# light painting...help me do this!



## paigew (Jun 12, 2013)

I have never experimented in light painting but I am on a family vacation and I have a vision . We have a large group of people (25) and I want to take a group photo of us all with a few people writing our last name in the air with glow sticks. So can anyone give me the rundown on what I should do? I have a speedlight (I would have to use on camera).


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## o hey tyler (Jun 12, 2013)

paigew said:


> I have never experimented in light painting but I am on a family vacation and I have a vision . We have a large group of people (25) and I want to take a group photo of us all with a few people writing our last name in the air with glow sticks. So can anyone give me the rundown on what I should do? I have a speedlight (I would have to use on camera).



You don't necessarily have to use your speedlight on camera. You just might need to do some exposure calculations or some trial and error. Have the group positioned how you want, set your camera to a 30 second exposure during the night on f/8 (or something similar) and you can walk around while they're painting their names and shoot the strobe from your hand with the test button. 

That's what I did when making this photo, but I was walking behind the subject and firing the flash at her back while she was painting.


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## paigew (Jun 12, 2013)

In that image...you had the speedlight behind right? (backlit) What if I want to see the people and the light? Do the same thing? The flash won't cancel out the writing?


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## o hey tyler (Jun 12, 2013)

paigew said:


> In that image...you had the speedlight behind right? (backlit) What if I want to see the people and the light? Do the same thing? The flash won't cancel out the writing?



Flash placement will probably play a large roll, as well as intensity. If you're using glow sticks, you may want to use a larger aperture and a lower flash power.


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## paigew (Jun 12, 2013)

hmmm okay thanks! Hopefully my models are patient lol


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## frommrstomommy (Jun 12, 2013)

good luck! lol looking forward to seeing this


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## amolitor (Jun 12, 2013)

Test with just yourself. Rear curtain sync, 10 second exposure. Write your name, then pose and wait.

Aperture and ISO to taste.


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## amolitor (Jun 12, 2013)

Also note that if the writing is too faint, write more slowly. The speed with which you move the glowstick will have a big effect on how intense the lettering appears in the exposure. This might be kind of obvious, dunno.


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## cynicaster (Jun 12, 2013)

o hey tyler said:


> paigew said:
> 
> 
> > I have never experimented in light painting but I am on a family vacation and I have a vision . We have a large group of people (25) and I want to take a group photo of us all with a few people writing our last name in the air with glow sticks. So can anyone give me the rundown on what I should do? I have a speedlight (I would have to use on camera).
> ...



Cool shot!  Looks almost like a CD insert or something.


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## ktan7 (Jul 6, 2013)

Cool light painting shots.


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## o hey tyler (Jul 6, 2013)

cynicaster said:


> Cool shot!  Looks almost like a CD insert or something.



Thanks!


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## Buckster (Jul 6, 2013)

This was at ISO 100, on a tripod, pre-focused and set to bulb, aperture f/3.5, Canon 40D with a EF-S 10-22mm @ 10mm.  The shutter was set to bulb and stayed open for as long as it took me to complete the making of the photo, which turned out to be 176 seconds, as follows:

I took my place in  front of the camera at my 'mark #1' "inside" the orb, where I'd pre-focused, triggered  the shutter by remote, and began the making of the photo. During the 176  second exposure, I performed the making of the orb using LED's wrapped  in orange gels, with small holes that allowed the LED's to peek through  to capture their blue light from certain angles. When the orb was  complete, I went to my pre-arranged 'mark #2', where I'm seen in the photo, to pose with the imaginary  orb, and remote triggered two speedlights - one between the two trees  on the right side of the composition to serve as a main and to help with  the illusion that I'm being lit by the orb, and the other to camera  left to help fill the scene and light the bark.  Result:






Be prepared, and tell everyone involved to be prepared, to do it several times, even if you think you got it right the first time.


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