Hello, my friend, and happy Tuesday! Hope all is good with you, and thank you for spending a few minutes of your time reading my post.
Now, making portraits is something I love. Because the mood, the feeling and the atmosphere of each set are unique. Each moment is unique, actually, and there’s no chance to replicate it twice, even working with the same model, in the same place, with the same outfit and light.
This of course doesn’t mean I will just sit back and stop making experiments.
I remember, when I joined Pictas a couple of years ago, I discovered the amazing work of one of the other members (you can find him here). He uses a lot the light painting technique, and the more I looked at his images, the more I started finding it intriguing and extremely creative.
I then began my search in the vast ocean of the net to understand a bit more about how it works and what’s required to achieve some decent results.
I was surprised to know I could use basically any kind of light source to create different and beautiful effects. All I needed was a bit of time to try.
For the first attempt, I decided to buy a colored optical fiber decoration that could be the light source, as it was a brush, for my light painting. And since I wanted to recall the colors also on Jessica, the model, I asked Michela, one of the amazing make-up artists I collaborate with, to be part of the set.
The setup of the studio was the following: black background, Godox AD200Pro with a 120cm softbox umbrella on the right and a Godox AD100Pro with a standard reflector behind the model.
I put my camera on the tripod and asked Michela, who was wearing a black glove, to paint around Jessica for the whole 5 sec of duration of each shot, after the flash fired.
The result was amazing.
On a different set, I tried with another type of light source. This time I called Carlotta to pose for me and Marzia to make the magic with the make-up and the light painting.
The tool I used is very simple: I took an empty plastic bottle (white, transparent) and covered it with a blue/green transparent plastic paper. I taped a torch on the top of the bottle et voilà. The brush was ready.
The setup was exactly the same as the other one, I just moved the main light to the left.
However, this time I had to use a longer exposure and I realised this was creating problems: when watching the result, I spotted an annoying halo around the model, probably caused by her little movements (try yourself to stand completely still for 8 seconds…) combined with the torch painting around her.
So I told Carlotta to move away from the frame immediately after the flash fired. This way the light generated by the strobe fixed her presence on the image and Marzia was able to play around with the magic wand.
Again, I love the result.
If there is something I can suggest to people approaching photography, is to surround themselves with other creatives. There are plenty of communities where everyone can find inspiration from others and discover new techniques. If you are curious, there are endless opportunities to make something beautiful.
Light painting is not going to be my main area, (but never say ever), however, it helped me discover how I could use long exposures with portraits and how to create beautiful and unique effects basically with any kind of light.
It helped me gain a new experience I didn’t have before. It helped me grow.
And, not least, we had a lot of fun.
Take care and talk soon!