painting with light

juneau · May 26, 2006

im not sure if this is what its called so ill try and describe it. okay so basically you set your camera to the B setting and shine light on it while your in complete darkness.

im not sure if this is totally correct and ive never done it before but i want to try it so i was wondering if anyone has any pointers? im shooting black and white 400 speed film

also im wondering if anyone has any tips on the open flash technique?

Peanuts · May 26, 2006

By the way, welcome to TPF Juneau!

Unfortunately I just shoot with digital so I have no 'pointers' regarding film, though I will state that I probably owe even the slightest success to being able to check the LCD.

I did this last September, and the only pointers I can recall is if you are writing out words, practice in a mirror beforehand. When writing backwards and right to left, I made the mistake quite a few times of writing a single letter backwards, overlapping etc. Another error I ran into was not covering up the light completely and would end up with trailing 'blobs' of light. One last note, if you are using flash, I do believe I underexposed the flash by -2 and delayed it until the end of the exposure.
For me it was more luck of the draw then anything. I am certain others here with more experience will have more words of wisdom, but here is about the most successful shot I could grab.

f/22, 20seconds

juneau · May 26, 2006

Peanuts said:
By the way, welcome to TPF Juneau!

Unfortunately I just shoot with digital so I have no 'pointers' regarding film, though I will state that I probably owe even the slightest success to being able to check the LCD.

I did this last September, and the only pointers I can recall is if you are writing out words, practice in a mirror beforehand. When writing backwards and right to left, I made the mistake quite a few times of writing a single letter backwards, overlapping etc. Another error I ran into was not covering up the light completely and would end up with trailing 'blobs' of light. One last note, if you are using flash, I do believe I underexposed the flash by -2 and delayed it until the end of the exposure.
For me it was more luck of the draw then anything. I am certain others here with more experience will have more words of wisdom, but here is about the most successful shot I could grab.

f/22, 20seconds

thanks! i really liked that picture did you use a flashlight?

Peanuts · May 26, 2006

Thanks.
For this shot I just used a flashlight. And one more 'tip' I remembered (as can be noted, I probably took 60 shots in total and managed only a few half decent. Though I will say, lots of fun) try to keep pointing the flashlight straight at the lens. As can be seen on the right edge of the "e", I didn't angle the flashlight.

ElectricHarmony · May 26, 2006

Peanuts said:
By the way, welcome to TPF Juneau!

Unfortunately I just shoot with digital so I have no 'pointers' regarding film, though I will state that I probably owe even the slightest success to being able to check the LCD.

I did this last September, and the only pointers I can recall is if you are writing out words, practice in a mirror beforehand. When writing backwards and right to left, I made the mistake quite a few times of writing a single letter backwards, overlapping etc. Another error I ran into was not covering up the light completely and would end up with trailing 'blobs' of light. One last note, if you are using flash, I do believe I underexposed the flash by -2 and delayed it until the end of the exposure.
For me it was more luck of the draw then anything. I am certain others here with more experience will have more words of wisdom, but here is about the most successful shot I could grab.

f/22, 20seconds