# 45 Exposures for One Image...



## D-B-J (Feb 25, 2014)

Whoah.  I'm always blown away at these photographers creativity and ability to see an image and then create it.  

Chris Henderson (Light) Paints a Really Big Truck « PocketWizard Blog | Radio Triggers for Photographers


Best,
Jake


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## robbins.photo (Feb 25, 2014)

I'm in awe of the amount of free time you'd need to pull something like that off.. lol


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## sk66 (Feb 25, 2014)

I know a guy who's made light painting part of his business...
It's apparently going pretty well for him.


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## Gavjenks (Feb 25, 2014)

And the end result of all that effort looks so silly and unrealistic to me that he may as well have just taken a picture of a Tonka toy truck in a studio and pasted it into a picture of a dirt yard.
The end result here seriously makes me WINCE.

But whatever, he obviously knows what he likes and it's obviously not an issue of technical lack of skill or anything, so I guess it's just chocolate vs. strawberry.


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## Overread (Feb 25, 2014)

Looking at the final result it seems to be a labour intensive way of going about things. Surely a series of photos taken at different shutter speeds and then combined into an HDR would have done a similar effect and final result. I get the idea of bringing light into the truck; but can't shake the feeling that a tripod and a longer exposure would have done just as well for the kind of result they went after in the end. 

Impressive work; but not sure its how I would have approached nor used the method for this particular shot


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## runnah (Feb 25, 2014)

Almost looks like your average bracketed HDR.


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## Braineack (Feb 25, 2014)

Not impressed with the final result...


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## Gavjenks (Feb 25, 2014)

> I get the idea of bringing light into the truck


Yeah THAT might have been cool, but he didn't even do that! The inside nooks and crannies still look just as dark as if lit normally from the outside!


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## Designer (Feb 25, 2014)

Overread said:


> ..can't shake the feeling that a tripod and a longer exposure would have done just as well for the kind of result they went after in the end.



Ah, but then he wouldn't have been able to write about Pocket Wizards.


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## brian_f2.8 (Feb 25, 2014)

Gavjenks said:


> And the end result of all that effort looks so silly and unrealistic to me that he may as well have just taken a picture of a Tonka toy truck in a studio and pasted it into a picture of a dirt yard.
> The end result here seriously makes me WINCE.
> 
> But whatever, he obviously knows what he likes and it's obviously not an issue of technical lack of skill or anything, so I guess it's just chocolate vs. strawberry.



Completely agree


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## JerryVenz (Feb 25, 2014)

Gavjenks said:


> And the end result of all that effort looks so silly and unrealistic to me that he may as well have just taken a picture of a Tonka toy truck in a studio and pasted it into a picture of a dirt yard.
> The end result here seriously makes me WINCE.
> 
> But whatever, he obviously knows what he likes and it's obviously not an issue of technical lack of skill or anything, so I guess it's just chocolate vs. strawberry.



You got it---the perfect word that described MY reaction to his finished job---I WINCED !!

Because he actually did a good job on lighting the construction worker in the foreground--with directional light--I was disappointed with his light everything approach to the truck ( I call that technique IRRATIONAL LIGHTING ).  It ended up looking like over done HDR!

To some photographers not used to seeing light-painting I suppose his work could be impressive however If you want to see a master at the technique of light-painting REALLY LARGE THINGS OUTSIDE check-out ROYCE BAIR'S work at several  State and National Parks...

The site's at   NightScapes - a set on Flickr


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## cynicaster (Feb 26, 2014)

I have to agree with the general sentiment here.  I think there are ways to create a similar image with more impact and far less required time and effort.  As it is, the result has no depth, and almost looks like a quickie photoshop composite or forced perspective shot gone awry.  

If you want to see some incredible forced perspective shots, check out this guy:

Amazing Miniature Scenes Shot with Model Cars, Forced Perspective and a $250 P&S


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## D-B-J (Feb 26, 2014)

cynicaster said:


> I have to agree with the general sentiment here.  I think there are ways to create a similar image with more impact and far less required time and effort.  As it is, the result has no depth, and almost looks like a quickie photoshop composite or forced perspective shot gone awry.
> 
> If you want to see some incredible forced perspective shots, check out this guy:
> 
> Amazing Miniature Scenes Shot with Model Cars, Forced Perspective and a $250 P&S




Cool. 

I guess I'm more amazed at the creativity than the final result.  There's some serious work put into one image, and I really don't think this could have been done as easily with HDR.


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## DougGrigg (Feb 26, 2014)

It's cool, but I would never present it to a paying client, looks far too amateur.


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## Derrel (Feb 26, 2014)

Gavjenks said:


> And the end result of all that effort looks so silly and unrealistic to me that he may as well have just taken a picture of a Tonka toy truck in a studio and pasted it into a picture of a dirt yard.
> The end result here seriously makes me WINCE.
> 
> But whatever, he obviously knows what he likes and it's obviously not an issue of technical lack of skill or anything, so I guess it's just chocolate vs. strawberry.



The story linked to is *copyrighted by Pocketwizard. *And since this appeared on the "Pocket Wizard blog", welllllll...PocketWizard FlexTT5 Transceiver Radio Slave for Canon 801-150

I've read about this kind of industrial photography work over the past several decades. I noticed he also used a high-end Elinchrom Ranger portable electronic flash system
Elinchrom Quadra Hybrid Li-Ion Standard Set S Heads EL 10403.1

I've seen examples of even BIGGER scenes, lighted by a series of flashbulbs...in one case, and entire plywood mill, approximately 240x240 feet, all lighted with about $10 worth of flashbulbs...and it looked better than this. Before I opened the link, I kind of expected to be blown away, but it looks like an average HDR shot. But in the modern era, Pocket Wizards are kinda the in thing. PocketWizard FlexTT5 Transceiver Radio Slave for Canon 801-150

But it's good to know that it was done with apprx. $3,000 worth of gear, and it made a nice blog post. I once lighted an entire office building using Kodachrome 64, using a Vivitar 285HV and about 30 flash pops off of a Quantum Turbo battery. I'm not sure, exactly, why the Elinchrom Ranger Elinchrom Quadra Hybrid Li-Ion Standard Set S Heads EL 10403.1    was necessary for this.

But it does make a good promo for the Pockletwizard people and their products. PocketWizard FlexTT5 Transceiver Radio Slave for Canon 801-150


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## Tailgunner (Feb 26, 2014)

I dig the light painting and multiple images but the end result looks like your run of the mill over cooked HDR image.


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## Gavjenks (Feb 26, 2014)

Why would you even have any use for a pocketwizard for this, assuming you HAVE one I still don't even know why you would USE it on this shoot???
Every flash unit I've ever seen has a big button built right onto the back of it that says "PILOT." If you walk around the scene in a dark hoodie and push it, the flash fires each time and you get your painted scene..... You don't need any wireless anything!

Even if you are near-homeless and can only afford some kind of silly $5 flash unit with no pilot button, a soldered radioshack button onto the hot shoe solves your problem. Or a paperclip...


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## Derrel (Feb 26, 2014)

Gavjenks said:


> Why would you even have any use for a pocketwizard for this, assuming you HAVE one I still don't even know why you would USE it on this shoot???
> Every flash unit I've ever seen has a big button built right onto the back of it that says "PILOT." If you walk around the scene in a dark hoodie and push it, the flash fires each time and you get your painted scene..... You don't need any wireless anything!
> 
> Even if you are near-homeless and can only afford some kind of silly $5 flash unit with no pilot button, a soldered radioshack button onto the hot shoe solves your problem. Or a paperclip...



Doggone it Gav, stop being so doggone practical!!! You're _*harshing the buzz*_ the PocketWizard people had goin' earlier today!


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## Overread (Feb 26, 2014)

To be fair considering the flash is oft on the end of a long beam so unless you've got really long fingers you won't be pressing the little red button on the back. 

I've also never tried it but I suspect trying to time a dslr shutter on a normal exposure to the manual pressing of the flash button would be daft.

I can see a need for a wireless trigger in this situation. You've the flash a long distance away and you won't want long cables getting in the way to communicate to the flash so having a wireless solution is practical. Not sure if its a particularly showy scene that really promotes the powers of PW - a set of working cheap wireless triggers would have done about the same level of performance. 

My issue though is that the end result just doesn't look like the mobility of the flash has been used to its advantage for the end result and that one could have taken much less than 40 odd photos and just varied the exposure time to get a similar end result with photo blending in HDR.


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## dsiglin (Feb 28, 2014)

So yes the original link looks pretty aweful, imo. But besides Royce Bair what are some other photographers you would recommend for those wanting to light large objects, say an old mill? I am starting a personal project about a 800,000 sq ft mill being converted into artist studios and a coffee shop. I think some nice exterior night shots would be a great addition to more normal interior shots.


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## Gavjenks (Feb 28, 2014)

> I've also never tried it but I suspect trying to time a dslr shutter on a normal exposure to the manual pressing of the flash button would be daft.


Just one exposure. Neutral density filter if needed. Let it sit there are run the whole time, and don't stand anywhere for too long


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## Braineack (Feb 28, 2014)

Honestly, I bet if someone took the 4 exposures of the tractor in the article, they could come up with something better...


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## Tailgunner (Feb 28, 2014)

Braineack said:


> Honestly, I bet if someone took the 4 exposures of the tractor in the article, they could come up with something better...



This was my first thought, 3 or 5 bracketed exposures.


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## limr (Feb 28, 2014)

PocketWizard sounds dirty.


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## D-B-J (Feb 28, 2014)

limr said:


> PocketWizard sounds dirty.



How so?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## D-B-J (Feb 28, 2014)

Braineack said:


> Honestly, I bet if someone took the 4 exposures of the tractor in the article, they could come up with something better...



But that's not the point. Do you really think the truck would be as sharp and clear if they had used HDR?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Steve5D (Feb 28, 2014)

More power to him if he's sellin' this stuff, but I don't really find it too impressive...


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## limr (Feb 28, 2014)

D-B-J said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> > PocketWizard sounds dirty.
> ...



Like it will perform magic in your shorts?


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## Braineack (Feb 28, 2014)

D-B-J said:


> Braineack said:
> 
> 
> > Honestly, I bet if someone took the 4 exposures of the tractor in the article, they could come up with something better...
> ...



I didn't say use HDR--just a little more tact with the light painting.

I spent about 2 minutes and combined the 5 shots from the article: http://i59.tinypic.com/169gw1e.jpg  I think the tractor looks much better, it just needs a bit more even lighting (it's coming a across much brighter from what I saw on screen, I think I need to calibrate the monitor on the machine I did it on).


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## Tailgunner (Feb 28, 2014)

Braineack said:


> D-B-J said:
> 
> 
> > Braineack said:
> ...



Much better.


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