Tried Light Painting a Car for the first time

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. 

I can't see the light painting though! But I like the first shot! 

very cool

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.

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!

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. 

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! 

Interesting.  

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. 

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

Light is everything. The first shot is a potential beauty. Work on it. Good job! 

Thank you everyone for the comments! I'll be sure to post pics when I try it again

 Nice pointers. Keep it up!