Painting With Light
By
Tom Collins

Introduction

Photography comes from the Latin phrase meaning "painting with light". The image of the violin used in this illustration is a literal interpretation of this phrase. Parts of the image are sharp and other areas possess an ethereal glow.

Technique

The primary light source consist of a White Lightning Ultra 1800 with a grid spot attachment suspended directly above the violin. The Ultra 1800 was set to full power resulting in an exposure of f32. A Cokin soft focus filter was placed over the lens along with an 80A Color Correction filter and a second exposure was made while "painting in" the highlights with a small pen light. That's right, not an expensive Hosemaster system, but a simple pen light. Painting in the highlights gave the satin background its' 3 dimensional shape and form, and also filled in the shadows on the violin.

Exposure Test

Polaroid Type 669 film was used for exposure test. It was determined that an aperture of f8 was require for the second exposure. The difficult part is to ensure that the pen light is moved at the same speed and in the same pattern for each exposure. The results are highly unpredictable so shoot a lot of film.

Tips:

Painting with light requires a totally dark room
Wear dark clothing
Keep the flashlight moving
Do not point the flashlight towards the lens
Shoot lots of Polaroid film
Move the flashlight at a consistant speed and in a consistent pattern


Equipment:

Mamiya RZ67
180mm lens
Minolta Flash Meter IV
Davis & Sanford Airlift Tripod
1 - White Lightning Ultra 1800
1 - small Mag Light
Cokin Soft Focus filter
Cokin 80A Color Correction filter