DIYPhotography.net

a while back we shared a light painting image created using a video that un-slices a human body. While light painting a cadaver is fun, it can get a bit depressing if this is the only thing you light paint.

Enter CSOfLP - it is a Vimeo group full of animations ready for Cross Section Light Painting, and as such it is full of 3D object renderings that you can use to create 3D objects when you light paint, or as Hugo Baptista dubs it 3DCSLP. Click to continue ›

One of the nice and less common effect we see in light painting is smoke effect. Despite of its relative rareness it is requite easy to make as light painter Wen-Jié Yang demonstrates in the video below.

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Our How I Took It Contest got an impressive number of steel wool light painting tutorials. I wanted to share this one from Mike Mikkelson as it introduces two new elements that we've never had on the blog before: a super smart steel wool cage (rather than the whisker that we usually use) and the creation of a vortex. Enjoy.

I get a lot of comments on my Steel Wool Vortex image, and I have had many people ask me how I took it. Most people are surprised when I let them know that it is steel wool on the end of a cable, lit on fire, and then spun around very fast to create the sparks. Although the art of steel wool photography is not new or unique, I have constructed a re-usable rig that has helped me make some great fire wool images. This thread will explain how I created a custom cage for steel wool photography, and how I made the Fire Wool Vortex image.

Andrew Hall creates light painting orbs like no other I have seen before. And I have seen all kinds of orbs. It almost seems as if they are directed in some way. In fact his orbs are so unique that his work is decorating book covers and featured in magazines.

I asked Andrew a to tell DIYP readers a little bit about the orbs. The story is quite interesting but the process remains a trade secret for you hackers to explore in the upcoming nights ... Click to continue ›

MRI is used to salami objects into small slices and get a better idea about what's inside them without breaking them open.

Cross section light painting is the exact reverse process where a photographer uses a set of images, each corresponding to a slice of the original object to recreate the salami. (OK, technically, it only recreates an image of that salami).

While it is not trivial to find such detailed slides images of the human body, there is a scientific foundation - The Visible Human Project - that aims at making such images accessible and shares two data set of such "slide" humans: A mail and a female.

Using a video composed of those images, Flickr user Andyleach recreated the body using light painting. Click to continue ›

French photographer Wen-Jié Yangjust is pretty talented when it comes to light painting.

The good news is that he had just released an awesome light painting tutorial, covering the basics, intermediate and a bit of the more advanced stuff.

Bad news is that the video is in French (unless you speak French, of course).

Good news again, we asked him to translate it and he agreed, so subtitles are included. Click to continue ›

Hello again! It’s Dana, twin cities brightest, back again with more tricks for light painting photography.

I hope you have all been practicing because it’s time to deal with the unruly beast - fireworks.

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If you ever played portal you know how enchanting this game can be. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the game, it is kind of a hybrid between a 3D shooter and a puzzle game, where the hero (you) can create small portals pairs which are linked and skip from one portal to the other.

Highly addictive.

Jeremy Jackson AKA tackyshack recreated a man jumping in mid-portal scene with a single light painted exposure.

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You know what you get when you cross programming and photography? Kick bottoms light painting. A year ago today we featured Michael Ross's (a.k.a. TxPilot) Digital Light Wand. It is a wonderful Arduino based tool that creates pictures in mid air.

Well, Michael is at it again. Yesterday Michael released his tutorial for a programmable Orb. (click here if you need an orb primer).

Similarly to the wand, the Programmable LED Orb Tool (o.k. you are PLOT from now on)... so similarly to the wand, the PLOT takes any bitmap or jpg image and converts it to a pattern that Arduino can understand. Click to continue ›

Photographer and light painting extraordinaire TigTab (who makes beautiful light stencil images) sent a light bat flying all over the word.

Well, actually, it is a bat light stencil (similar to the stencil tigtab made a tutorial for in the past, only this one is collapsible - see new tutorial after the jump).

The bat stencil will travel some 50,000 miles and visit 28 light painters in what I think is the biggest light painting chain letter in the history of man.

The bat, friendly named TAD started his travel in Australia almost 2 years ago and is still wondering the world. If you wanna follow the bat around (or join in on some of the next traveling stencils, check out the Light Stencil Central flickr group. (Or check the F-light of the Night flickr group to see the original bat travels)

And now, how to make a fordable light box tutorial (the stencil instructions can be found here) Click to continue ›