A few months ago I was inspired to try and see what shapes I could create while attaching a Lumecube to my drone. I’d seen people like Phill Fisher do shapes in the sky manually and was extremely impressed but didn’t have the time to learn how to fly shapes manually. So instead I scoured the net on drone apps that could make things like this possible, and this was my discovery.
I used a drone to shoot top-down light-painting photos
So there are a couple of different ways to use drones to light paint. Some people will attach Lumecubes to their drone and paint an environment with them or will fly a drone around the sky or an object and have the drones lights creating images in the sky. However, there is another way to use them that isn’t widely used yet. That is using the drone’s camera to capture light painting from above.
Drones are becoming more and more popular these days and it’s not too expensive to buy one and play with its possibilities.
Shoot long exposure light painting photos during the day using neutral density
There’s a reason we often see light painting done at night or during low light conditions. During the daytime, it’s just too bright to be able to do them effectively. You have to use fast shutter speeds to not blow everything out, which is the opposite of what you need for light painting.
But there is a way to light paint during the day, too. In his latest episode of Tube Stories, light painter extraordinaire Eric Paré uses neutral density filters to help bring that daylight under control.
Stars of Night – Recreating Van Gogh’s masterpiece with collaborative light painting
When the project started I wondered if this mosaic was too ambitious.
I had made a few tiled light painting mosaics and I was recently inspired by the work of Chris Bauer. I also hadn’t been feeling like actually shooting any new pictures but I wanted to stay connect to my light painting friends so I created PieceOut.com. This is a site that helps coordinate the creation of photo mosaics for groups of people around the world. After I invited a few people to add tiles to a test shot (we did about a third of the Wolverine piece) I decided the site was good enough to use.
Use light painted streaks for creating glorious wings
A while back we shared an amazing photograph of a dancer on a lake from Eric Pare and a Robert Cornelius. This photo is a similar (yet totally different) take on the same idea.
Photoshop artist Roderique Arisiaman used a pre-made set of light painting streaks to create this photo and was kind enough to share the speed edit below. I find it quite amazing that simple elements like streaks of light can be used to create such an elaborate photo. Since I think this is something that more people will want to try, I asked Roderique for some tips on how to create the wings.
This Star-trails Light Painting was made by A Drone
German drone makers, Ascending Technologies just redefined light painting. The company makes high end drones and drone software and to take their technology to the extremes, they made a series of Santa Light Painting which actually resulted in a short movie.
The company used an LED mounted Falcon 8 – their own octa-copter. Way points were set with AscTec Navigator – software capable on creating high-res way points that enabled the complex drawing.
DIY Light Painting Halloween Costume Photos – Eric Paré Style
If you want to try something different this Halloween, how about trying some light painting portraits with your kids?
Its easier than you think, and I’ll show you how its done in this article.
