{"id":13087,"date":"2019-10-17T22:12:48","date_gmt":"2019-10-17T20:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skynific.com\/portfolio-items\/light-painting\/"},"modified":"2020-02-13T19:45:35","modified_gmt":"2020-02-13T18:45:35","slug":"light-painting","status":"publish","type":"avada_portfolio","link":"https:\/\/skynific.com\/en\/portfolio-items\/light-painting\/","title":{"rendered":"Light Painting Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"

light painting<\/h2>\n<\/div>

Light painting is the process of painting with light in a dark environment. You may be familiar with these photos, in which luminous fantasy-like spheres float in a room or lettering and symbols appear on a photo as if by magic. These pictures are usually so-called Lightpainting.<\/p>\n

While the camera is performing a long-term exposure, all light information is permanently transmitted to the image sensor. With static light sources such as lanterns, a long exposure at night therefore leads to a balanced bright image result. The lantern illuminates the surroundings and provides a bright illumination of the entire environment on the photo. The longer the photo is exposed, the brighter it becomes.<\/p>\n

If the light sources are now moved during a long exposure, they draw a light track on the later photo. By the movement of the light source, new image information about the position of the light source is continuously transmitted to the sensor, which records this shift and displays it as a tracer at the end.<\/p>\n

Once this principle has been understood, it is a lot of fun to let this effect of the light traces flow into the picture design.<\/p>\n

Basically the light painting is a completely regular long-time exposure. While in a normal long-time exposure, for example, passing cars provide for red light traces on the finished exposed photo, in the light painting you create your own light traces. As you move your light source like a brush in the image section and thus create or quasi paint a trace of light, you speak of light painting.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Important Basic Settings<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Aperture<\/h2>\n<\/div>
<\/div>
\"aperture<\/span><\/div>
<\/div>

The optimal aperture is about:<\/p>\n

f8 – f11<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m convinced that simply try it out.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

ISO<\/h2>\n<\/div>
<\/div>
\"iso<\/span><\/div>
<\/div>

The ISO value describes the light sensitivity of the image sensor. Best is a value of :<\/p>\n

ISO 100<\/h3>\n

Due to the dark environment and the comparatively long exposure time when photographing light painting, is a low ISO value absolutely necessary. This reduces the later noise on the image, but also increases the exposure time. Another advantage is that the dynamic range of your camera increases as the ISO value decreases.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Shutter Speed<\/h2>\n<\/div>
<\/div>
\"timer-icon\"<\/span><\/div>
<\/div>

The shutter speed describes the time that the light reaches the sensor to expose it. To have enough time for light painting, the shutter speed should be at least 30 seconds. For longer exposure times, it is necessary to switch to bulb mode for most cameras. This mode is intended for longer exposure times and exposes the sensor as long as the shutter release button is pressed. With the help of a remote shutter trigger, you can start the exposure and lock the shutter release. When you are finished with your Lightpainting, you release the lock of the shutter release and end your exposure.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

Further Adjustments<\/b><\/p>\n

I shoot light paintings generally in manual mode because here, all degrees of freedom are given to you. So you can influence all variables according to your wishes and correct them quickly.<\/p>\n

I take the pictures in RAW format to get the best picture quality and to be able to adjust my white balance in post-processing.<\/p>\n

A particular difficulty at night is focusing. Especially in almost total darkness, it’s impossible to find the right focus point, so it’s essential to set the focus manually.<\/p>\n

Due to the long-term exposure, it is important to have a stable stand, because even minimal wobbles can influence the end result to a maximum. Therefore a safe and stable tripod is not to be renounced. Moreover, the camera does not know that it is firmly fixed, and the image stabilization could still try to compensate for something that does not exist. Therefore the image stabilization should also be switched off.<\/p>\n

After all, settings have been made, it is not easy to give tips on image composition, because everyone has their own ideas about what should be in the image. In general, I would say: Less is more. Try to only include elements in the picture that should be part of it and perhaps have a relationship with your central motif.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Design Samples<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Beach-Orbs\"<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"summer_2019\"<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Orb\"<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Skills needed<\/h2>\n<\/div>