"thejustache" (thejustache)
02/25/2019 at 11:45 • Filed to: None
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"thejustache" (thejustache)
02/25/2019 at 11:45 • Filed to: None | 8
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I finally went out and tried my hand at lightpainting my car after planning to do it over a year ago. The result? Not perfect, but I think cool enough to make me want to try again.
The hardest part was actually finding a spot to try it that would provide both an interesting background and a place to wave a big light around without annoying people. I live in a small rural town, and with my wife due to give birth any day now I didn’t want to go too far away. I remembered the old train station/grain elevator on the edge of town and sure enough it worked out pretty well. After spending about an hour there I did have a guy walk up and and ask what I was doing right as I was getting in my car, but he didn’t seem bothered when I explained I was taking a few photos.
If I had a chance to clean the car better I’d probably have had even better luck too... I washed the car but then wasn’t able to get out of the house until the following night, at which point our NY salt splatter was already coming back again. Mostly I just wanted to test my new LED light wand (Amzdeal $50 ice light copy) and see if I could get results roughly like the other automotive light painting photos you see out there. Being mostly a film photographer and thinking of doing everything in one exposure, this was actually my first time stacking multiple layers in Photoshop . There’s definitely a lot that could be done with more time spent masking and playing around, and I know next time I want to pay closer attention to my exposure and white balance between the layers so the car doesn’t stick out of the background as much. Then again, maybe that’s what you want?
Anyone else try this before and have any thoughts or tips? I’m excited to try it out again sometime
The background layer: 28mm f3.5 iso 100 @ 30 seconds
The light layer: 28mm f16 iso 100 @ 30 seconds... this was my last attempt and the only one with the light wave behind the car
OPPOsaurus WRX
> thejustache
02/25/2019 at 12:13 |
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thats pretty cool. I sent that to my friend . He has the same blue over grey outback but without all the add ons.
BeaterGT
> thejustache
02/25/2019 at 12:16 |
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I do it with my GoPro from time to time. I like it because it’s easy and fun enough that you can have others join in with the painting. Haven’t really tried it with a background, that’s probably above my skill level.
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thejustache
> OPPOsaurus WRX
02/25/2019 at 12:17 |
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Nice! The blue and grey 2 tone was honestly the last color I wanted when I was looking for my XT... but it was a deal I couldn’t pass up at the time. 3 years later, and I honestly have grown to like it - the 2 tone is kind of the classic outback thing, and it definitely flies under the radar more. At least it did until the light bar and loud exhaust...
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thejustache
> BeaterGT
02/25/2019 at 12:20 |
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Nice! The background part wasn’t too hard - I just had the camera on a tripod and exposed one shot to capture the background before I did the car. I put the layer with the lighted car over the background image in photoshop and made the top layer “lighten only”. That was more or less it.
I can definitely see how it might be more fun including others. For me it was a lot of pressing the shutter then running around and back to the camera
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BeaterGT
> thejustache
02/25/2019 at 12:24 |
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T hat seems easy enough! I’ve only done some stacking with starry night shots. My tripod set up would probably make you cry laughing , let’s just say it including a hiking pole.
marshknute
> thejustache
02/25/2019 at 12:28 |
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I’ve only tried light painting once. I don’t know the exact mm, but I was using a 24-70mm lens (prob around the 50mm mark).
F3.5 ISO 100 @ 8 seconds. Only the one photo (no background base layer because I’m a lazy bastard ).
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thejustache
> BeaterGT
02/25/2019 at 12:33 |
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I think you’d be surprised. I’ve done a lot of photography over the last few years, but I’ve always been a budget user. My tripod is actually from Wal-Mart, albiet with a nicer ball head from amazon on it. If what you’ve got works, why change it!?
I’ve been wanting to try some starry night shoots too, I think I should try that next. I’d imagine the stacking is pretty similar between this and that
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thejustache
> marshknute
02/25/2019 at 12:34 |
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It looks pretty cool to me! Honestly I kind of like the blacked out areas you get with no background layer