We take you behind the curtain to tell you how you can use handheld lights to make photos like this mysterious abandoned modern home in the Mojave desert.
What is light painting?
I lit a modern-style abandoned home living room using a technique called “light painting”. This phrase is often used to describe any addition of light for a night photo. In fact, however, light painting refers to a technique that uses a light source in one hand to illuminate a view during a long risk. Your flashlight is your paintbrush, and you are quite literally painting the scene with light. Similar to a film director, you control what you illuminate and what you keep in the shade using light in your hand. Night photographers have used this technique for several decades.
I like handheld light painting because it is not only the most creative form of photography that I can think about, but also quick, there is no need to install lights on the stand, is flexible and versatile, and requires very few devices.
I used Protomachin LED 8 Light To lighten this scene. It is unfortunately closed. However, you can use any handheld RGB lights, such as Ants on a watermelon RGB crater BtOr even a light panel Lum Cube Panel Pro 2.0 RGB LED Light Panel,
Let’s see how I went to the interior of this house about light painting.
Four easy steps using handheld lights
Step one: illuminating the room in blue light from the left
I activated the camera for a two -minute exposure on F/9, ISO 200. Then I went to the left, out of the frame from my camera lens. I skim a blue light from the side for about five seconds, blocked the flashlight with my body, just a chance that it would shine in the lens.
I set the light so that it slows down. In this way, my light painting will not be good and even “hot spots”. In addition, I can “paint” light using many different strokes, making light painting even more uniform.
You can see that using a shallow angle close to 90 degrees from the wall, I was able to take a lot of textures from the walls and floors. I did not light anywhere else, but the wall, knowing that the white colored walls reflect a lot of blue light and spread on the roof and floor anywhere else.
Step two: illuminated the room in blue light from the right side
I went to the right. Once again, hiding the flashlight with my body, I span the light at the shallow angle again, using blue light and glitter settings as before. If you see the photo again, you will see the long shade from this shallow angle. I love what it looks like.
Step Three: Bathing the chair in light
I wanted the chair to stand outside from the rest of the blue scene. To do this, I converted my prototomachin LED 8 into a warm white light. In addition, I wanted it to see that it was being burnt by a spotlight from above. To do this, I kept my light very high and targeted it directly on the chair, making it sure that my legs and legs were out of the way. Notice the defined shadow, good than lighting above? I like that!
Step four: illuminating the Joshua tree outside
I decided that I would also illuminate the Joshua tree which was in the backyard. I like how your eye is drawn from the chair directly through the window. To push it forward, I walked out and threw a little light on the Joshua tree, making sure that the wall was blocking me, then publishing the tree closer to the 90 degree angle from the right side. I also burnt shopping carts in front of Joshua tree.
How can you walk around the scene without showing in the photo?
Good question. It is one of the most common questions asked about handheld light paintings.
To start showing in a picture, you also have to stand for at least 10% of the total exposure. Since it was a two -minute exposure, I needed to stand for at least 12 seconds. And even in 12 seconds, I would have been registered as a faint dark sme, not as a person.
We all – I, you, and everyone – the ability to be invisible in this way. If we keep moving forward, we will not appear in these long exposure photos, assuming that we do not shine light on ourselves. It is better to wear clothes in all the same, dark clothes. Some light painters almost wear clothes like Ninja, even covering their face and hands, if they feel that there is a chance they can shine some light on themselves.
About abandoned house
I often go out for long walks. I found this house while walking around my neighborhood, which was about 35 minutes in a separate part of the Mojave Desert. While the abandoned homes are not uncommon in many parts of the desert, it was out of the ordinary because it was a smooth, modern -style home that was recently built and, all things were considered, it was observed that it was still in good shape.
If you look closely, you can also see a barbecue and a fire pit, with decorative glass pieces still. However, everything else was torn out of the house. Any sink, no toilet, no light, nothing. In fact, the only furniture was still left in the chair house.
If you have suggestions about light painting or magnificent light painting lights that have come to you, please share them in comments!
