too small. And more important, the splashes on the top middle is of course blurred, which disturbs me a bit. And of course the two extreme bright spots are distracting.
Somehow I like it, although it still has some flaws. First, since we were only two people, both had to sit and paint. So I started the cam with my friend sitting, then sat next to him and he stood up to paint me. That's why we both are transparent. That wouldn't be too bad though, as angels/devils could pass as etheral figures, but for different paintings it would disturb. The key here would be a 3rd person painting Besides that, we messed up some of the angles, that's why I'm not really holding the spear and my horns (I'm the one on the right) are a bit off. Also the harp is ugly
As you can see, from the 40-50 shots we took some came out ok, and one is great (in my opinion). But practice and patience will help us I guess. My "dream" is to paint 2 soccer teams in an empty stadium at night. But I'm not sure if I can find enough quick painters for that ,)
Thank you so much for the detailed response! I'm gathering flashlights as I write this...
I really like the shark in the fountain :-) But my favorite (after the newspaper reader) is the devil/angel. Like you said, the transparency adds to the supernatural-ness of it. Even though the harp IS ugly ;-) The devil has super powers and can hold objects with his knuckles if he so chooses, so I don't see a problem with your spear :-)
If you're ever in Orlando, FL, I'll gladly be your 3rd painter! :-)
If you can, please DO try. You will have sooo much fun doing it. Best is teamed up with a second person (or third). Start with easy ones (don't hesitate to copy ideas please) and just try out what comes to mind.
I just found another example that shows a different technique you can use:
Here we used a laser pointer to add the red star on the map. But besides that I'm not too happy with it. Since the surrounding is dark it looks like a plain PS work. I like it more if the scene looks "natural" with only the light in it.
Besides that, we messed up some of the angles, that's why I'm not really holding the spear and my horns (I'm the one on the right) are a bit off. Also the harp is ugly 