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Tried Light Painting a Car for the first time


2 months 1 week ago #634306 by John Bull
I decided to tip my toes in to some light painting for the first time and figured a car would be a good first attempt. 
Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 80D
Lens: EF-S24mm f/2.8 STM
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/13.0
Shutter speed: 30 s
Captured: Thu, 7 Mar 2019 21:29pm

Make: Canon
Model: Canon EOS 80D
Lens: EF-S24mm f/2.8 STM
ISO: 100
Aperture: f/22.0
Shutter speed: 20 s
Captured: Thu, 7 Mar 2019 21:19pm
Attachments:

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2 months 1 week ago #634537 by Monica Martinez
I can't see the light painting though! But I like the first shot! 

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2 months 1 week ago #634539 by Stefan-Olsson
very cool
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2 months 1 week ago #634582 by Hassner
Very nice for a first try. I think the point of light painting is maybe to light places where it baffles the viewer of where the light source is. Also, both shots need some light on the roof.
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2 months 1 week ago #634584 by Nikon Shooter

Hassner wrote: Very nice for a first try. I think the point of light painting is maybe to light places where it baffles the viewer of where the light source is. Also, both shots need some light on the roof.


These are proper pointers.

The basic principle of light painting is to surprise the viewer
with accents and incidences… absence of which were right-
fully noted by Monica.

Don't do what a soft box can do but explore further!
Light is free… capturing it is not!
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The following user(s) said Thank You: NewavaMike

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2 months 1 week ago #634604 by John Bull
Thank you for all the pointers! I really appreciate it! 

I agree, the roof is way too dark and I do think I missed the mark in some places when it came to lighting things up. From what I've seen in light painting with cars people try to hide the light as much as possible, which I guess would make it look closer to something that you could just achieve with a shadow box. 

I was using an Aputure AL-MX as my light source and I quickly realized that this wasn't the best light source for what I was doing. haha. It was hard to hide the light source itself so it lead to a lot of streaking through the picture. I had to basically hide the light behind my sweatshirt sleeve so it wasn't getting picked up by the camera. 

I think there would be far better light sources for something like this next time. I did learn a lot and really didn't start getting even these pictures until my last few attempts. Next time I think will be far more successful. 

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2 months 1 week ago #634671 by Suni Park

John Bull wrote: Thank you for all the pointers! I really appreciate it! 

I agree, the roof is way too dark and I do think I missed the mark in some places when it came to lighting things up. From what I've seen in light painting with cars people try to hide the light as much as possible, which I guess would make it look closer to something that you could just achieve with a shadow box. 

I was using an Aputure AL-MX as my light source and I quickly realized that this wasn't the best light source for what I was doing. haha. It was hard to hide the light source itself so it lead to a lot of streaking through the picture. I had to basically hide the light behind my sweatshirt sleeve so it wasn't getting picked up by the camera. 

I think there would be far better light sources for something like this next time. I did learn a lot and really didn't start getting even these pictures until my last few attempts. Next time I think will be far more successful. 


We can always keep trying. We will be happy to learn with you. I, myself is not an expert but a learner. I learn a lot in the threads here. Also, I think your attempt is way better than my first try. Keep it up! 

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2 months 1 week ago #634784 by NewavaMike
Interesting.  
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2 months 1 week ago #634924 by Sara Miles
This is not a bad attempt. The roof lighting is a must here since it is night-time. Then probably try out some more angles. 

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2 months 1 week ago #635029 by John Bull

Sara Miles wrote: This is not a bad attempt. The roof lighting is a must here since it is night-time. Then probably try out some more angles. 

Ya, I really missed the mark on the roof. I was aware that it wasn't showing very well while taking pictures, but even after trying to focus on it some more it really didn't capture. I think it being a black car didn't help this situation at all. LOL 

Suni Park wrote:
We can always keep trying. We will be happy to learn with you. I, myself is not an expert but a learner. I learn a lot in the threads here. Also, I think your attempt is way better than my first try. Keep it up! 

That is the best part, it is cheap to head back out there and try some more. I think a better light source would help a lot

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2 months 1 week ago #635270 by Eshan Rachit
Light is everything. The first shot is a potential beauty. Work on it. Good job! 

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2 months 6 days ago #635452 by John Bull
Thank you everyone for the comments! I'll be sure to post pics when I try it again

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2 months 5 days ago #635706 by Kelly Emery
:thumbsup:  Nice pointers. Keep it up! 

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