Light painting first attempt + vs strobes - Focus RS

[Red Cup]

Went out for some experimentation last night. Not a great location, just out of the way and close to home. First up, strobes. 3x Canon Speedlight 600s:

Then light painted with an LED video light:

It's a bit patchy in places and I had to clone a few bits where the light lines were too visible but I know for next time.

These two have the exact same raw conversion settings, except saturation on the sky on the second, the green of the car is the same - it's mad how much the light painting makes the colour pop!

 

[dmallett]

Looks awesome!

 

[Dan...]

I'd love to do this! ...is it difficult?

 

[Niall]

It’s a great effect when done well, it looks like you’ve encountered the same problem as I did when I tried it once; the dark areas down the side of the car. It happened on mine too, it seems that I didn’t get even coverage of the car and there was a dark patch :/

Still a good shot non the less

 

[sneeks]

Nice effort, the LED light version looks the best IMO.

 

[Red Cup]

I should have mentioned that the strobe shot is a single regular exposure with all three firing at once. The LED one is multiples, around five at 5-10 seconds each.

 

[aucky]

I love your car

 

[Knuckles]

I love your car

... I don't




too quick lol

 

[Habitual]

The second one is loads better. The first one doesn't really look that light painted in all honesty. But like Naill said, there are dark patches that take away from it a little. With that said, you can really see the potential in the second method.

It's not an easy thing to get right, I've still not done a good one lol.

What time did you do these at?

 

[Red Cup]

Sorry, the first shot isn't light painted - it's regular strobes and a single shot hence why it looks that way.

This was around dusk so not pitch black. I think I finished about 10pm and it still wasn't totally dark then.

I had another go last night which in some ways worked better but I still messed up. Will post that shot later as I'm out and about now.

 

[DanEdser]

That looks stunning!

Is it difficult to do? (Light painting)

 

[Chip-mk1]

That looks stunning!

Is it difficult to do? (Light painting)

No, you just pick a long exposure and shine a torch over your car.

 

[DanEdser]

No, you just pick a long exposure and shine a torch over your car.

Oh that simple? You get amazing results with it!

 

[Chip-mk1]

Oh that simple? You get amazing results with it!

Yep, literally that simple, obviously takes a small amount of practice to get an even coverage, but really not hard.

Start with about a 1 min exposure.

 

[CJGREEN]

No, you just pick a long exposure and shine a torch over your car.

Thats actually slightly incorrect.

You can do it that way, but the correct way is to light separate parts of the car at each time and only expose the camera to those areas. Then compile all the images together at the end.

 

[davo172]

Looks awesome!

THIS !!! ^^^

 

[Chip-mk1]

Thats actually slightly incorrect.

You can do it that way, but the correct way is to light separate parts of the car at each time and only expose the camera to those areas. Then compile all the images together at the end.

Im just going by what we have done and what I have seen photographers do for print in car mags.
It works doing it the way that I have described. But im sure you are right that there is some "better" option too. always more than one way to skin a cat.

 

[CJGREEN]

Im just going by what we have done and what I have seen photographers do for print in car mags.
It works doing it the way that I have described. But im sure you are right that there is some "better" option too. always more than one way to skin a cat.

Indeed there is. Hence the 'slightly' part of my comment.

Nice effort OP nonetheless.

 

[Red Cup]

Here's last nights attempt.

Took an exposure with the headlights on and blended that in. Works quite well, and being a separate layer it's simple to adjust the intensity of the headlights.

Still some messy streaks and it's a bit dark overall but I reckon once nailed, this method should be capable of some pretty spectacular results

 

[Red Cup]

Im just going by what we have done and what I have seen photographers do for print in car mags.
It works doing it the way that I have described. But im sure you are right that there is some "better" option too. always more than one way to skin a cat.

If you do a single exposure two things happen which aren't ideal - more ambient light leaks in and you "overspill" light into areas you don't want to paint. You get more control with multiples but it takes longer and require more time in PS. These ones I'm doing multiples as I'm trying to get the best results regardless of time. I'm fairly handy with PS so that's a bonus too.

 

[Reev]

I reckon if you added some more light on the wheels and possibly a flash inside to properly expose the interior, that recent shot would be nigh on perfect.

 

[CJGREEN]

Looks awesome in that shot. I need to get some time to do this too!

 

[Ay Ay Ron]

The only thing that puts me off that last shot is the orange on the arch above the fog light.
Other than that, I like it.

 

[Red Cup]

I reckon if you added some more light on the wheels and possibly a flash inside to properly expose the interior, that recent shot would be nigh on perfect.

Good call! I managed to get a bit of an interior from another exposure, it's a bit grainy up close but looks passable when at web size. I also redid the wheels, the back one is not perfect, even when pulling the shadows in the raw there just isn't enough light there.

I also tried to fix the orange a bit. I had to clone lots of small orange spots out as well - I think reflected from a street light way over the other side of the road. More darkness needed!

 

[DanEdser]

Looks so good!

 

[Habitual]

That's good mate!

 

[Reev]

Good call! I managed to get a bit of an interior from another exposure, it's a bit grainy up close but looks passable when at web size. I also redid the wheels, the back one is not perfect, even when pulling the shadows in the raw there just isn't enough light there.

I also tried to fix the orange a bit. I had to clone lots of small orange spots out as well - I think reflected from a street light way over the other side of the road. More darkness needed!

That's the badger, looks awesome now!

 

[Chip-mk1]

Adding the interior as well looks cool.

 

[LiamR172]

Adding the interior as well looks cool.

Thouht you got a month?

Photos look great, more interior and get rid of that orange blotches