DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Light Painting: People On Magical Fire

Apr 11, 2011 by Udi Tirosh Leave a Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Thermodynamic EngineeringHere’s a light painting trick you can do on the cheap that yields a neat result. And besides…Who doesn’t want to look like a super hero?

If you aren’t familiar with Light Painting, check out the light painting primer or the tools of the trade posts here on the blog.

If you are familiar with Light Painting, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to pull an image with this technique.

Start by picking up a few of these electric glow sticks. You can find them in the outdoors section in department stores, or on Amazon right here.

Electric Glow Sticks

All you have to do is backlight yourself against a wall and then fill in the silhouette with the glow sticks.

The backlight will give shape and contour to the not very precise glow stick strocks. You could use a strobe, or stand very still and have a friend use a flashlight.

I think the glow sticks look best when shooting at ISO 400 or higher. For the shot below, I had a speedlite strapped to my back that was triggered wirelessly.

Thermodynamic Engineering

Next Up, Let’s Walk Through a Similar Shot

Fourth Dimensional Vision

First off, I set the white balance to 2500 kelvin, which made the sky extra blue and contrasted nicely with the red colors I was working with.

I framed the shot up a hill with a steep incline so to get more sky in the shot.

Standing very still, I held a red glow stick on a string in my right hand and waved it around my body, then I switched hands and did the other side. I left the glow stick turned on and walked towards the camera with it to get the large streak of light you see over my head.

I left the shutter open a little while longer so the stars would show up in my silhouette and lit the foreground from the side with a red led flashlight.

Making Of Video

It is sometimes hard to visualize how those individual steps are taken. Fear not! there is a video that shows how it is done.

About The Author

All of Dennis’s photography is straight out of the camera with no digital manipulation whatsoever. The effects are all created in camera during the exposure. To find out more, check out denniscalvert.net or read a recent interview.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailCross Section Light Painting is to Light Painting What Holograms Are To Photographs Default ThumbnailWall Of Fire Light Painting Follow Up Default ThumbnailA Neat Trick For Balancing Fire And Night Skies In Light Painting Fire Wings Light Painting Captured on Smartphone

Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: light painting, Readers Projects

About Udi Tirosh

Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

« Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques – A Book Review
Quick Tip: Make Your Strobe Shine With Toothpaste »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • Watch: How good (or bad) is an $8.50 tripod?
  • How to light and photograph Lego building interiors
  • Lighting Setup: How to light your portraits with £50 LED tubes
  • Review: Insta360 announces its first gimbal – The AI-tracking Insta360 Flow
  • World Press Photo 2023 regional winners show why AI will never kill photography

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy