DIYPhotography.net

Photographer Atton Conrad recently shot a campaign for Hennessy VS Cognac. This is no biggie other than the fact that photography approach was based entirely on light painting.

For those of you who are not familiar with the term, light painting is a technique where a camera is set on a tripod in a dark location @ long exposure, and captures the movements of light in the frame (you may want to check out this tutorial to get the general idea).

Anyhow, I think this is the first time I am seeing a campaign at this scale shot entirely with light painting, which could be a marker for light painting to start entering mainstream photography.

Atton Conrad did a short BTS (Behind The Scenes) clip. There is a longer one with my comments after the jump.

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The following article is a guest post by Dana Maltby a.k.a. Twin Cities Brightest a.k.a { tcb } a Light Painting Art Performer.

Greetings again from Minnesota where it’s getting cold again. Below freezing last night, brrrrr!! But there ain’t no rest for the wicked, so let's get back into some light painting techniques. This time I would like to talk a bit about Cold Cathodes.

A cold cathode is a tube of light that has a similar look to neon lights. It is brighter than a glow stick, and you can attach an on/off switch making them much more versatile in the field. You can find different kinds of these cold cathode tubes. They can be found at auto part stores, for in car light accents and under car lighting.

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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.

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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.

Now that you know the basics of light painting let's move on to creating the effects you want.

If you have a certain idea about a lighting effect you want, chances are you can make it happen. Some ideas are cheap and inexpensive while others can be costly and time consuming. Every project is a great learning experience, and the results seen in the photos later on will keep you on your toes and inspired constantly.

In the following post I will present the tools of the trade that I use to create my light painting art. If you know of other light painting tools and tricks, please add them in the comments.

For each of the images below a different tool was used as the main tool. Some of the images were done using several tools, in that case I mentioned the tool which has the main effect. Click to continue ›

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 a series of posts Dana will cover various aspects of light painting: camera settings; tools of the trade; tip and tricks and "walk through"s for several light painting images.

Stay tuned as the series rolls out.

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When I was a kid, there was nothing I liked more the swords. And space. This is why I was so exited when the Return of the Jedi came out. WOW a sword that you battle with on a spaceship - I was instantly hooked. This was the first Starwars film I saw and I watched all the series in no time. (Mind you, this was before DVD rental era, so Daddy had to kindly drive me around various theaters around the country).

Now I am a grown up, and love grown up films where you get two people in a room and let them talk about love, death and marriage for ninety minutes. NOT! I'd still choose a robots-fighting-in-space-with-swords movie over any film featuring Kathy Bates. Unless, of course, Bates is playing a giant robot smacking some other robot in space with a sword.

So how does this all connect to photography? As you may have noticed, one of my photography loves is Light Painting. This is why I was so thrilled when Ben Matthews created a Lightsabers for his light painting works. Just before you read on, check out Ben's great light painting gallery. See what great art he does with them Sabers. Read on to discover the magic that Ben created, and to get detailed instructions on creating your own Lightpainting Lightsabers:

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As you probably know, one of my favorite techniques is light painting.

This is why I was so happy when reader and artists Chris Kroeger from Light Paint Photography agreed to share one of his special light painting techniques with DIYP readers. Just a word of caution, this is not your ordinary light painting.

The art of light paint photography is thought to of begun with Pablo Picasso. His simple black and white image with nothing more than a few light scribbles spawning a new art. Today most light painting closely resembles Picasso first image, a image that light painting is added to draw in something that is not in the original image.

I hope to help change all of that.

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Zeke K. is the guest author of this post. Of course, you'd probably figure this out yourself after getting to the "Nice!" at the end of the post.

Ah, light painting. Thanks to digital photography, light painting has never been easier to get the kind of effects you are looking for. Lock that shutter open, mess around with your flashlight, check the results on the screen. Didn't work? Adjust and repeat. Lovely!

But maybe you want more than just lovely. Maybe you want color! That's where gels come in. Next time you are in a photo store or making an order from an online shop, pick up a pack of the Lee or Rosco sample gels. You'll have access to every color in the rainbow, even "Cosmetic Silver Rose." Did you even know that color was in the rainbow? I didn't.

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Painting with light is a fun technique that gives great results. It is called painting with light because this is what you are actually doing while taking the shot - painting with light.

You don't need much to experiment with this kind of shot, just make sure you have the following items:

1. A camera capable of long exposures - film cameras will work OK, but if you really want to get the most out of the shooting session, use a digital camera. You will be able to see the results in "real time" and make corrections as you go.

2. A nice tripod. Since you will be doing some long exposures you want to make sure your camera sits still. If you don't have a tripod you can make one in a few minutes (see this article or this one).

3. A flash light - and by flash light I do not mean flash as in a speedlight, but the flash light or what our British will call a torch.

4. A dark location. This one is tricky. If you are going to shot at home - a dark room will be OK. If you are going to shoot outside - make sure that you are not doing this under a street light, or where a car can come by and "paint its headlight" all over your shot. Click to continue ›