Light painted bike

Did this one last night in my garage. It's my downhill mountain bike toy, and yeah it's old and beat up looking but that just adds character right?

Settings: ISO 100, f/16, approx 1 minute exposure. Light painted using a LED headlamp with a carboard tube over it to act as a snoot to control the light. Samll bit of PP in CS3 (saturation and levels layers, contrast, sharpening, crop, border).

Let me know what you think - I really like how it came out!

 

Amazing effect.... but the clutter in the background shows through... maybe you could cover it up with a black sheet...

 

Yes, the clutter... Originally I had intended it be a 'garage' scen with dimly lit clutter and workbench etc in the background, but playing around in photoshop I liked it better with a lot of the stuff masked out. I might try re-shooting at the other end of my garage with less clutter aside from some bike-related bits like spare tyres hanging up etc. I guess I don't want it to be a clean, 'bike only' type of shot. I like the effect that the light spill onto the dirty concrete floor gives.

 

This turned out great I think. Yes the clutter is noticeable but as far as the picture itself I think its awesome. Now let me use this as an opportunity to learn. How come you used such a small aperture with a long exposure instead of maybe f/8 with a much less shutter speed?

 

Wow,, very nice effect!

 

A longer exposure with less 'sensitivity' to the light (from a narrower aperture) lets me 'paint' the bike more evenly and avoids hotspots and missing areas out altogether. Plus it means I can take my time. In theory I could have left the shutter open for an hour and gone and watched TV and it wouldn't have made a difference to the shot, as there was no other light on the scene aside from the LED light I was using.

 

nice bike! I like it

 

Thank you!

 

hey do you mind posting the original? Just to see how that came out from the shot w/out any PP. Thanks!

 

Yeah I can do but not for a few hours until after I get home from work. The original is pretty much the same looking as this but with more clutter showing around the edges and a few colour/contrast adjustments.

 

well IMO it looks good. If you do post the pics later would be nice but not a big thing. But regardless, it's really great!