Let's light up the night with light painting
On the field. The preparation
- Camera. Our camera was set to shutter speed B, with an aperture of f/11 and ISO 800. As in the day, a small aperture ensures enough depth of field to keep the foreground, trees and distant sky in focus.
- Remote Shooting. You need a wireless system to leave the camera on the tripod and start the exposure when we're in position.
- Tripod. The exposure will go on for minutes and the camera needs to stay still, so a tripod is a must. Let's not move it between one shot and another: a fixed position gives us the possibility of joining multiple shots in post-production.
- Sky. A slight brightness in the sky adds atmosphere and gives more prominence to the trees on the horizon. Here the orange halo is the light pollution of a town a few kilometers away. Combined with the low, slow-moving clouds, it looks like a strange sunset.
- Night accessories. At night it is better to bring with us only the things we will need for the session. We arrive at the site before dark and check the surroundings well. In addition to the flashlight that we will use as a brush, let's bring a head one to keep on between shots.
- Torch. This scene is illuminated by the torch aimed at the trees and ground over the course of an exposure of approximately 2 minutes. Our torch is a powerful LED bicycle light, purchased on eBay for a few tens of euros.
The tricks. Brilliant examples
We shield the light bulb . The high light point of the bulb shouldn't show in the shot, so let's shield it from the lens, with your hand, body, or a do-it-yourself cardboard lens hood, like the one in the image.
Let's try jellies. Let's experiment with colorful brush strokes. In the example shot, the naked flashlight was giving a cool impact to the trees, so it was changed to an orange jelly. We can also mix more colors (here, we switched to blue mid-session).
We move the light. If the scene is lit by the camera position, it appears flat. Instead we try to direct the light to one side or the other to emphasize shapes and depth. We wear dark clothes to move around without appearing in the shot.
Step by step. Let's combine multiple shots.
When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.
By accepting you will be accessing a service provided by a third-party external to https://www.insightadv.it/
Comments