Light Painting - Creating The Orb
The following article is a guest post by Dana Maltby a.k.a. Twin Cities Brightest a.k.a { tcb } an addict to Light Painting.
In the last Light painting installation we saw the huge variety of tools and toys I use for creating Light Painting Art.
One of the things that came strong in the comments was the need to bind those tools to the actual process of taking the image. Well, now I am going to do just this.
So let's talk about the hottest and most natural object to paint with light, the orb. Also known as a sphere. The good news is that orbs can be made with light quite easily.
What You Need
The basic tool you need is a light on the end of a string. It can cost as little as one dollar if you just tie a single LED on the end.
The photo above, for example, uses two LEDs on the end of a string.
And Here Is How You Do The Orb
What you do is pick a point on the ground and once you spin the light around keeping it the same diameter, you walk in a circle making sure the lights reach the point on the ground each rotation.
See what I am talking about in this video:
On/Off Control
In the photo above, you can see where the lights had to be turned on at the beginning of the shot, and hence leave a trail of light up to the orb. One solution for this is to walk out into the shot and with your body between the camera and the light, turn on the lights hiding them from the lens.
I used the method of hiding the lights from the camera for a while and then realized that I needed a device with a switch so I could turn off the lights without ‘reeling’ in the string. The problem was solved when the holidays came around and I found battery operated holiday light strands at the store.
Right away I realized I could hold the battery pack with a switch in one hand, and spin the lights with the other. On some strands I needed to cover up a few lights so there was enough cord to swing them, other strands had a few feet of wire before the lights started.
Messed Up Orb
Above, you'll see a messed up orb. Just a reminder of some things to avoid.
You can see my body slightly and you can see where the spinning of the lights stopped and was incomplete. Remember, you.must.complete.the.circle.
Like everything else, you may be very good at orbs right away, or you may never get one to look perfect but light painting is a style. You will develop your own style and maybe never care to do orbs. However it’s always worth a try since spinning lights around in the dark and turning in circles has never looked so good =).
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Comments
Multiple-axis orbs
This might sound silly but my orbs are almost always out of shape because whenever I take a step to move in a circle, the string goes askew resulting in my orb having several axis at different angles.
Guess I just need more practice.
Thanks again!
thanks!
Wow thanks for the how to video! I am very excited to try making orbs.
-- Mike
ORBS!
Yes, the off axis orb is a curse for sure. It may be the kind of string you are using, or the wire, or it might not be the method you are naturally best at. There are rumors floating around about an orb making "tool", some kind of pole where the light is turned by hand, but with adjustable lengths, this might be the way to go if you want the perfect orb.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightmechanics/3997657671/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lightmechanics/3944468897/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christopherrenfro/3946610217/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/unklstuart/3631221296/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/trevor303/3406931456/in/set-72157614792655900/
just have fun with it!!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/twincitiesbrightest/3390794093/
wow
Holy cow! Those first two orbs are so precise, it almost looks like it's been photoshop!
Plan to spend more time on refining my skills with these techniques once the holiday season starts.
thanks for linking to me! I
thanks for linking to me! I really appreciate it. The orbs we make are done with a tool that I developed. It makes great orbs that are huge but the tool lacks the portability and convenience of the method described here. The tool will be revealed in a couple hours. It was shown on the news piece about tonight in Japan. I will host that news piece and people will be able to see our tools.
Thanks again,
tdub
thanks
thanks for adding a link to my work in the comments!
I do my orbs with a tool that I developed on my own. It and some other tools can be seen in this news segment from Japanese TV. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBto0z5QqSA
It makes orbs that are about 10 feet or so in diameter. It makes cool orbs and other designs too but the tool lacks the portability and convenience of the method described in this article.
thanks again and great article,
tdub
ORBS!!!
orbs are funn!!! thanks TCB, one thing i noticed when i first started doing orbs, which might be helpful to some is, which ever direction you are spinning the lights, step in that direction. For me its a lot easier, and i get less off axis, but practice really makes perfect!!
School is in session.
Ha. I was looking for some rainy day DIY and the first page google takes me to is a tutorial from Twin Cities Brightest. You are everywhere my man.
For those that don't know, listen to TCB. He is a light painting ninja mixed with a photo wizard. That is a powerful combination not to be taken lightly=]
orbs!!
one thing that helps me with my axis being off, is i turn in the same direction im swinging the light, try that!
Slinky
OT: What if you put an LED on a slinky toy?
Orbs
I had a crack at some Orbs at night. Check my attempts, managed 3 orbs in one shot.
http://www.iesphotography.co.uk/blog
Thx ...
Hey there, nice arcticle, thx for your information an have a nice day :-)
much fun with light painting ;)
greetings
Beautiful Light Paintings
Cool article and very beautiful pictures, Thanks for sharing, the colors are spectacular!
orbs
A point that might help when producing orbs is to wear blackout clothing similar to famous people players. If you are all in black with gloves and balaclava I would think you stand a better chance of getting sucess
Jan
Led lights
Im having trouble finding the lights.
Where did you get yours?
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