DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

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

Submit A Story

This animation was made from 1,012 individually light painted long exposures

Jun 28, 2019 by John Aldred 2 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Shooting stop motion animations or even timelapse can be difficult enough without adding something as already complex as light painting into the mix. Light painting just on its own can be something of a challenge when you’re trying to draw something for the camera over the course of a long exposure.

But for photographer Darren Pearson, it’s no bother at all. He excels at creating light painting animations, and we’ve featured him a couple of times before. She Lights the Night slipped by us when it was posted to YouTube a few months ago, but now we’ve seen it and we’re sharing it with you because it’s awesome. It was created using 1,012 individually light painted long exposures.

1,012 individual shots played back over around 2 minutes equates to about 8-10 frames per second, which seems to work very well for this kind of animation. You’re not looking for smooth 24 or 60fps motion like you are with video, and when you’re hand painting each individual frame, you’re not going to get it, either.

Light painting has a unique and variable quality to it that there’s no way you’re going to be able to easily create smooth motion from frame to frame without some kind of computerised motion control system. To be able to get the kind of repeatability shown in the above video takes a lot of time, effort and practice.

He doesn’t mention exactly what gear he used, but in a previous video, Darren did share how he makes his light painted skeletons for these types of animations.

With each frame potentially taking up to 2 minutes to create, that means this whole animation might’ve actually taken upwards of 33 hours to shoot. It might’ve taken a little less, as some short clips are repeated, but that’s only the footage that was kept. Who knows how much ended up being thrown away.

Very cool. What’s better than a light painted dancing skeleton?

You can check out more of Darren’s work over on his website.

[via Geekologie]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

This timelapse short film of China uses Prisma app to look like a painted animation This cowgirl shootout stop-motion was composed of 300 light painted, long exposure shots This is how I create my top-down light painted portraits This photographer creates complex portraits painted with light

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: animation, darren pearson, inspiration, light painting, stop motion

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

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.

« Instagram now puts ads even on your Explore page
From Canon to Sony: what I learned four years after switching systems »

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

  • Ace your next portrait shoot with these composition tips
  • This is how to get photography clients on Instagram – even with few followers
  • “I prefer using smaller cameras” – an unorthodox take on size
  • A pigeon scares a meteorologist as it photobombs a live camera
  • Photographer files lawsuit against NFL receiver and teams after shoving incident

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi 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.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex 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

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave 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: from diyphotography.netJohn 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: from diyphotography.netDunja 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