Amaterasu

This is my very first attempt at 'paint with light' technique. It is

also the first of a series of goddess photos that I am working on for

a gallery show. Although I am excited by the result I also recognize

that I have a long way to go and this one will take some digital

manipulation to get it close to what I want.

 

Unfortunately the scanner that I have access to for slides is

woefully inadequate, so a lot of detail is lost in the murky darkness

(like the back of her kimono for instance, which is reduced to total

silhouette). I also forgot to sharpen the image a bit, so she looks

a little soft, but I kinda don't mind it.

 

Anyway, feel free to be critical.

I get the impression there are some wonderful colours in the photograph but unfortunately because of the darkness I can't get any of the details. From what I can see, the photograph looks very interesting but I just can't say anymore because I can't see anymore. I need to find out what "painting with light" means first, sorry.

yea, the scan and resultant image doesn't really do it justice. the scan isn't very high res to begin with.

 

painting with light is a simple concept that is tricky to do right. basically, you open the shutter on a dark scene and, using various lighting instruments, you 'paint' in the areas that you want to expose. in this shot i used flashlights of varying sizes with gels, and one 12 volt bulb (gelled red) in the globe. the exposure times were between 20 and 40 secs.

 

also, with this shot i used two 35mm cameras. next time out i plan to use one hasselblad and one 35mm. this type of work SCREAMS for a larger format.

I just did a small bit of research and looked at some other examples of this technique. Excuse my ignorance, from what I have seen so far this looks extremely difficult and challenging. Good luck with the project. I wish I could be more helpful!

I am just about to start using this technique myself and understand from emil schildt's web site that it's a lot of hard work trial and error.

 

Keep going, this looks a great start!

interesting... but... just too dark...

Since you are at your first try with light painting, and since I have tried many times and only manage to handle small areas in the studio, I can only wish you good luck and tell you that it is really really really difficult - outdoor especially, due to the vast area to be painted...

What have you been painting with ? What light source ? Maybe given a few details I could try to give you a few indications, but no guarantee... No doubt, Emil Schildt would be the man you'd need... :-) Just try and try and try again, and be fussy and write down all the tries you perform - aperture, number of seconds etc.

Regards.

i am reasonably happy with the results for my first outing with this but definitely want to record each exposure next time. also will be proofing with 'roids on hasselblad. will also get larger chromes which will help with the scans.

 

i used one 500,000 candlepower searchlight (blue), one 4 cell maglight (no color or yellow on trees in reflection, a 12 volt-25 watt bulb in the globe, and a mini mag on the model.

 

there is more detail than is present in this scan, but too much trouble to scan it again. once i play with it i may post again for comparison. and i will post our next attempt which involves an even larger outdoor space including a 30 foot tall totem pole behind the model and a pile of smoking bones at her feet. should be a fun challenge.

Unfortunately, I have no idea about the light sources you used here... 25 watts with a 64T film seems very weak to me, which would mean that you need to go around and get really near to each part. Would take quite some time... Besides that, sorry... Can't help. Well, good luck for the next time. I hope to learn something from you along the way, since I'm myself still trying to find my way with light painting... Best regards.