From time to time we come across a light painting and just stare it wondering how did they do that?!?! Break Down is a series if which I only ask the artist one question “How the F@#! did you make this” its up to the artist to tell as little or as much as they want. Recently Light Painting Photographer James De Luna posted this colorful, magical, stellar, interesting, glorious, luminous and radiant image called “Spectral Super Model” . My mind was blown by this amazing creation so I asked for a “Light Painting Break Down”.

LPP ∇ James, Spectral Super Model is pretty, How the F@#! did you make this?

JL ∇ Well first things first when working with models… make sure they are warm, comfortable and in a good mood, their hair and makeup done nicely etc… oh hang on mine is plastic …

I adjusted the wig.

For this shot I wanted to have the lens above the model so I actually put the tripod on top of 3 large containers.

The next step was to do the background, so I set my focus to the model, aperture to f8 and turned out the lights (I have a room where complete darkness can be achieved) Waving my tool behind the model upwards and downwards I made a silhouette of the mannequin.

Next I removed the wig and stuffed the first el wire up my sleeve. The way I do these is by holding the wire against the model as it flashes on fast mode and on slow mode for the hair. You literally wrap it around the body just once and move the wire, trying to get the coverage even.

Finally I repeated in the two other colours. That’s really all there is to it … but in this case it took 29 minutes, so you certainly need a little patience

GEAR USED:
Sony a6000
Zenitar 16mm lens
Home made RGB led tool
EL wires in pink green and blue
Tripod
Model (A mannequin)

Check out more Light Painting from James HERE!

From time to time we come across a light painting and just stare it wondering how did they do that?!?! Break Down is a series if which I only ask the artist one question “How the F@#! did you make this” its up to the artist to tell as little or as much as they want. Recently Light Painting Photographer Pala Teth posted this mind blower up on his Facebook page after starring at this insanity for several minutes and then realizing I had lost all track of time because my mind was lost in this “Laser Web” I asked Pala to do a Break Down and he kindly agreed. Enjoy.

LPP ∇ Pala your new image “Laser Web” is nuts, How the F@#! did you make this?

Technical Details: 
– Smoke + Laser,
– 6 rotations of 60°, starting at 30°,
– 6 seconds of exposure at each step,
– lens cap while rotating.
– EXIF : f/5.6, ISO 800, 21mm, 192 sec

Full Break Down by Pala Teth:
I organize an open Light Painting evening every Thursday, and for this particular Thursday, there were less attendees than usual. We were only 5 (3 light painters and 2 friends) and as Gregory Lamouline was one of the light painters, I’ve brought my Camera Rotation Tool (CRT) too. Gregory is a CRT enthusiast and I knew he will be happy if we spend time playing with our CRT.

To be fair, I’m a beginner in CRT photography. I’ve bought one CRT two years ago from Alan Thompson, the brother of the famous CRT specialist Chris Thomson, but I’ve never really used it yet. This picture is my third one since I’ve bought the tool. As a viewer, I love to watch the CRT pictures made by others. But for my own pictures, I usually forget to use this tool. I prefer to be in front of the camera playing with lights rather than being behind the camera and doing rotations. So this light painting session was unusual for me.

As Pol Lution -our third accomplice- does not have a rotation tool, he started the evening by shooting his ideas in the room close to the main abandoned industrial hall where we were. He was playing with UV paint and fire, and his experiments created a smoky atmosphere in this room. In the meantime, Gregory and I were searching in the main hall for the right spot and the best angle to shoot a picture I had in mind (“The Rat Race”, without laser).

The best spot for this picture was the door between the main hall and the room where Pol was doing his pictures, because the door could be used to control the backlight. I wanted to use a backlight for the model, to get a silhouette, but in an open space and with the wide angle lenses, the backlight was too large and it would have created troubles while rotating. With the door and a distant light source, the angle of the light triangle on the floor was far better. So we did our first shot there when Pol had finished his own ones.

We were happy with this first shot and while looking at the picture on the back of our cameras, it was obvious that the smoke was going out of the room behind the model and was spreading inside the main hall. The laser is the best friend of the smoke, so we had to give a try with the laser and a CRT.

I installed a green laser pointer on a light stand, behind the model, pointing towards the camera. I put a special head cap on the laser which split the unique ray into a circle of rays. And we lined up the laser with the model and the camera to get symmetric rays around the model. Pol -who is the model in this shot- has chosen an interesting posture. We did two test shots (without rotation), to check the camera settings.

The smoke was not really dense, so f/5.6, ISO 800 and 6 or 7 seconds were perfect to catch the laser rays. As you can see from the test shot, the smoke is coming from behind the model through the door, so the laser rays are bright around the model and then the light fades slowly away while the smoke becomes lighter in the rest of the hall.

I decided on a rotation in 6 steps (60° per step) and I started the first one at 30°. I put the cap on the lens, start the exposure, remove the lens cap, count to 7, put the cap on, rotate the camera of 60°, remove the lens cap, count to 7, etc… and it was done.

In the same time, Gregory was doing a rotation in 8 steps, with his fish-eye lens and a lower focal length. And when we saw the results on the back of the cameras, I was like a child on Christmas morning! I love being surprised by the result of a light painting and this one was a great surprise for me.

Image by Gregory Lamouline

If you would like to learn all about Camera Rotation Light Painting Check out this in depth tutorial HERE!

From time to time we come across a light painting and just stare it wondering how the F@#! did they do that?!?! Break Down is a series if which I only ask the artist one question “How the F@#! did you make this” its up to the artist to tell as little or as much as they want. For this Light Painting Breakdown Tim Gamble talks us through how he and fellow light painter Chris Thompson created the above image titled “Insider”

So Tim how the F@#! did you make this?

I’ve been a massive fan of silhouettes within silhouettes since seeing awesome work from LED Eddie and Mart Barras. I had also seen some images from people on Instagram which whilst being pretty visually appealing they were created in F%?#ing Photoshop. I saw one which involved a hooded top being pulled open by the model to reveal something lurking inside. Always keen for a challenge I decided to give it a try in-camera as it’s always way more fun that way.

Firstly I needed a suitably dark and moody spot to shoot this in and I headed to my favorite lime kiln with Chris Thompson. This was the first outing with Chris T’s new softboxes and I knew the quality of light from them would work a treat for the first part of the exposure. We set one up on either side of me with a Yongnuo 560iv in each.

Next we worked out the best settings and light positioning to gain perfect exposure on the Parka. I had already worked out the best way to keep my face and torso from exposing and that was to wear my favorite black light painting hoodie back to front. Whilst looking incredibly strange it worked a treat. It was really important that no light fell on those areas so as to keep a blank canvas for the inner silhouette.

Once happy with that aspect we added another light directly behind me about 8 feet away. Another Yongnuo 560iv on full power @24mm gelled “Jaffa Cake” orange to add a slight separation light or rim light and to expose some of the stonework in the kiln. The final piece of the first part of the exposure was to add the laser which was stuck with gaffer tape to the top of the rim light. I filled the air with Vape from my e-cigarette and through trial and error nailed down how long the laser needed to expose correctly. Once happy we moved onto the second part of the exposure.

As I was with the net curtain waving champion of the world I knew that was the effect I wanted to create the fire for the silhouette. Orange gel on my led lenser P7.2 and the Light Painting Brushes Universal Connector as a snoot.

I stand still and Chris frantically wafts the net curtain up and down whilst lighting it with the gelled torch from behind me. We had to work out where I was to stand so I didn’t interfere with the first part of the exposure. The cherry on the cake was the flare from the middle of my chest. Once happy, markers were placed on the floor and it was time to put it all together in one go.

I turned live view on so Chris could position me in a central position, ensuring both of my hands stayed in the frame. I filled the kiln with vapor from my e-cigarette, pulled my black hoody over my face, turned on the laser, torch off and I fired the shutter.

Chris fired the soft boxes and rim light with the radio trigger and we let the laser burn in whilst I held still. 30 seconds of laser and Chris replaced the lens cap. I made my way to my second position and turned off the laser. Chris removed the lens cap and made his way behind me with the torch and the net curtains. After Chris had finished expertly waving them around for the flames he passed me the torch and I popped it on full power for less than a second for the flare held in the middle of my chest.

Shot on a Canon 650D, Tokina 11/16mm, 3 x Yongnuo 560iv flashguns, 2 x Photo-R 24” x 24” softboxes with stands, 1 x green laser pointer, vape from my e-cigarette (smoke bombs would do), 1 x Light Painting Brushes Universal Connector as a snoot and a Led Lenser P7.2.

Settings.
12mm,
F7.1,
Iso 100,
223 seconds
Auto White Balance.
3 x Yongnuo 560iv’s full power @24mm.

A massive “big up” to Chris Thompson for his help in realizing this shot. Without him I’d still be there now. Cheers.

This is some freaking incredible work and thank you to Tim for sharing some of his secrets! Below are a few more stunners from Tim using a similar technique! Check out more of of Tim’s work HERE and you can find Chris right HERE.

From time to time we come across a light painting and just stare it wondering how the F@#! did they do that?!?! Break Down is a series if which I only ask the artist one question “How the F@#! did you make this” its up to the artist to tell as little or as much as they want. For this Light Painting Breakdown Johnny Dickerson talks us through how he created the above image titled “Onboard Memory”

So Johnny how the F@#! did you make this?

Originally, I had the idea that I wanted to create a shot where it looked like I was completely immersed inside a computer. The only way I thought that I could it, is to make a “tunnel” of light using the Digital Light Wand (Editor Note: The Digital Light Wand was created by Michael Ross and was the predecessor to The Pixelstick) and have me at the end. I first tried to create it in my backyard with unsatisfactory results.

The walls did not line up like I would have liked, and there was no way to make the ceiling line up right with the walls. I even tried nailing down some string in the ground to give me a straight line to work with. It still was not acceptable with what I had in mind, so I put the idea to the side for awhile.

Flash-forward several months, while out scouting for potential areas to light paint, I came across a bike tunnel that was about 12 feet wide by 8 feet high and about 200 feet in length.

There was not (and still to this day) any lights in there; which makes it perfect to light paint in. It’s completely dark for the most part, except for a warehouse floodlight that spills in a little, but you can shoot further down and avoid it’s light pollution. This is what it looks like when you shoot straight down the middle.

I thought I just hit the jackpot for light painting! Even to this day, I refer to it to my light painting buddies around town as just “the tunnel”, they know. I was ready to try my idea of being immersed inside a computer.

I had a pattern of a computer that I used for the Digital Light Wand and decided to walk down the tunnel against the wall.

By using the walls of the tunnel to walk down, the pattern lined up exactly how I wanted it! I later came to realize how dark it was in there and needed a reference point from where I needed to start light painting. I found a fairly large rock outside and placed it halfway through the tunnel in the corner. So, when I start the exposure, I slowly walk to the rock and start light painting at the same spot every time. For the shot “Onboard Memory”, I walked the Digital Light Wand against each wall, twice on the floor, and twice on the ceiling making 6 passes. Realizing there was nothing in the corners to “connect” the DLW passes, I decided to make a pass with the LEDs on a bike tire (made well known by TCB).

Once I seemed up the corners, I went back to where the rock was and spun some steel wool. To top it off, I created some flares by just shining a flashlight at the camera for a couple of seconds, hoping the flares would line up with some of the computer pattern.

So obviously this is amazing work but Johnny also sent in a few others that are absolute JAW DROPPERS that were created very much in the same way, check these out!

If you are not following Johnny’s work you are missing out. Be sure to check out his website, his Facebook page for more incredibleness!

From time to time we come across a light painting and just stare it wondering how the F@#! did they do that?!?! For my own sanity and to hopefully enlighten some of rest of the light painting community I am starting a new series on the LPP website called Break Down. Basically if you put out some crazy, confusing, mind boggling, or just plain different work that the rest of us can’t figure out I am going to harass you to share some of your secrets. Now relax, I am not going to ask for a step by step so we can all rip you off. I am asking for just a piece of inside knowledge maybe a little hint as to how you’re creating your compelling work! I will only ask the artist one question “How the F@#! did you make this” its up to the artist to tell as little or as much as they want.

For the first one in the Break Down series we are prying open the mind of Light Painting Photographer Mart Barras for this WTF image:

Mart how the F@#! did you make this?

Here is the Break Down:
GEAR USED
Camera: Nikon D7100
Lens: 18-35mm
iPad with Stand
Custom Camera Rotation Tool
Magic

Settings:
F-Stop: F16
ISO: 100
Exposure Time: 93 seconds

IPAD as the Light Source.
Basically it like using stencils but doing it from an iPad.

Capping The Lens
You expose one at a time, each image to the lens (capping the lens between images).

Masking and Camera Rotation
It does require some masking, and a lot of lining up to get parts of the image to sit right or even behind what you want in front so I used a mask cut out using black tape roughly the same size as the fire atom at the front and placed it over the image of a few laser beams and rotated the shot twice (180 degrees).

Finally a Zoom Pull
I then exposured a shot of a PCB and and a star field that I zoomed pulled, then an image of some smoke then finally exposed the image of the fire atom and done, though it did take lots of goes to get the alignment right and the exposure too.

Check out a few of the set up shots Mart shared of a recent shoot he did using similar techniques to create another WOW image seen below and for even more beautiful masterpieces check out Marts Flick Profile HERE: