 Kevin T. Butler |
Shooting Handheld Light I would like to shoot some pics of my daughter moving a sparkler (or flashlight) in a movement that simulated a letter of the alphabet - or a shape. Does anyone have any experience? I've tried but still get the person (very faded) in the shot. Thanks......
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Hi Kevin, There is a technique using a short delayed flash and long exposure in a dark setting that will briefly illuminate the person and allow the delayed exposure of the moving light to be captured. I experimented with this a couple of years ago with mixed results but it was fun experimenting. Give it a go - Carlton
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Pete H |
Slow Sync Flash. You may have to play around with the flash output a little.
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W. |
I think Kevin wants to see less of the person doing the 'painting with light' in a photo. Not more. Well, Kevin, then you will need to take care. There is even less light falling onto - and subsequently reflecting off of - your daughter. Ideally, she should be dressed in black, with a black ski mask, in a black room (including the ceiling). The sparklers will light her regardless, however, because they emit light 360 degrees. The flashlight may work better if you take care there is no backspill onto your daughter. Make a hood of heavy black paper/light black cardboard for the flashlight if you must. The key is to increase the contrast between the flashlight or sparkler and everything else. Have fun!
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Thanks W, I completely mis-read his question :o) After working for many years with a production company, I have lots of black wardrobe so that I am hid while running around on a stage during a performance. You may also be able to clone out the areas that you want hidden in photoshop.
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Kevin T. Butler |
Thanks to everyone who jumped in. I'm going to get several different colored led lights and give it a try. I have a followup question.......I know that I open the shutter for lets say 20 seconds.......If I'm going to do a word like 'love', do I have someone cover the lens in between the letters or just spell the whole word out? Also, do I just do each letter once or do I need to trace each one more than once? Again thanks to everyone for their input.....what a great community!!
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- Carlton Ward Contact Carlton Ward Carlton Ward's Gallery |
Hi Kevin, I dont think I would cover the lens as it is in the process of letting in the light to record the image and the timing would be pretty tricky. You could do 1 letter at a time and layer the seperate images together in Photoshop. For simplicity, I would just try leaving the shutter open for as long as it takes to write the letters. If you want definition/darkness between the letters, you could clone out unwanted parts with PS. Have fun - Carlton
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Kevin T. Butler |
Thanks Carlton, I'll give it a try.
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Oliver Anderson |
I'm with Carlton...do one letter at a time and do the rest in photoshop...that way you can control the size of the letters better...and it would be lame if you spent extra time on one letter and it was brighter than the others...I used to try to write my name in snow and was always bummed when all I could spell was OLIVE...
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Kevin T. Butler |
Thanks Oliver. I think I could get a great effect if I just did each letter separately then photoshopped it all together afterwards. You guys are the best!!
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Alan N. Marcus |
Hi Kevin, As to holding the flashlight: You can get nearly the same effect with a technique called “Painting” with Light. In this method the shutter is caused to remain open in a darkened room. With a conventional shutter you can use the “B” setting (“bulb” after the old air operated shutter opened and closed with a hand operated rubber ball/bulb). Or “T” setting (time exposure). Otherwise use the longest shutter setting. The background wall can be black or dark gray. Someone holding a flashlight paints, on the background, by waving the light, the letter or word or phrase. The camera is sturdily mounted on a tripod, throughout. Light penmanship will be the difficulty. Surly PhotoShop or another digital editor will produce more elegant results. The “Painting” technique is most often used when photographing a large vista when the ambient light is inadequate. This practice has produced spectacular images. Most notability, a steam railroad train, in a canyon at night. The camera, mounted on a tripod is set to “T”. The photographer caps and un-caps the lens during the procedure to avoid headlights and other traffic etc. Assistants scamper about in dark hooded outfits, firing an off-camera flash aimed at principle objects. Look yourself, for some of these great shots. You can find them if you look. Alan Marcus (marginal technical gobbledygook)
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Kevin T. Butler |
Thanks Alan......sounds very interesting, especially the part about firing off-camera flashes.
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