Lightpainting, will someone help me Options

[DonJuanMair]

So as most of you know i dont shoot cars too much anymore. But a good friend of mine just got a black car he wants me to shoot. So i want to wow him and light paint that bad boy. Thing is i dont really know what light i need for it. I know everyone is hush hush about it. But i just want to shoot one car. Can anyone help and tell me what type of continuous light i need

[Mitch Hemming]

Everyones hush hush about light painting? :S

anyways.. I'm pretty ghetto.. so I just picked up a 30cm fluro tube from my local hardware store, cut the wires and attached little pins/plugs. Then purchased a motorbike battery (pretty small one), and I just plug the light into the battery terminals and wolah!

It lasts about 10 hours with continuous use.

but... it is a little weak. In challenging lighting conditions it isn't bright enough. So i'm thinking of getting a rechargeable LED light strip/torch panel thing. I think thats what most guys use

Hope this helps!

also, post up pics after you've shot the car

[DonJuanMair]

thanks Mitch! really appreciate it. I will go to my hardware store tomorrow and have a look. Im thinking of doing the whole shoot at night time in a garage somewhere anyway. nothing too crazy. Maybe ill look for something a little stronger also

[Blue Devil]

just don't try to fight a lot of different type of light sources... and try to go toward a darker area... or not directly lit by anything else... you will find that later on in post processing it will be a bitch...

[Konrad Janicki]

some barn doors (or how its called) on your light could help, for me it improved my editing a lot

[link]

Hey dude,

this is 100% unretouched, fresh out of the camera:




I use a 4 foot 4 bulb KINO (but you'll get the same result with a long flouro tube.)

I shoot in complete darkness or as close to it as i can and use the kino to light the environment too. 30 second exposure and experiment with my aperture until im happy. I use 30 seconds because it allows me to light the bg and the car in one shot so i spend less time compositing later.

This was lightpainted in the street under the brooklyn bridge.... had to fight all the streetlights etc took a minute to get it right and to get the WB right later, i wouldnt recommend trying it on your first attempt. As dark as possible will make it easier on you.


This is a behind the scenes video of me lightpainting a ferrari 458:


play with the body lines until you get a good highlight. The one on the shot of the 300c from my other thread took forever to get we had to play with the height of the light for a while.



Hope this helped. PM me if you've got any questions.

[MaTBoY]

I made an LED light box with 12 super bright, white LED'S. Basically, just a glorified torch. If i want to do details and stuff I use it direct, If I'm trying to get that watery look i throw it in a soft box. You could do the same with an automotive work light or a really bright torch with a wide angle.

Set your exposure to 30' or to bulb, do a test shot to see what F-stop you need for the environment your in, then have some fun. Just remember LONG SMOOTH deliberate movements will give you a clean crisp look. Side side movements usually seem to come out better than up-down too.

For a black car try getting as bright a source as possible and put in a massive octobox. guarantee it will come out sexy

comparison of light on same model car:

bare


softy

[ImAwesome]

On my phone...posting to remind myself to add to this later

[MaTBoY]

you got me all inspired to try a different light source. this was the result.

Walked around the car with an AB800 in a softbox. (That bright spot on the rear quarter must have been an accidental click in photoshop.... meh, it's a test shot of a dirty car at an average location, so i can live with it )

[DonJuanMair]

i feel like a lot of these look the same as if you were just to light it with normal strobes

what Link did in his latest shoot is what im looking for, i think im only going to be able to get this with tubes

[GFWilliams]

This the kind of thing you're after?

[MaTBoY]

wow!

Can i ask what techniques and equipment you used?

That shot is F'ing amazing!!!

[DonJuanMair]

yeah thats real nice George

[link]

the look you want is going to be bare tubes up high. The height will depend on the body lines of the car.... going to take a few tries to see what height produces the stripe on the body line.

[Blue Devil]

There is a lot of different styles you can get with light painting... there is also the softter side... like this:

[MaTBoY]

Bookmarked your site George. So much high quality work on there.

those camaro shots are rad too!

[link]

[GFWilliams]

Bookmarked your site George. So much high quality work on there.

those camaro shots are rad too!

Thanks, I'll give some info on the lighting when i get home tonight It's actually very simple...

[Leafy]

Subscribed. Need help with technique as well. This is where I am at so far.

[DonJuanMair]

Blue Devil that second one is really nice