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The Fotobug Guide to Light Painting - The Photo Shootout PDF

70 Pages·2015·4.09 MB·English
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The Fotobug Guide to Light Painting First Edition Copyright © 2013 James F Caldwell All rights reserved. 1 The Fotobug Guide to Light Painting Photography is all about the light. Sure, there are other photographic considerations, such as composition, but I personally would rather capture a somewhat poorly-composed image that was fantastically lit rather than a well-composed image that was lit flat and lifeless. (Actually, I would really prefer a well-composed well-lit image!). Good lighting is the subject of many photography workshops. In fact, the very word ‘photography’ comes from two Greek words photo, which translates as “light” and graphy, which means “drawing”. So together, they mean the drawing of light. But you already knew that, didn’t you! When we take a photograph, we are essentially capturing light. When we aim our camera and open the shutter, the light that is emitted from, reflected from, or transmitted through an object is recorded onto a photosensitive sensor, which converts the light to electrical signals, which are further processed as digital numbers and then stored. That all sounds rather mundane, but that process is exactly the same for any digital photograph, whether it is a prize-winning masterpiece or just a quick family snapshot. Snap, convert, store. Back in the very early days of photography, photographers were challenged just to get enough light onto their photographic plates to make an image since the plates were so insensitive to light. Light direction and aesthetics were not really a consideration, as long as enough light struck the plate to form an image. As the photographic process began to improve and the capture medium became more sensitive to light, photographers began to think more about the quality of the light that was being captured. Today we have light sensitive sensors that can record images with remarkably little light, yet many new photographers don’t seem to be concerned or aware of light quality. Nature and landscape photographers often have little recourse other than to wait patiently for the ambient light to fall on subjects in a pleasing direction and quality. While we can, to some extent, supplement the natural light with flash units, reflectors, and/or scrims, we still don’t have total control over the light in the scene being photographed. While luck and patience are certainly among virtues that can benefit a photographer, consider an artist who paints landscapes. A painter has a big advantage in that he/she determines how the light appears in the painting by applying the appropriate colors and shades on the canvas. The painter has total control over the perceived light in the finished painting. A good painter has learned how light reacts to surfaces and shapes and textures and how to represent those values with paint on a two dimensional canvas. Well, there is a technique that a photographer can use that can somewhat emulate the skill of a painter. That technique is light painting. This introductory guide will demonstrate how easy and inexpensive it is to get started with this technique and how amazing the final images can look. While light painting is primarily restricted to still life and night- 2 time landscapes, by playing around with the technique and experiencing first hand how light reacts with an object, I guarantee you will become a better photographer! Just like a painter, you will learn when and how the light best reflects from the objects in your photograph to reveal their shape and texture in a two dimensional image, even when you are just relying on the ambient light around you. There are really two different forms of light painting. There is the method that I’m going to discuss in this guide in which the photographer uses artificial lights to “paint” light within the scene. The light is used to reveal the objects, as in a traditional photograph. There is another method where the lights themselves become the subjects within the images. This second method can produce some incredibly beautiful images containing swirling patterns of light, sparks that streak across the image, glowing forests of flowers and trees and abstract shapes that are produced by skilled manipulation of a light source in front of the camera. In fact, the painter, Pablo Picasso made one of the earliest light paintings using this second method for Life Magazine. The author using a fiber optic wand to create a macro "light painting" However, in this guide I’m going to discuss the method to use light in a more traditional lighting sense. I also want to acknowledge those photographers that influenced me and I learned from. Those photographers are David Black, Eric Curry and Harold Ross. More information on these photographers, including websites, books and workshops, are at the end of this publication. Follow along and learn how to “paint” your photographs with light! 3 EQUIPMENT One of the big advantages of light painting is the fact you don’t need a lot of fancy equipment. In fact, you can get by with very little cost with absolutely no compromise in the final image quality. There are few techniques in photography where this is true! Camera – You do not need an expensive fancy camera in order to do light painting. The only requirement is that the shutter must be able to remain open for at least 10 to 15 seconds in manual (most DSLRs have shutters that can stay open for up to 30 seconds in manual mode) and can be mounted to a tripod (or at least into a fixed position). If the camera has a “bulb” mode, that is even better. In “bulb” mode, the shutter will stay open as long as the shutter button is pressed. I also highly recommend a camera that can turn off auto focus. The camera can even be a simple “point and shoot” camera, as long as it meets the above requirements and doesn't build up too much digital "noise" during long exposures or high ISOs. Nice to have, but not essential features, would be interchangeable lenses, the ability to manually set the ISO (light sensitivity of the sensor), the ability to use a cable release, a timer delay for the shutter, and the ability to shoot RAW images. I’m assuming most cameras have some type of LCD viewer to see the images that have been recorded, but if the camera has the ability to be connected to a larger, external LCD or viewer, even better! Also nice to have is the ability to set the white balance, especially if your camera doesn’t capture RAW images. Some lower-end cameras have white balance settings that are marked as a sun (for daylight), and bulb (for tungsten lighting), etc. I also recommend you turn any image stabilizing ability on your lenses OFF! I have had some issues with some lenses mounted on a tripod causing double images and stacked images that don’t line up properly with an image stabilizer! Finally, I prefer using a shutter release or a remote release on the camera to make absolutely sure that pressing the shutter button doesn’t accidentally move the camera. Tripod – The tripod is one item that is very important. The tripod needs to be as heavy and solid as possible. You don’t want wind or even clumsy assistants moving the tripod during the exposure, or between exposures if you are using a layering technique. The tripod doesn’t need to be expensive, as long as it is solid and will hold the camera absolutely motionless. You may add weights or sandbags to some tripods in order to keep them from moving. Since you will be working in the dark, I cannot stress enough the importance of a solid tripod. 4 The tripod head, like the tripod, doesn’t need to be expensive as long as it can hold the camera in place without slipping or drifting for long periods of time. I prefer to use a nice solid ball head. Also, if the tripod has a center column, I DO NOT recommend extending this column. Mounting the camera on an extended column will make the tripod less stable. ND Filters – Neutral density, or ND, filters are a “nice to have” item, but are not essential. Since the camera will be recording exposures at least 10 seconds long, there is a chance that stray ambient light could intrude into your scene. So, placing an ND, or even a polarizer, filter on the camera can help to reduce or perhaps eliminate the capture of the stray light. Keep in mind if you use an ND filter, you will also be reducing the ability to capture the light you will be painting with! You may have to move your lights closer to the objects, or “paint” for a longer period of time. Lights – Strobes and lighting equipment for traditional photography can be very expensive. You should be delighted to learn that for light painting, you can purchase an entire set of lighting implements for less than the cost of a single inexpensive flash unit! In fact, you may already have the instruments you need lying around your house! For light painting, we are going to use simple flashlights! I prefer to use the newer LED flashlights since most the bulbs are balanced close to daylight, but older style flashlights can be used as well with the white balanced set for tungsten. You may think of these lights as your paintbrushes. Just as an artist would not use a single brush for every detail in his or her painting, the photographer needs to use different light emitters for different purposes. Smaller objects require smaller lights and larger objects may require larger lights. If you are going to include landscapes in your image, then you will likely need even larger, more powerful lights and there is also no reason why you cannot use your traditional flash units as well. So don’t throw away your flash units just yet! The lights that I will be presenting here are all battery powered, but if you have access to AC electric power, there is no reason why you can’t adapt table lights or desk lamps for doing light paintings. There are no rules here, so don’t be afraid to experiment. I’m going to give a few examples of lights that I’m currently using, but any light that resembles these lights are fine. I’m going to start with the smaller lights for lighting small areas and work up to larger lights for “painting” landscapes and larger interiors. My smallest flashlight is a Streamlight 65018 Stylus 6-1/4-Inch Penlight, which sells on Amazon for around $13.50. This single LED penlight also comes with a glare guard for aiming the light, runs on three AAAA batteries and runs about 60 hours before the batteries need to be changed. It also has a pocket clip, like a pen that helps keep it handy. A small light like this is ideal for use on small still objects and for highlighting details in your image and is great for doing tabletop setups. I have discovered that the light produced by this flashlight is bluer than daylight and doesn’t match my other LED lights. 5 I haven’t found this to be a problem and have actually used the effect to add a small bit of blue fill on some of my captures. The light also comes in red and blue bulb versions. Streamlight 65018 Stylus without the glare guard The next light I use is a Streamlight 66118 Stylus Pro, which is also a single LED flashlight, but is larger and brighter than the Stylus. This light is under $20 and requires two AA batteries. This light does not have a glare guard, but I will discuss light accessories and snoots later. This light is a nice all-purpose light that can be used for moderately sized objects as well as revealing textures and medium details in larger objects. It also comes with a nice canvas pocket protector. The Emissive Energy Corp. BLT-2L Bolt is my primary flashlight and I tend to use it the most. It is a bit more expensive than the previous lights, but is still less than $40. It is also a single LED bulb, but is quite bright. There are three versions of this flashlight. One uses 123A lithium batteries (that’s the one I use), another uses AA batteries and a third model uses AAA batteries. I prefer the lithium, as they tend to last longer. Emissive Energy Corp. BLT-2L Bolt 6 All of these lights have aluminum bodies, are quite rugged and are somewhat weather proof. LED bulbs can last for tens of thousands of hours, so these flashlights should last you a good long time and can also come in handy for general illumination when you just need a good flashlight! Harold Ross likes to use the SureFire E1L Outdoorsman Dual-Output LED. This is an expensive flashlight at $139, but it will likely last a lifetime! This light contains a single LED bulb and has two output settings, which could come in handy. It runs on a single lithium 123A battery and is quite compact. Flashlights similar to these will be used for the majority of your photographs. Again, shop around and don’t be afraid to substitute another brand or model. No one is going to fault you for the flashlight you use! As you will discover later, it is only important how you use them! The next type of light I use is actually intended for video cameras. This is a multiple LED flat panel light and is available from Amazon starting about $30. Many of these type lights also have a rotating dimmer switch and can take AA batteries or video camera batteries. These panel lights put out nice soft, even lighting and often come with various filters. There are larger and more expensive versions of flat panel LED lights for motion picture use that can also be used, but they can cost hundreds of dollars. 3” x 5” multi LED Light panel The next step up is the larger and more powerful floodlights for use on large interiors or landscapes. These lights usually run on 12 volts and often come with cords that allow you to plug them into an automobile accessory plug. The price of these lights can run from $30 on up to $60 or $70 and can found in your local automobile supply store as well as Sears or Wal-Mart. These lights are normally tungsten balanced, unlike the LED lights, but you can either change the white balance on your camera or use daylight gel filters on the lights. 7 Brinkmann 12 volt spotlight Before you rush out and spend a lot of money on flashlights and/or spotlights, I recommend you start small with tabletop still life images and then work your way up to larger scenes and landscapes. Therefore, first purchase a couple of the smaller lights I listed and as you become more proficient, then consider adding to your lighting arsenal. Finally, you can also use camera flash units and even studio strobes, especially to light up larger areas. There are lots of homemade and commercial light modifiers for these units and they are especially useful for recording people in your scene since the flash duration is so fast. Many of these units also have the ability to manually change the duration of the light in order to control the amount of light they put out. Ipad, Touch, iPhone or Smart Phone or any Tablet I’m not kidding! The LCD screens on these devices can produce nice soft lighting effects that can be used to light difficult surfaces, such as bottles, glasses, etc. There is even an app for the Apple IOS systems called LightKit that allows you to use your iPad creatively to produce nice reflections on miniatures and shiny objects. The light from the screens can even function as limited flashlights to help you navigate around the set! You could also simply create some JPG files with white and black patterns (like a window pattern) and display those on your iPad or tablet for surface reflections. 8 LIGHTING MODIFIERS PVC Harold Ross uses simple PVC pipes to create modifiers for his medium size flashlight. The Bolt flashlight that I listed has a diameter of around 1”, which will nicely fit inside a thin-wall 1” PVC pipe. A ten-foot length of 1” PVC can be purchased for only a couple dollars and will provide dozens of light modifiers! Simply cut the PVC into short pieces, paint it flat black on the outside, cut some at 45-degree angles and cut some at 90 degrees. These will help you to direct the beam of light and prevent it from spilling on other objects in the scene and help keep it hidden from the camera. Harold also uses a PVC 90 degree elbow on some of the PVC light modifiers, which will produce a nice even, soft light effect. Also, you can buy theatrical colored gels (and you may be able find a Rosco sample gel pack for free!) that can be used over your lights to add color or use frosted gels to help soften the light. A piece of black cardboard or poster board can even be used as a “flag” to help shield the light from the camera. One of the advantages of light painting is the fact you can easily mix hard and soft light in your scene as necessary, which could be difficult to accomplish in reality. Homemade PVC Light modifiers (yes, this image is a "light painting"!) 9

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