Here's a shot of Balanced Rock in Arches N.P. taken last Feb. where I seriously tried my hand at light painting for the first time. I used a $20 battery-operated spot light and set the camera for a 30 second exposure in manual mode. Notice the constellation Orion just above the rock. I swept the base of the rock to give a sense of "base".
Thoughts?
Ken
Posted by Scott Borger on March 23, 2006 at 12:42 AM
It certainly looks cool. For my personal taste, I try to keep things looking as natural as I can. It's not a picture that I would have an interest in taking. However, I believe you accomplished what you were going for.
Excellent first attempt, Ken. I might warm up the rock a bit as typically lightpainting results in a very warm color tone and this seems a little cooler than expected. Other than that, great job!
Posted by Dave Travis on March 23, 2006 at 10:05 AM
Nice and spooky!!!
Looks like one of those Easter Island heads.
What was the color temp of the film, and the light?
Posted by Scott Buckel on March 23, 2006 at 12:08 PM
Ke this is interesting. I like it - Orion being there is a very nice touch. Would it look better if the dark area of the base had a little more light?
I have to agree with Bret that you light was way to cool, maybe using a red magic marker on it will warm it up (a cheap inexpensive way to warm up a "cool" light).
I wonder if the light itself was too cool or if, upon seeing your slide/RAW file, you thought it looked too warm and cooled it down in PS? I remember the first couple times I light painted anything I remember thinking it was way too warm when really, that is just a by-product of the technique. The type of light you use does have an effect on the color temperature but in my experience LED headlamps, Mag-Lites, 1MM candlepower spotlights and even my truck headlamps are quite warm.
Posted by Jack Brauer on March 23, 2006 at 1:17 PM
Pretty sweet. I don't think the light is too cool... looks fine to me. I don't think I'd want it any warmer. Only thing I would have liked to see would be equal lighting on the whole ground, so that it doesn't look like it's hovering in space. Oh, and wouldn't it be just over the top to have sweeping star trails? I like the normal stars just fine though.
I actually didn't mess with the adjustments in Photoshop. Except for resizing, it's "as shot". The spotlight was incandescent and I used that same white balance preset. The color of the rock is pretty accurate to what I was observing. Of course, I can make the rock any color you wish! Thanks for the other suggestions, though. Lighting up more of the ground and adding actual star trails are very good thoughts, which I'll consider next time.
Ken
Posted by Gary Megrenne on March 23, 2006 at 10:25 PM
Nice shot Ken. James - if you (and/or anyone else) want to get together some evening at GotG, we could try to do some light painting. I can't supply any expertise since I've never tried it, but I'm sure up for experimenting if nothing else.
I really like it, especially the stars. But I wonder why there aren't any stars in the left half of the shot?
If I remember correctly, Balanced Rock is quite red in color, and I would expect to see a warmer tone as well.
Discussion
10 repliesHere's a shot of Balanced Rock in Arches N.P. taken last Feb. where I seriously tried my hand at light painting for the first time. I used a $20 battery-operated spot light and set the camera for a 30 second exposure in manual mode. Notice the constellation Orion just above the rock. I swept the base of the rock to give a sense of "base".
Thoughts?
Ken
Looks like one of those Easter Island heads.
What was the color temp of the film, and the light?
I have to agree with Bret that you light was way to cool, maybe using a red magic marker on it will warm it up (a cheap inexpensive way to warm up a "cool" light).
I wonder if the light itself was too cool or if, upon seeing your slide/RAW file, you thought it looked too warm and cooled it down in PS? I remember the first couple times I light painted anything I remember thinking it was way too warm when really, that is just a by-product of the technique. The type of light you use does have an effect on the color temperature but in my experience LED headlamps, Mag-Lites, 1MM candlepower spotlights and even my truck headlamps are quite warm.
Ken
If I remember correctly, Balanced Rock is quite red in color, and I would expect to see a warmer tone as well.