Incredible Painting with Light

[Sistere]

Hey folks,

I ran across this site just now, and was really impressed with his 'Painting with light' technique. Anyone want to comment on how much of this effect was done with lighting at the time of the shot versus post PWL?

http://www.horyma.ru/str_tr/svetographika_1.htm

Damien

[pixelzombie]

some of those have a 3D rendered look to them...

[Sistere]

Originally Posted by pixelzombie

some of those have a 3D rendered look to them...

I'll tell ya what, I am still going through his gallery and man...that's some creative material. Have you ever heard of this person? I am seeing a lot of great new photography/DigiArt coming out of Russia lately. Inspiring stuff.

Damien

[NCP Doug]

Wow. I am impressed! Thanks for sharing.

[superkoax]

Originally Posted by Sistere

I'll tell ya what, I am still going through his gallery and man...that's some creative material. Have you ever heard of this person? I am seeing a lot of great new photography/DigiArt coming out of Russia lately. Inspiring stuff.

Damien

I second that! I've seen some very nice stuff from russia! heard about ROGE? try www.roge.ru nudity warning!!!

[fotolook]

Wow... great stuff!

Very creative... amazing images.

[CMS]

Hello guys!! This is not digital efect.It is obtain totally in camera.The process is call painting with light and it goes like this: in total darkness you take a spoted light source and you set your camera to bulk and you start painting your subject with that light source.it is an try and erorr technique.Good luck!!!!

[jadams007]

CMS,

Is that a long exposure?

[superkoax]

bulk means you choose how long the shutter times is...one click for open and one click for closing!

[Hargoth]

wouldn't you catch motion from subject if the shutter was open? could someone explain this a little more in depth please? AMAZING images!

edit: my boss has thousands of slides taken 20+ years ago where he'd go into caves and shoot different formations with different color bulbs, durations, etc etc.. very cool and creative stuff.

[superkoax]

Originally Posted by Hargoth

wouldn't you catch motion from subject if the shutter was open? could someone explain this a little more in depth please? AMAZING images!

edit: my boss has thousands of slides taken 20+ years ago where he'd go into caves and shoot different formations with different color bulbs, durations, etc etc.. very cool and creative stuff.

Well, you see some movement around the images from people, but it's all about sitting very still in a comfortable position without moving a muscle

[Ant]

and flashing the subject as well as a long shutter speed. The flash freezes motion for an instant.

[Mike]

Painting with light from a photographers standpoint.

We used this technique to produce photos with either no shadows or with just certain areas that where visible while the rest of the photo was not.

Basically one sets the camera on a tripod, in a dark or very dimly lighted room, opens the shutter, then takes a light source and just illuminates the area(s) he wants to see on the final photograph. Remember that exposure is cumulative, if the camera can see no light, then no exposure is being made, then when you turn on a spot light or even a regular flash light and light up something the camera can see, then you get exposure where the light falls.

We did it a lot when photographing small machinery to eliminate all shadows. With some practice one could produce a photo that looked very good and had no hidden details.

We also did this for very large objects like buildings under construction. We would go out at night, set up the camera then walk around and "paint" the building with light but only those areas of the building that we wanted to see. One has to remember not to stand between the light source and the
camera while doing this or you will be in the photo!

The largest item that I ever did was a 1000 foot long aircraft carrier that was tied up to a pier. Had to do it twice, the first time we did it, we spent so much time that the tide changed and the ship moved during the exposure!

Give it a try, its fun to do and can produce some very nice stuff...

[transoptic]

Originally Posted by superkoax

bulk means you choose how long the shutter times is...one click for open and one click for closing!

You mean "Bulb."

[superkoax]

Originally Posted by transoptic

You mean "Bulb."

yeah! that is what I mean!

[Skoud]

This picture reminds me of the early 90's when lightpainting dominating photography style. Back then there's a special fiberoptic light called Hosemaster and spinning turbofilter developed by photographer Aaron Jones that help you achieve this kind of look using 1 long exposure. Today witth photoshop life is a little easier to achieve the same look.

[CMS]

Originally Posted by jadams007

CMS,

Is that a long exposure?

Yes.That is a long exposure

[vegas_ric]

that is super neat..

[Forbidden]

His work is very unique, I love it! It's great to see people with their own technique that really makes it their own.

[RokcetScientist]

"B" for "Bulb" is a shutter speed setting on many older cameras. It means the shutter opens when the exposure button is pressed all the way down, and the shutter stays open until the exposure button is let go.

In still older cameras you also had a "T", for "Time", setting. You pressed and let go the exposure button and the shutter would open. And the shutter would stay open until the exposure button was pressed and let go a second time.

"T" was exclusively used with a wire release, for extremely long exposures, like 30 seconds and longer (redshift!).

"T" was ideal for "painting with light": when, for instance, shooting a church interior with camera on tripod, and one flashgun. With "T" the photographer can afford to leave the camera (with shutter open), and walk around the pitch-black church firing the flashgun at regular intervals, then return to the camera to close the shutter.

With just "B" you need at least 2 people to 'paint' that church with light: one to press and hold the shutter, while the other does the walking and flashing around.

With neither "B", nor "T", we're relegated to setting as many seconds as the camera's software allows, and trying to fit the actual "painting with light" into that scant time slot....

Some things were better in the old days!