Light Painting Photography

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Wes Whaley and His New Light Painting Tool, Interview

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I got the chance to catch up with light painter Wes Whaley recently to ask him a few questions about the tools and technique behind some of his recent images you see here.

LPP ∇ Hey Wes I have seen some of your awesome light painting images like “Electroluminescentness” and “Collective Consciousness” recently and it looks like you have been putting in a lot of work advancing your design tools and technique. Tell me a little bit about your set up for one of these shots.

WW ∇ My set up is a crazy hard to explain tool I made at home. I use a lot of EL Wire a Canon rebel XS.

LPP ∇ Is there anything different about the technique to create one of these images from any other light painting image?

WW ∇ Well it’s different as far as technique it took me a lot of practice to get all the movements the same or as best as I can. The movements of the tool took a while as far as making the distance the same and holding it for a few seconds so the EL would show up better as I have two different types and one is brighter than the other.

LPP ∇ What inspired this tool? Were you trying to create a tool for a specific shot or just experimenting?

WW ∇ Mostly experimenting.

LPP ∇ How long did it take for you to feel like you had it right?

WW ∇ It took me about 4 months to get it where i thought i was getter better at the movements.

LPP ∇ How long does it take to create one of these monsters?

WW ∇ Anywhere for 3 to 5 minutes depends on how many colors i lay down.

LPP ∇ The latest images look like the tool/technique has really evolved, how many have you made now?

WW ∇ I have 35 of this technique.

LPP ∇ What was the most difficult part about creating this light painting tool?

WW ∇ Making the tool lighter is the fun part.

LPP ∇ How long have you been light painting?

WW ∇ Been light painting for 1.5 yrs

LPP ∇ How did you discover light painting?

WW ∇ Through a friend Dennis Calvert an awesome artist!

LPP ∇ Any plans on making a tutorial for the rest of the light painting community to share how you are making these images or will you keep it your own?

WW ∇ I’m working on a tutorial now as a matter of fact.

LPP ∇ Where can people find more of your images?

WW ∇ On my flickr photostream.

LPP ∇ Anything you would like to add?

WW ∇ I love light painting the most because it all in your imagination and also if you were to ask anyone to draw or paint a picture it would take days or weeks. I can set up and shoot a photo in about 10 minutes that is sweet!

LPP ∇ Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. We are all looking forward to seeing that tutorial.

Letter to the Editor

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I get e-mails like this every few weeks and I just wanted to share one with all of the light painting photographers that help to make this website possible. Thank you.

Message:
To all persons it may concern with this website… I AM COMPLETELY MIND BLOWN! I THINK I HAVE FOUND MY ART FORM I WISH TO EXPLORE!!! A TRUE EPIPHANY FOR ME ON ALL LEVELS!! Although, I enjoy and appreciate the arts, a brush stroke masterpiece from myself will never materialise… However, I enjoy digital photography and whilst on an appointment with an artist much more talented than myself… By far!!! The subject came to a video from “So Red The Rose” by Arcadia… I knew the video, but I could nor remember the title of the track. The video was memorable… Sleeping Beauty theme, as far as I could remember. Thanks to the latter day wonder of the internet I rediscovered and savoured to the utmost, the video of Arcadia’s Missing… This went onto a brief exploration of Light painting Photography… Hence, why I am here and of course, a brief study of the master light photographer Dean Chamberlain. I WANT ALL I CAN EAT ON THE SUBJECT, THIS WEBSITE IS MY CORNER OF CYBERPARADISE! Monumental thanks beyond number to all contributors…. I will be back to browse more, even if all the relevant kit and kaboodle and camera expertise will take a while to amass. Without a doubt I will relish finding out more about this sensory blast of an art form! All The Very Best To One And All! Many thanks again!

Linda.

Troy Paiva Lands Stephen King Cover

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Light painting photographer Troy Paiva landed one of his images on the cover of the new Stephen King novel “Mile 81”.

Troy had this to say about the achievement…

OMFG, this is huge news. I got a Stephen King cover . . . for his new e-book “Mile 81.” It is for non-US markets only. All you folks in the UK, Australia and anyplace else other than America can download this story for your kindle or other readers starting today. The image is from the Pearsonville junkyard. They manipulated it quite a bit and yes, I am perfectly ok with that. Stephen King . . . wow.

 

Congratulations Troy!!!

Seize The Night

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Will Baltazar sent in the light painting stop animation. This is the first attempt at a light painting animation for this freshman light painter, the results are pretty cool. Will made this piece in his house over the course of a week, check out the interview below.

LPP ∇ Its a cool piece man, I can appreciate the amount of work you put into it.
What camera/equipment did you use?
WB ∇ Thank you soo much! The camera i used was a Canon Digital rebel xsi with an 18-55mm lens. As for the equipment, i used small keychain leds and electronic glowsticks. Very small budget.

LPP ∇ How long did it take to shoot it?
WB ∇ The shooting process was about 30 hours, but i stretched that over the course of a week, since i had to wake up to go to high school each morning. Id set a quota for the amount of shots id want to get done each night, so having a goal helped.

LPP ∇ What did you learn from making the video?
WB ∇ If I learned anything from this video, its patience. Drawing and tweaking and redrawing and cheking pictures hundreds of times is no easy task. I also learned a lof of different ways to use my lights as far as effects i could make with them.

LPP ∇ Are you going to make another one?
WB ∇ I do plan on making another one, some time in the future. The time in between will be spent by taking my light painting to new levels, so that when the next video is born, its quality will surpass this one.

LPP ∇ Did you shoot it alone or with help?
WB ∇ I shot this totally alone. The only “help” i had was the model agreeing to pose throughout such a lengthy process, but the drawings, editing, directing and everything else that went into it was all me.

LPP ∇ What inspired you to make the piece?
WB ∇ My inspiration to make this LP video was kindof testing my creative limits. I wanted a medium that was difficult and flexible enough to where if i did it and did it well, i (and people that watched it) could have a glimpse of just how powerful imagination is. And i also wanted to prove to myself that i could stick to this project and finish it.

LPP ∇ Who is your favorite LP artist?
WB ∇ My favorite LP artist has got to be this guy on Flickr. His username is like {tcb}. In being lp artists, we find ourselves able to look at other pieces and decypher how they managed to execute them, but tcb leaves me clueless, and i find that refreshing.

LPP ∇ How did you discover LP?
WB ∇ I discovered LP through google. When i first got ibto photography, id spend a lot of time googling tutorials, and among them was one for long exposure photography. The examples they posted were of LP. and i went from there.

LPP ∇ What was the first LP video you saw that inspired you to create your own?
WB ∇ The first LP Video i saw that inspired me was called “Light warfare” on Youtube by Freddie Wong. I thought it was so magical and creative itd be a crime for me not to try.

LPP ∇ Any other info you would like to add?
WB ∇ Additional info is just that this was made in my bedroom, at home, with the help of a friend and only about 30$ on materials. It was made when i was 17 (im 18 now). So, if people have a beautiful vision, i dont believe that the lack of professional resources or education is reason to not make it a reality. Anything is possible.

First Underwater Light Painting Images?

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Damn I wanted to be the first one to do this….. Congratulations to Soul Reaver Photography, I believe these are the first ever underwater light painting photographs. Super cool images check out the whole set on Flickr HERE. If you know of any others please post a link in the comment section.

Roomba Light Painting

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Check out these light painting photographs produced by Tobias Baumgartner, Marcus Brandenburger, Tom Kamphans, Alexander Kroeller, and Christiane Schmidt of the IBR Algorithm Group and Braunschweig University of Technology back in 2009.

They took “a swarm” of Roombas and let them loose in a dark room. These images (that remind me of a Jackson Pollock painting) were the result. For a few more images check out the Flickr page dedicated to this project HERE.

 

Chris Benbow Orb Tutorial

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Noctography – Tutorial 5: Orbs

A basic tutorial on how to make Orbs by Chris Benbow

Camera: Canon EOS 5Dmkii
Lens: Canon 17-40mm
Shutter Release: Hähnel Wired Release
Orb Tool – Christmas Lights from Ebay with a little adaptation.

Camera Settings
ISO: 500
Aperture: F/5.6
Shutter Speed: Bulb – 1 minute

More night photography tutorials coming soon.

www.noctography.co.uk

www.lightpaintingphotography.com

www.luminarymovie.com

www.flickr.com/photos/light_painter/

July Contest Winner

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And the winner is…. Andrew Wells for this ridiculous image of 100 orbs in a single exposure. I interviewed Andrew about this image a few months ago. To read the interview about how he created this monster click HERE. For his efforts Andrew will receive a LPP prize pack sponsored by COAST. We have a very special opportunity for the August/September contest series click here to find out the new theme and how to enter.