With film, light painting was easy. Then digital came along and made long exposures really horrible. No longer could you just lock the shutter open and run around painting light were you wanted it. At first, 5 seconds was all the cameras could take before you started having noise issues. Even with all the advances made in the top of the line pro cameras, light painting is not nearly as easy as it was with film.

However, there is one huge benefit. Shooting digitally, you have much more control over shadow details and highlights. In fact, 50% of the job is shooting the images needed. The other 50% is the darkroom work (Photoshop).

I recently left my position as Photography Editor at Texas Highways Magazine to open a photography gallery and start Texas Photo Workshops in Austin, Texas. Since I’m going to be leading a photo expedition to The Grand Tetons National Park with 12 very serious amateurs, I felt I needed to take trip to finalize all the plans for our week there. So, I grabbed my two college aged photo freak children and drove to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My favorite place in the United States to shoot is this magnificent park (thanks to all the Rockefellers!).

As a photo editor I was always on the hunt for the same old thang shot in a unique and different way that worked. I had never shot the mormon barns, so I decided to do so this trip. I had already made what I feel is one of the best shots of the Tetons I have ever seen so I was looking for a new challenge. I got up well before dawn and made my way to one of the barns. I was all alone…for five minutes. Before long there were at least 20-25 photographers all around me awaiting that sweet light we have all seen before in number of other photos which matches our national deficet and seems to grow with it by the second. I even moved to a ditch so I might get something different from at least those there that morning. Soon the ditch filled up…sigh! I kid you not, later while I was editing these shots I fell asleep, only to wake up with drool on my beard. That’s pretty bad when your own shots bore you to sleep.

As I was waking from my mid day slumber, My son Shannon walks into our hotel room with six flash lights in his arms complaining at me for bringing them, that they were in the way. I jumped up and gave him a big hug and took the flashlights back to our trusty forerunner. We soon arrived back at those famous barns and not a soul around.

Every situation requires a different power of flashlight or beam. Some flashlights use the cool lcd bulbs and others use the warm incandescent bulbs. Then there are flashlights who’s power is measured in candles or lumens. For this photo, I used the Black & Decker rechargeable 2 million lumens flashlight I purchased at my local Hardware store. Now before I get into the nitty gritty of all I did to get this shot, I must point out that there is a true art to painting with light. Most attempts at light painting I see others try fail. The reason they fail is because either the photographer is too lazy to move around or just plain doesn’t know any better to NOT light from right beside or near his camera. Successful light painting requires scraping light and/or scraping back light.

In short, here is what we are going to do; we will shoot a series of digital photos light painting all the parts of the barn and grass we want to show in the image. We will then put them all together in post to create our perfect image. First I walked around the barn I chose and carefully planted my tripod so that the tall grass would be in the for ground. I also wanted to make sure the barn did not break the jagged lines of the Teton Range. This proved to be difficult, since on one hand I wanted to lead into the shot with back lit grass and needed to be low, yet not to low and have the barn ridge break the silhouetted mountain range.

With my Nikon D2X ( I’m waiting on Nikon to give me a new D4.1) locked down on a tripod, I simply wait for the sky light to get just right. First I shoot a few frames without any light painting. The reason for this is to capture a perfectly exposed sky as our base image to later build on in post.

Since I had my two younger, fit, healthy and fast kids with me, I gave them each a flashlight and sent them to opposite sides of the barn to light paint were I yelled for them to do so while I sat in my chair pushing the shutter release, sipping on my Starbucks green tea lemonade. One major piece of advice though, do not breath in to yell instructions at your kids while you still have fluids in your mouth. It is painful and makes it hard to breathe…you could die.

OK, this is very rare for me to have helping hands while on a trip, so for the sake of this article, I’ll share what to do when you are alone. First I set the delay timer on my camera for 20 seconds. The iso is set at 100, the F-stop is set at F8 and the shutter is set at 20 seconds. I also will attach a flash set at minimum power to let me know when the shutter has opened. In my mind I decide how I want to build the photo. For this image I want to side/back light the grass in front and on the sides first. I don’t really worry to much about getting the flashlight in the frame since we can deal with it in post. This was a problem in film days. It take five angles to light the grass from the back and side. Each angle requires 3-5 shots. So, I squeeze my shutter to trigger the timer and run to the angle I wish to light. When the flash triggers, I know the shutter is open and while I count off 20 seconds in my head, I sweep the flash light slowly back and forth across the area I’m lighting. This can be much like chewing gum while rubbing your tummy in one direction and your head in another direction. It takes about 20 trips back and forth just to cover the grass around the barn.

The front of the barn has five key areas to light and they need to be lit from each side. Both sides most likely will not be used, but better to have it in the can than have to return later to get it if you need it. The five areas of the front are the left wing face, the right wing face, the center, the doors/windows and the front roofline. I first will light the left side, usually making 3-4 trips or until I’m satisfied with what I have. The same is done from the right side. However, I only choose to light the window’s and roofline from the right side. The reason for this is to get the maximum reflection out of the windows and off the metal edge of the roofline.

I then move to the back left side to scrap the light along the side of the barn. After several trips, I’ll move far enough back to scrap light along the roof top and then the ridgeline. I also make trips to backlight the tall grass at the side of the barn to help give it a sense of place and to eliminate that cutout look that can happen when using this technique.

Once I’m satisfied with all the images, I head back to the hotel to download the images. Unlike most shoots, I do not perform any darkroom (Photoshop) work on the individual images upfront. All that will be saved for when the image has been fully built.

There are three approaches I use for building the image in the darkroom. All three have their place and can be used for different approaches. The quick way is to use HDR in Photoshop. Most of the time it works, but there are random times the HDR approach does not work. Using this approach has it’s drawbacks, the biggest of which is loss of detailed control of lighting.

The second approach is to open one image at a time. I always start with the background image as my foundation. Then I’ll start with building the side and roof of the barn. Each layer you open, drag that new image on top of the foundation or “main” image and then change the layer to a “screen” layer. You will then be able to align the top layer with the main image. Repeat this with each image that is best for the area you are adding light to until you have built the image to your liking.

The third way is similar to the second way, only you will want to leave each layer as a normal layer. Each layer you add, you will want to erase the areas of that layer which block parts of the image you want to show from lower layers. Many times, I will use a combination of all three or just two of the techniques on the same image to perfect the image.

This is also a lighting technique we teach at Texas Photo Workshops in Austin, Texas (www.texasphotoworkshops.com).

For more information or to sign up, contact us at 512-636-7373 or rep@kevinv.com
	March 2010: Lighting Workshop Ever since I was in college studying photography at The University of Texas in the 70’s I loved painting with light in old cemetaries. When painting with light I feel like the flashlight is a paintbrush, light is my paint and film is the canvas. The real value-add is that no two images are ever the same. Throughout my thirty+ year career I have used light painting in countless situations and used fiber optic hoses, large strobes, neon bars, hand flashes, Q beams, flashlights, headlights, lanterns, fire, sparklers, pin lights, etc. With film, light painting was easy. Then digital came along and made long exposures really horrible. No longer could you just lock the shutter open and run around painting light were you wanted it. At first, 5 seconds was all the cameras could take before you started having noise issues. Even with all the advances made in the top of the line pro cameras, light painting is not nearly as easy as it was with film. However, there is one huge benefit. Shooting digitally, you have much more control over shadow details and highlights. In fact, 50% of the job is shooting the images needed. The other 50% is the darkroom work (Photoshop). I recently left my position as Photography Editor at Texas Highways Magazine to open a photography gallery and start Texas Photo Workshops in Austin, Texas. Since I’m going to be leading a photo expedition to The Grand Tetons National Park with 12 very serious amateurs, I felt I needed to take trip to finalize all the plans for our week there. So, I grabbed my two college aged photo freak children and drove to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. My favorite place in the United States to shoot is this magnificent park (thanks to all the Rockefellers!). As a photo editor I was always on the hunt for the same old thang shot in a unique and different way that worked. I had never shot the mormon barns, so I decided to do so this trip. I had already made what I feel is one of the best shots of the Tetons I have ever seen so I was looking for a new challenge. I got up well before dawn and made my way to one of the barns. I was all alone…for five minutes. Before long there were at least 20-25 photographers all around me awaiting that sweet light we have all seen before in number of other photos which matches our national deficet and seems to grow with it by the second. I even moved to a ditch so I might get something different from at least those there that morning. Soon the ditch filled up…sigh! I kid you not, later while I was editing these shots I fell asleep, only to wake up with drool on my beard. That’s pretty bad when your own shots bore you to sleep. As I was waking from my mid day slumber, My son Shannon walks into our hotel room with six flash lights in his arms complaining at me for bringing them, that they were in the way. I jumped up and gave him a big hug and took the flashlights back to our trusty forerunner. We soon arrived back at those famous barns and not a soul around. Every situation requires a different power of flashlight or beam. Some flashlights use the cool lcd bulbs and others use the warm incandescent bulbs. Then there are flashlights who’s power is measured in candles or lumens. For this photo, I used the Black & Decker rechargeable 2 million lumens flashlight I purchased at my local Hardware store. Now before I get into the nitty gritty of all I did to get this shot, I must point out that there is a true art to painting with light. Most attempts at light painting I see others try fail. The reason they fail is because either the photographer is too lazy to move around or just plain doesn’t know any better to NOT light from right beside or near his camera. Successful light painting requires scraping light and/or scraping back light. In short, here is what we are going to do; we will shoot a series of digital photos light painting all the parts of the barn and grass we want to show in the image. We will then put them all together in post to create our perfect image. First I walked around the barn I chose and carefully planted my tripod so that the tall grass would be in the for ground. I also wanted to make sure the barn did not break the jagged lines of the Teton Range. This proved to be difficult, since on one hand I wanted to lead into the shot with back lit grass and needed to be low, yet not to low and have the barn ridge break the silhouetted mountain range. With my Nikon D2X ( I’m waiting on Nikon to give me a new D4.1) locked down on a tripod, I simply wait for the sky light to get just right. First I shoot a few frames without any light painting. The reason for this is to capture a perfectly exposed sky as our base image to later build on in post. Since I had my two younger, fit, healthy and fast kids with me, I gave them each a flashlight and sent them to opposite sides of the barn to light paint were I yelled for them to do so while I sat in my chair pushing the shutter release, sipping on my Starbucks green tea lemonade. One major piece of advice though, do not breath in to yell instructions at your kids while you still have fluids in your mouth. It is painful and makes it hard to breathe…you could die. OK, this is very rare for me to have helping hands while on a trip, so for the sake of this article, I’ll share what to do when you are alone. First I set the delay timer on my camera for 20 seconds. The iso is set at 100, the F-stop is set at F8 and the shutter is set at 20 seconds. I also will attach a flash set at minimum power to let me know when the shutter has opened. In my mind I decide how I want to build the photo. For this image I want to side/back light the grass in front and on the sides first. I don’t really worry to much about getting the flashlight in the frame since we can deal with it in post. This was a problem in film days. It take five angles to light the grass from the back and side. Each angle requires 3-5 shots. So, I squeeze my shutter to trigger the timer and run to the angle I wish to light. When the flash triggers, I know the shutter is open and while I count off 20 seconds in my head, I sweep the flash light slowly back and forth across the area I’m lighting. This can be much like chewing gum while rubbing your tummy in one direction and your head in another direction. It takes about 20 trips back and forth just to cover the grass around the barn. The front of the barn has five key areas to light and they need to be lit from each side. Both sides most likely will not be used, but better to have it in the can than have to return later to get it if you need it. The five areas of the front are the left wing face, the right wing face, the center, the doors/windows and the front roofline. I first will light the left side, usually making 3-4 trips or until I’m satisfied with what I have. The same is done from the right side. However, I only choose to light the window’s and roofline from the right side. The reason for this is to get the maximum reflection out of the windows and off the metal edge of the roofline. I then move to the back left side to scrap the light along the side of the barn. After several trips, I’ll move far enough back to scrap light along the roof top and then the ridgeline. I also make trips to backlight the tall grass at the side of the barn to help give it a sense of place and to eliminate that cutout look that can happen when using this technique. Once I’m satisfied with all the images, I head back to the hotel to download the images. Unlike most shoots, I do not perform any darkroom (Photoshop) work on the individual images upfront. All that will be saved for when the image has been fully built. There are three approaches I use for building the image in the darkroom. All three have their place and can be used for different approaches. The quick way is to use HDR in Photoshop. Most of the time it works, but there are random times the HDR approach does not work. Using this approach has it’s drawbacks, the biggest of which is loss of detailed control of lighting. The second approach is to open one image at a time. I always start with the background image as my foundation. Then I’ll start with building the side and roof of the barn. Each layer you open, drag that new image on top of the foundation or “main” image and then change the layer to a “screen” layer. You will then be able to align the top layer with the main image. Repeat this with each image that is best for the area you are adding light to until you have built the image to your liking. The third way is similar to the second way, only you will want to leave each layer as a normal layer. Each layer you add, you will want to erase the areas of that layer which block parts of the image you want to show from lower layers. Many times, I will use a combination of all three or just two of the techniques on the same image to perfect the image. This is also a lighting technique we teach at Texas Photo Workshops in Austin, Texas (www.texasphotoworkshops.com).	For more information or to sign up, contact us at 512-636-7373 or rep@kevinv.com HOME WORKSHOPS FREE MINI-WORKSHOPS ONLINE BEGINNERS ADVANCED EXPEDITION BIO FAQS TESTIMONIALS: Photographers Rehab is amazing. I learned more on the first day than all I had known before coming to this workshop. -Camdon Littleton
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March 2010: Lighting Workshop