What do you get when you combine Hugo Baptista, Cisco LightPainting, Darren Pearson, Will Wildmot, a light painting workshop, 3 hours of shooting, 12 Nikon cameras, 9 Canon camera, 1400 photos, and 30 hours of post-production? One really cool piece of Light Painting Bullet-Time Stop-Motion Animation. This piece was created at the 1st International LightArt and Light Painting Convention held in Oviedo, Spain. The event was organized by the LPWA (click here)to read a detailed closing report of the event.. For more about on the background of the bullet time lapse project check out the interview below…

LPP ∇ Hugo I just saw your Bullet Time Lapse you create at the LightArt Congress in Oviedo Spain this year awesome work what inspired the idea and how did the project come together?
HB ∇ As you probably know the term bullet-time comes from that scene in The Matrix where Neo dodges bullets. When I first saw it in 99 I thought I want to do that one day. And that’s how I can now dodge bullets…lol
Seriously, Eric Pare and Patrick Rochon have made great bullet-time videos with light painting and of course they were also a big part of the inspiration. Unfortunately the budget required for such a feat with a large number of the same cameras, lenses and an advanced triggering system with live viewing often exceeds what many clients are ready to spend. When I was in talks with the Oviedo LightArt congress organizers about how to go about this project we decided it would be feasible to crowd-source this with workshop attendees. Not only was it feasible but it was more inclusive too in a workshop setting. To make it work we needed to have the attendees bring along camera/lens combinations with approximately the same field of view. That is why we required a complete list of camera(s) and lense(s) on the sign up form so I could request the most common. We ended up with 12 Nikons and 9 Canons and diverse lenses that I tried to keep at approx. 18mm.

LPP ∇ Oh wow this created as part of a Light Painting workshop?
HB ∇ Yes. A 3 hour workshop designed to be all about doing and not so much about talking given the little time available. Here is a more detailed explanation of the process: http://www.oddballgraphics.com/?works=crowdsourcing-a-bullet-time-stop-motion-video

LPP ∇ Who were the other light painters that were involved?
HB ∇ I was very happy to have Cisco Light Painting (left) and Darren Pearson (right) agree to LP behind two dancers from ZigZag dance group while Will Wildmot helped with the setup as well as being responsible for a side light.

LPP ∇ How did you set it up, it must have been very difficult working with so many different people and camera?
HB ∇ Yes, Particularly the language barrier was an issue since not everyone understood English and my Portuguese masked with a Spanish accent wasn’t clear to everyone. That lead to a misunderstanding with two members of the Canon row who set their cameras to 80mm instead of 18mm. That’s why I didn’t use that row in the bullet-time. I should have printed the settings for everyone to read like I originally planned but I naively thought it could be done verbally. The first hour was spent aligning the cameras in a semi-circle, pointing the cameras at a ping pong ball on a tripod and making sure they were at the same height and same distance from each other.

LPP ∇ What kind of light painting tools did you use?
HB ∇ I made a custom tool consisting of a transparent hose, two handles and a double DLW from Michael Ross. Cisco and Darren were using their own tools.

LPP ∇ Do you plan on doing more of these workshops?
HB ∇ I sure do. But not necessarily using this format. I want to do it with many more cameras in a wide open space next time.

LPP ∇ How were the images put together in post?
HB ∇ The first stage is importing all the raws in Lightroom and organize them by camera number. Then I’ll approximate the settings so that the different cameras/lenses match. I then created a 1400 photo quick collection making sure to not select accidental shots and to not include sequences that were missing shots as was the case with some. I found pretty soon that some cameras had moved slightly between exposures which meant copying crop settings wouldn’t work as it did with all other settings. I knew a considerable amount of editing would be needed so I decided to go all the way and crop all the photos one by one based on where the action was taking place which meant this bullet-time would have a variable center of rotation. I liked this effect in early tests so I went with it. I then exported the quick collection to a 4K sequence and further edited it with After Effects and Twixtor.

LPP ∇ Woah thats a tremendous about of work! How long did it take to put everything together to make the final video?
HB ∇ About 30 hours (excluding the many hours of rendering)

LPP ∇ What was the most important thing you learned from this experience?
HB ∇ I met many people from around the world who are very passionate about light painting but also many who were just starting, all working together for a greater goal. I learned that the Spanish LP community is brewing with incredible talent and was inspired to see how committed everyone was.

LPP ∇ Is there anything you would do differently next time you make a Light Painting Bullet Timelapse?
HB ∇ If I have the budget to do it for a commercial project yes, pretty much everything would be different but next time I use this workshop format I will definitely not forget to write the settings down on unambiguous pieces of paper!

LPP ∇ Its a really great piece of work! Thank for taking the time to answer some questions.

To keep up to date on the NEXT light painting workshop and for more amazing work Check out Hugo’s website OddBallGraphics.com

A few years ago I met Jadikan at an art show, we were talking about light painting when he pulled me into a back room to show me a secret project he was working on. Jadikan showed me this ancient looking contraption that was like a wooden version of a Viewmaster toy I had when I was a kid. This old contraption turned out to be a stereoscopic viewer! When I looked inside I saw my first ever analog 3D light painting! Of corse I immediately started running away to try and steal it but he caught me so I had to give it back. A Stereoscopic viewer holds an image known as a stereogram. Basically how it all works is you shoot two images of the exact same scene that are at a slightly different angle from one another, when you put them side by side in the viewer your brain turns the two images into one image with extreme depth.

A 3D light painting was a very exciting thing to see for the first time and I wanted to learn more so I asked a bunch of questions, Jadikan was rightfully quiet about the project and just showed me enough to make my mind race. Now thanks to the SOLID-LIGHT Project I have the answers to all those questions that raced in my mind some 3 years ago. Check out the images, interview, and video below.

LPP ∇ I’m sooooo excited to see this project ready for release, tell me what is behind the Solid-Light Project and who is involved?
JLP ∇ The Solid Light Project’s purpose is: To promote 3D pictures/content with an original stereoviewer.
Behind the “Solid One”‘s step, The Light Painting Photography was created by myself and photographer JF Delamarre, the website was made by another friend and the viewer is from me (using laser cutting machine in a Fab Lab)

LPP ∇ Where the idea come from ?
JLP ∇ I have been interested in stereo photography since I discover it. My first attempt was in 2008, when I had a second digital camera available for the first time. A few months later, I met a guy who was practicing stereo photography with an old film camera on medium format.

LPP ∇ Shooting stereoscopic film has to be pretty difficult? How does that work?
JLP ∇ You have to cut the film and display it correctly between 2 pieces of thin glass to be insert in an old steroviewer.
Not an easy job but when you see inside the viewer, it is just amazing how the depth and the detail jump out at your eyes on the 120 inversible film with magnifying glasses.

LPP ∇ What kind of camera are you shooting with?
JLP ∇ So we started to shoot together with his “Stereflektoskop” from the 30’s. From 2009 to 2014, we have learned a lot about 3D pictures and shot rolls and rolls of film (always invertible) at the same time, I found a few other medium format cameras in specialised shops on the internet.

LPP ∇ How did the project progress into what we see now in the Solid-Light Project?
JLP ∇ As I was started to understand the full process of stereophotography, I wanted to find a way to share thoses 3D works at exhibitions.
Using prints or screens instead of the original film will allow to show easily in different places without the original.
I experimented with different viewers on the market, built a few others by hand and I finally discovered a way to reach my goal of a personal reproducible stereo viewer when I found The Fab Lab network!
Fab Labs are a fair sharing place for computer controlled machines. (laser cutting, 3D printing …)
I went to the closest Fab LAB to start designing a Stereoviewer. It took a few months with different versions to finally present Solid One in a kit – for prints or for using with a smartphone (compatible size).

LPP ∇ How does it work if someone wants to make their own viewer?
JLP ∇ I made the plans available for people want to make their own.
People have 2 choices: Download the .dxf file and use a laser cutting machine to do the job (I use a 3mm thick medium wood for the viewer) or download the pdf, print it and cut it from a 3mm foam board for example. The trickiest part is to find the lenses, I did not find reseller for one piece, so send me an email if you need a sample.

LPP ∇ Whats next for this project?
JLP ∇ The next step of Solid Light is not fully determined, but I have in mind to collaborate with a painter artist to make with “his” 3D boxes. (inside/outside/shape) I also want this tool can be used by other photographers/artists who want to show stereo artworks.

LPP ∇ This is one incredible project and I speak for all of us when I say THANK YOU for all of your hard work and especially for making the stereoscopic viewer freely available for all of us! Anything else you would like to ad?
JLP ∇ I think that this was the right time to make the final touches and launch this project because of the “google cardboard” announcement this summer… (check this out if you don’t know about it)
…Solid One is fully compatible with the Virtual Reality content displayed by google ! 😉

For more info on the Solid Light Project check out the video below and website http://www.solid-light.com/en/ stay up to date with all of Jadikans latest projects on his Facebook page HERE!

When you snap a photo on a GPS enabled device such as a fancy camera or smart phone you (knowingly or unknowingly) add a little piece of information into the metadata, the latitude and longitude coordinates.

This can be great for things like location scouting or even tracking terrorist… Phillip Schmitt, who is way smarter than most people, figured out a way to create Light Painting using the information contained within these geotags by writing some code, making a phone talk to a flash and doing some other stuff I don’t really understand.

The results of his efforts are nothing short of pure light painting magic! Check out the info, video, and images below. For even more info check out Phillips website HERE!

ABOUT THE PROJECT: Phillip says “I built a custom camera, flash + smartphone setup that queries the Flickr and Panoramio API for photos taken at the current geographical position. Whenever there’s a photo available, a flash is triggered. Long-exposure photographs capture multiple flash lights — each representing one geotagged photo — and situates them in the place of their origin. Using this technique, I produced two kinds of images. Those with light dots in it are mere representations of the data. The second kind has “ghost photographers” or “holograms” in it, exploring the question how it would have looked if all the photographers who uploaded their pictures had been there simultaneously.”