13
Light Painting and Light Drawing
Light painting is one way to create a strong focal point for your nightscape images. Light painting involves intentionally illuminating part or the entire foreground object. It is so-named owing to its similarity to “painting” specific objects within the scene, except with a beam of light instead of a paintbrush. There are many tools that you may use to accomplish this: a flashlight, headlamp, fire, or even candles! Two examples are shown in Figure 13.1.
The effect of light painting can be profound, and can transform an otherwise dull image. To see the effect of light painting on the feel of a scene, compare the two versions of the identical scene in Figure 13.2 (overleaf), one taken with light painting and the other without.
Effect of Light Source Temperature on Appearance
The color temperature of the light source used to paint the foreground object can dramatically affect the resulting image. Examples of the same scene light-painted with six different sources are shown in Figure 13.3 (overleaf). My preferred light source is a small, handheld flashlight with a beam-focusing head. I usually tape one or two sheets of a CTO (color-temperature orange) gel across the beam to slightly warm the color temperature of the light, Figure 13.3(c). In dark sky environments, the light from this flashlight can be surprisingly effective, especially when coupled with high ISO settings (e.g. 3200 and higher) and 20 second or longer exposure times. By the way, you will note that I never use the on-camera flash; its light is far too bright and its position leads to unacceptably flat-appearing subjects.
13.1
Light painting of: (a) a Chumash ‘Ap in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area near Los Angeles, California; and (b) the sandstone rocks of the Alabama Hills in California with the Milky Way rising overhead. A flashlight with an orange gel taped over the light was used in both cases. Both foreground objects would have been all but invisible without the light painting.
13.2
The effects of light painting on the foreground in a scene are illustrated here, by comparing the same image without (top) and with (bottom) light painting. These images were made just minutes apart in Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah, an International Dark Sky Site.
13.3
Several images of the same scene made near Florence Lake, California, showing a stand of trees on a granite dome beneath the summer Milky Way. The only difference between the images was the source, and hence colors temperature, of the light used to illuminate the stand of trees. Each light source is shown as an inset within each image. The light sources included: (a) a cellphone’s flashlight, handheld flashlights (b) without and (c) with an orange gel, headlamp with (d) normal and (e) red bulbs and (f) an off-camera, manually operated flash.
13.4
Side lighting is a very effective technique to enhance the texture, and hence compositional interest, of many foreground subjects. Here, this “glacial erratic,” or boulder, deposited by retreating glaciers after the most recent Ice Age, is lit separately from both sides. The light-painted images were made at low ISO with the focus adjusted to lie specifically on the boulder. These two side-lit images were then combined with a third, high-ISO image, re-focused on the Milky Way, and with no foreground light painting. These three images (top row) were then combined to produce the final, composite image (bottom) using the techniques described in Chapter 22.
Light Direction
The direction of the light from the source can play a key role in the appearance of the light-painted subject. Front lighting is best avoided, as the lack of shadows and resultant lack of contrast results in flat, uninteresting foreground subjects; akin to using the on-camera flash. It is far better to illuminate the subject from either side, or even slightly or completely from the rear. Images can also be created by blending two or more images with different degrees of light painting, as described in more detail in Chapter 22 and illustrated in Figure 13.4. Here, a high-ISO image of the Milky Way is blended with two low-ISO, side-lit images of the foreground subject.
13.5
Light-drawing involves directing the light from the source directly into the camera, in contrast to light painting in which the source is outside the field of view. Here, this was done using simple sparklers—and if you look carefully, you might be able to see the word “LOVE” drawn in light! Made in Oxford, England.
Light Drawing
In contrast to light painting, where the light source is outside the field of view, light drawing involves shining light directly into the camera from the light source within the field of view, for example Figure 13.5. This technique has boomed in popularity, and many incredibly creative examples can be found. A wide variety of light sources can be used: sparklers, flashlights, light sticks, and even lighters!
Bibliography
Bair, Royce, Milky Way Nightscapes, 2015, RoyceBair.com (ebook)
Hunter, Fil, Steven Biver & Paul Fuqua, Light, Science and Magic, 2007, Third Edition, Focal Press, New York and London
Keimig, Lance, Night Photography and Light Painting, Second Edition, 2016, Focal Press/Taylor & Francis, New York and London
Kingham, David, Nightscapes, 2014, Craft & Vision, Vancouver, Canada
Knight, Randall D., Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Third Edition, 2013, Pearson, Glenview, Illinois
Wu, Jennifer & James Martin, Photography: Night Sky, 2014, Mountaineers Books, Seattle, Washington