How can you go about light painting such a long vehicle? Let’s look to this vintage red bus for some answers.
What is light painting?
Light painting is a term that is often used loosely to describe any addition of handheld light to a night photograph. Really, though, light painting is a technique that uses a handheld light source to illuminate a subject during a long exposure photo. You are quite literally painting the scene with light. Night photographers have used this technique for many decades.
Here’s how I illuminated this beautiful bus from yesteryear.
Three steps to light painting the bus
Step one: Light painting the front
I began by standing in front of the bus. I wanted to illuminate the front to give it definition. See how there are shadows of the bus coming from the front? This gives additional definition and adds a sense of mystery.
Step two: Illuminating the side of the bus
Continuing with the idea that I wanted to create some shadow to bring out detail on the side of the bus, I continued shining the light down the side of the bus.
However, since I was standing near the front of the bus, I understood that the side of the bus closer to the front would be significantly brighter. I wanted the side of the bus to be more evenly illuminated. I achieved this by slowly stepping farther away to change the angle so that I could illuminate the back of the bus while using my hand to block part of the light from illuminating the front of the bus a lot. Also, I kept my light moving to increase the chances of getting a nice even “coat of light.” If you are thinking that this is a complicated set of moves, it’s not too bad. However, it does require practice.
Step three: Illuminating the interior
I did not have access to the inside of the bus. However, I am tall. I was able to stick my arm inside two or three of the open bus windows. Also, I held the light so that it was lower than the windows so that it wouldn’t shine into the lens directly. I then moved the light around, bouncing it off the sides and ceiling. This gave the appearance that an invisible bus driver had mysteriously turned on the lights!
You are the director
When you light paint during night photography, you are making creative decisions. You decide what to illuminate and what to keep in shadow. You decide what angle, what sort of texture, what sort of feel, and what sort of colors you want in your photo. It is the most actively creative form of photography that I know. You are wandering around in the scene, determining the angles, colors and brightness. Every “brush stroke of light” builds the photo.
If you do this, you are one of a very small number of photographers who try. Far less stick with it. Hopefully, articles like this inspire you to keep doing it. I cannot possibly exaggerate how addicting, fun, and rewarding it is.
How would you have gone about light painting the bus at night? What about these techniques can you apply to other subjects that you light paint? How can these techniques help your light painting?
