Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time
A few months ago, I gave a masterclass about how to create colorful portraits. One of the setups was a unique portrait with a model “trapped” inside a light-painted circle. I wanted to share how I created that portrait using a drill, a found garden hose, and a couple of KYU-6 LED lights.
You may hear me saying “don’t try this at home” a couple of times. If you do decide to defy me, please use soft materials like a garden hose and soft KYU-6 lights. (vs., say, a broomstick).
When we hear the term “ring light” in photography, one thing immediately springs to mind and it offers a very distinctive look. But there is also another type, which isn’t meant to wrap around your lens to create that “shadowless” (which isn’t really) beam of fill light coming directly from your camera, and that’s what Pye Jirsa shows us how to make in this video.
It’s an interesting idea, basically wrapping a string of lights around a ring to create a unique look. And sure, while you could potentially try to use it like a traditional ring light, it won’t do much good, as those little LEDs aren’t going to light a subject very well from any kind of distance. But for light painting? Well, that’s where it really shines.
Have you ever been to Vegas? I’ve never visited the US, so the first thought of Vegas photos are those flashy, colorful images of its many lights and neon signs.
Photographer Jason D. Page managed to capture Vegas as I’ve never seen it before and as I’ve never imagined it. In his photo series Spinning Time in Las Vegas, Jason photographed Sin City in a way that will make your head spin!
Light painting has increased massively in popularity over the last few years. It’s not really surprising. Gone are the days of film where you had no idea whether you’d got the shot or not until hours or days later. The instant feedback of digital and zero extra cost of shooting a thousand photos rather than one has made its popularity pretty inevitable as more people have acquired DSLRs and mirrorless cameras.
But if you’ve never done it before, or you’ve had a go but didn’t get results even close to what you hoped for, it can be difficult to figure out exactly what you did wrong and what information you’re missing. Well, this video, the first in a series, from photographer Susan Magnano will help explain it to you. In it, she goes over the terms, techniques and tools you need to get started.
The world of light painting is infinite it seems. It can involve anything from sweeping epic landscapes with light painted buildings, right down to macro shots done indoors. One artist has developed a fascinating technique of using stencils to create her beautiful images.
Brazilian photographer and multimedia artist Juliana Lauletta has been using this stencil technique for years, honing it into a fine craft. She spoke to DIYP about where she gets her inspiration, and generously shares her tips for making your own light-painted artwork.
When you see photos of people doing yoga, they usually radiate peace and calmness… Or at least try to. But light painter and photographer Jason D. Page has decided to do something different – and I absolutely love it! So, I reached out to Jason to hear more about this project.
Jason teamed up with yoga instructor Gina Buse and the duo created a set of yoga photos that are completely out of the box. They’re fierce and powerful, and it’s exactly what you need to be to pull off many of the yoga poses. And in Jason’s recognizable fashion – he shot them as single, in-camera photos.
Yes, you read the title correctly. Well, almost. If I’m being completely honest actually I used four small wearable LED lights, and admittedly it was a fairly small castle. But you’d be surprised how little light you need with modern mirrorless cameras, a long exposure and a fairly high ISO. These little LED lights really can pack a punch in certain situations (mainly in complete darkness!).
There are so many ways to explore light painting, the possibilities are endless. One way to light paint a waterfall is the traditional method of using some sort of flashlight and shining the light up and down the waterfall while you use a long shutter speed. That can certainly produce beautiful and ethereal results. But Peter Juhlin from Gothenberg, Sweden decided to try a completely different method and ended up with this spectacular colourful result. Read on to discover how he did it!
The photo trickery of a levitation shot has been around for ages now, and is a great way to create a compelling image and get in a bit of Photoshop practice while you’re at it!
One of my favourite things is light painting with fire, and the idea of combining levitation into the mix was a fun challenge that was well worth the effort. Read on, and I’ll walk you through step by step how I pulled it off!
Do you like scary movies? If so, here’s a light painting tutorial for you just in time for Hallowe’en, by Jason Page. You might want to sleep with the lights on after watching this!
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