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Painting with a flashlight


albertknappmd

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I am intrigued by the technique of "painting with light" but have not been able to ascertain the power (in lumens) needed for such a project.

I realize that there are many variables that obviously come into play such as distance, haze etc... but can you give me an idea as to the best sarting point lumen-wise?

Many thanks,

Albert:):):)

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Depends on the distance to the subject... However, it doesn't really need all that much; almost any flashlight will work fine within 15' or so. You'll most likely be stopping down to f/8-f/16 to avoid overexposure. I'd strongly recommend an LED light; they tend to be closer to 4500K with a neutral green, which produces better results than halogen or incandescent. I used the same LED headlamp I used to hike out to some temples in Cambodia pre-dawn recently and it worked great. So I think almost any LED headlamp or flashlight will work just fine.

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I agree with the post immediately above. Basically, lumens do not matter that much. Painting with light is pretty much trial and error with a very narrow beamed low power flashlight taking obviously longer to paint the scene than a very high power flood light.

The trial and error approach is certainly much easier when shooting with a digital camera where the results of each attempt can be immediately assessed.

 

If shooting in a very dark area with little or no ambient light the shutter can be left open for very long periods of time while you happily paint away with a low power flashlight. If ambient light is present that has to be considered in determining how much time you have to paint.

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that technique has been widely used in professional studio photography some 15 to 20 years ago.... one of the pioneers has been a guy called aaron jones with a selfdevelopped tool called hosemaster... there where some copies around, even one using a stoboscopic flash device (broncolor lightbrush)....

 

haver fun!

 

rgds

 

JPH

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that technique has been widely used in professional studio photography some 15 to 20 years ago.... one of the pioneers has been a guy called aaron jones with a selfdevelopped tool called hosemaster... there where some copies around, even one using a stoboscopic flash device (broncolor lightbrush)....

 

Yes! Calumet Photo still sells a version of it.

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